Result: The Mayo 15 that should have won an All-Ireland final

Here it is. The Mayo dream team to win an All-Ireland, as selected by you – the readers of The Mayo News. If we were overwhelmed by your initial response, the number of selections we received for the final 15, exceeded even the most ambitious expectations. Thank you for taking the time to pick your team.

Some things jump out. Only three of your selection are still playing for Mayo. This could possibly be put down to the fact that there are a lot of new players in the present panel – many without All-Ireland final experience. Or maybe they have yet to deliver to their full potential, or earn your confidence.

Some players are lined out in unfamiliar positions. This is down to Mayo managers, not typesetters in The Mayo News offices, or scribes, somewhere out in the hills. Some players lost out by very tight margins. A few were on nearly everyone’s list.

David Clarke was a popular selection to mind the house. He captured 87 percent of the total votes cast for the goalkeeper’s jersey.

Keith Higgins dominated the full back line selections with Chris Barrett getting a bigger vote than expected by this scribe somewhere out in the hills. Kevin Cahill claimed a spot there too, with David Heaney, Ger Cafferkey and Dermot Flanangan unlucky to lose out.

James Nallen nearly made the half-back line, but lost out, in what was an ultra competitive section of the team. Lee Keegan, Colm Boyle and Paddy Durcan, in fairness, make a formidable half-back line.

If we had the same calibre of players available in other positions, as we have had across the three half-back positions, we’d be asking different question in this poll.

CLOSE CALLS

In midfield, David Brady gave a very good account of himself in this vote, as he always did on the pitch. He lost out to the interesting pairing of Liam McHale and Tom Parsons, for the central positions.

In the half-forward line, Kevin McLoughlin obviously made a great impression on those of you who sent in your selection, but lost out by a mere eleven votes in the end, with Diarmuid O’Connor, Willie Joe Padden and Alan Dillon, claiming the three places. This was the closest voting returns of the all the departments on the pitch, according to the results.

The full forwards that you chose, Andy Moran, Ciaran McDonald and Cillian O’Connor, collectively pulled 82 percent of the total votes cast for that line on the team.

James Horan was your favourite manager, well clear of the other two in that department.

THE BACKROOM QUESTION

There’ll be calls now, I suppose, for a vote on the back-room team. The goalkeeping coach, the kick-out coach. The Strength and Conditioning roles to be filled. Water carriers. Forwards coaches, to be voted on (That would be an interesting one). Video analysts. Team doctors and people to look at the screen and read the information from the trackers.

More people to convert all this data in to flashy graphics, to make it more visually edible. We’re not going to bother with any of these. We’ll just stick with what we have; a team that spans the era from 1989 to the present day. A team of players worthy of an All-Ireland medal. Your team.

It is a fanciful notion, of course, that you could put out a team made up of players who played for the county over a 35-year period. It’s a bit like meeting all your departed relatives in Heaven. What age will they be, when you are reunited? Would they be in their prime? It seems very unfair to commit people to eternity at the age upon which they passed.

Obviously Willie Joe, Kevin Cahill and Liam McHale, at their present ages, would struggle with the 241 MO model player in some departments, but your votes were based on when these players, and all on the team, were at their best. Sadly, that best wasn’t …

What they, and every player who appeared in an All-Ireland for Mayo did have, however, is honesty of effort, after making unbelievable sacrifices, for the cause. So, on behalf of all The Mayo News readers, who made their selections, I say, thank you to the players who made the list and those who didn’t. We had great days out and so much enjoyment along the way.

Now it’s time for the scribe from somewhere in the hills, to track down those forward coaches. There’s still work to be done.

Here is the full team you voted for:

Goalkeeper:

David Clarke

Full-back line:

Keith Higgins,  Chris Barrett, Kevin Cahill

Half-back line:

Lee Keegan, Colm Boyle, Paddy Durcan

Midfield:

Liam McHale, Tom Parsons

Half-forward line:

Diarmuid O’Connor, Willie Joe Padden, Alan Dillon

Full-forward line:

Andy Moran, Cillian O'Connor, Ciarán McDonald

Manager: James Horan