Dublin force Mayo backwards
Our trip to Derry now looks ominous
Seán Rice
THE gloss of that first win over Galway fades by the week. Expectations are now more realistic. Dublin’s narrow win throws greater pressure on Mayo to eke out survival points from the remaining four fixtures. And none of those four offers any comforting assurance.
Dublin head the table on the back of their newly-adapted system of blanket defence. Their approach is based on choking enterprise, crushing the very life out of the pulsing excitement that good football has to offer. They play on the edge, pulling, dragging and spoiling with full approval of the referee.
Like Armagh, they will succeed until a better team finds them out. A less anxious Mayo could have done it on Sunday. But their eighteen wides serve only to reveal the tender nature of their perceived revival.
Dublin’s technique, if technique it could be called, had as much to do with the extent of Mayo’s wastage as those who caused it. On most occasions they harried Mayo to the point where they often kicked in desperation, and without direction.
That said, there was no excuse for the amount of scores missed from frees, and Mark Ronaldson’s absence was sorely missed on a day when even one of those chances would have brought a share of the spoils.
In fairness to Mayo, they did not lack fight. The back line coped well until the final minutes when Dublin introduced a few heavies such as Brogan, Keaney and Magee.
Up to that point there was a lot to be admired in the performances of Donal Vaughan, Keith Higgins, and Kevin McLoughlin.
While I have been critical in the past of his adequacy as a centre-half, the contribution of Trevor Howley on this occasion was enormous. And although he has still some room to make up, Ger Cafferkey did show some welcome return to form.
Farther up, Mayo experienced problems. Unfortunate to lose Ronan McGarrity with a hamstring injury in the first half, they struggled somewhat at midfield. Seamus O’Shea, who had been performing well in the forward line moved to the central berth and his strong running was effective. But even though Tom Parsons did have a reasonable second half, the strength of Eamon Fennell and Ross McConnell was a significant force in Dublin’s victory,
Enda Varley took his goal well, and although Alan Freeman missed a couple of scores from placed balls, the Aghamore man was not lacking in confidence. In fact it was a surprise when the selectors replaced him with Conor Mortimer near the end . . . a move that smacked of panic on the sideline.
Just back from his trip down under, Conor was in no fit condition to rescue Mayo. His first attempt from a free bore all the appearances of a mind still focused on some seductive place in the sun, and fell well short of its target. A 45’ he claimed afterwards, went equally awry.
Mayo’s trip to Derry on Saturday night now assumes greater importance. Without Peadar Gardiner and Ronan McGarrity, and the suspended Mark Ronaldson, a formidable mountain awaits them.
Scarecrows wanted now
COUNTY BOARD Board officials were perplexed at the number of divots appearing on the green sward of McHale Park during periods when the ground was idle.
The culprits were discovered when the officials spotted hoards of hungry crows descending on the pitch. Their quarry . . . the juicy insects wriggling underneath the sod.
But in digging them out the birds are causing greater damage to the hallowed turf than the cogs of footballers’ boots.
The divots created by the crows for whatever succulent morsel the soil provides are a headache for board chiefs and so concerned have they been that it prompted one leading member of the Board to consider using his shotgun to scatter the ravenous ravens.
All sorts of remedies are being considered to dissuade the pests. Their last resort might yet be the old tried and trusted method . . . the scarecrow.
Lavin is number one choice on my team
GOALKEEPERS are held in a different compartment in the consciousness. They don’t readily come to mind when we speak of great teams. It’s as if a ‘keeper was only as good as his next save.
You hear of Prendergast, Flanagan, Langan. But little or nothing about Sean Wynne who occupied the space between the posts in Mayo’s golden era, and was as intrinsically linked to victory as the vaunted trio.
Goalkeepers didn’t always enjoy the protection now afforded them. It was not unusual once to see one buried in the back of the net under an avalanche of ball, backs, and bustling forwards.
Only the bravest of men took on the role, and many a victory stemmed from his intervention . . . from a splendid save, an imaginative delivery, his perfect sense of timing, or from his coolness under pressure.
He is a special breed.
Gabriel Irwin’s swift response to a looming disaster in 1989 is etched in the memory. The Connacht final in Hyde Park had entered injury-time when Tony McManus scored from the penalty spot. It gave Roscommon a lead of a point and with it, it seemed, the provincial crown.
But the speed with which goalkeeper Gabriel Irwin reacted in the remaining seconds in finding a player from the kickout won Mayo a dramatic equalising point. They clinched the match in extra time and went on to reach the All-Ireland final. And Irwin’s perceptiveness was their motivation.
He is one of many fine goalkeepers produced by Mayo over the last fifty years. According to Mick Byrne’s statistical data some twenty-seven have stood between the posts for the county senior side.
The deeds of all of course don’t come to mind, but I have a distinct recollection of dramatic interventions by Joe Foy, Eugene Rooney, J.J. Costello, Mick Webb, Eugene Lavin, Peter Burke, and more recently David Clarke, who have filled the role with distinction.
Eugene Lavin, the longest serving, togged out on 73 occasions, thirteen times more than his nearest rival, the great Peter Burke, while Mick Webb has 49 appearances, and J.J. Costello next with 46.
Costello had his first outing in the National League in 1971. He had soccer trials with Peterborough and Birmingham City and the experience he gained across the water stood to him in his many fine saves for Mayo.
One notable statistic is the selectors’ choice of Eugene McHale in goal on two occasions. The Knockmore man lined out 28 times for Mayo, all but those two in the forward line.
Lavin and Irwin swapped goalkeeping roles regularly and each has carved a remarkable niche in Mayo Vocational Schools football. In 1975 Lavin scored the winning goal in the All-Ireland final; five years later when Mayo won the title again, Irwin scored the winning goal.
Lavin, who also lined out in defence on a few occasions, stepped into goal for the first time in the National League of 1977. He was sufficiently dependable throughout that period to be recalled on a number of occasions during which he made some spectacular saves. Right up to his last outing in November 1991 the Kiltimagh man had all the attributes of a master of his art.
We’ll start off our best Mayo team of the last sixty years with Eugene Lavin in goal.
NEXT WEEK
Right corner back
Just a thought …
Standing among the crowd listening to abuse hurtled at son or daughter doing their best on the football field must be hard to take. The thoughtlessness of others is the price many relatives have to pay to follow a dream.
