Mayo club seeks to repeat history in All-Ireland semi-final

They're living the dream in Crossmolina - but for how much longer? They were last here as a club back in 2003 en route to their second All-Ireland final, two years after becoming the first Mayo club ever to win the Andy Merrigan Cup.

They’ll be talking about that one for time immemorial, but that will count for very little when the ball is thrown in at 1 pm on Glennon Brothers Pearse Park in Longford on Saturday afternoon. While they have been here before as a club, this Crossmolina team have never been here as a group.

Brian Benson, John Maughan and Tom McNulty were on either side of the touchline when the Deel Rovers last played in an All-Ireland semi-final. This weekend, they’ll be prowling the touchline in command of a group of men who - bar a some exceptions - have never played in an All-Ireland semi-final before.

Two major exceptions are Mayo seniors Jordan Flynn and Conor Loftus. Once a free-scoring, fleet-footed forward for whom nobody could find a position, Loftus has made the centre-back position his own at club level this year.

He’s togged in seven All-Ireland semi-finals - more than the rest of his teammates combined - most notably with the Mayo minors in 2013 and in 2016 with the U-21s.

Flynn made his first semi-final dance with the U-21s back in 2018, and again with the Mayo seniors in 2019, 2020 and 2021, and has been rock solid in maroon and white of late.

Fionán Duffy (Mayo minors and U-21s), Cathal Carolan (Mayo seniors) and James Maheady (Mayo minors) are the only Crossmolina players who’ve featured in an All-Ireland semi-final.

That’s a fair bit of big-game experience for a 36-player panel that had an average age of 25 when they contested the drawn county final on October 27.

“That experience is brilliant,” former Crossmolina and Mayo footballer, Michael Moyles, told The Mayo News.

“It’s the county players that pull you through when the nerves are getting to you. Over the Christmas period, from what I’ve heard, they’ve trained very well.

Their opponents are formidable, but as green as a Kildare stud farm when it comes to All-Ireland semi-finals.

Crowned county junior champions in 2021, a victory on Saturday would see Caragh become the first-ever Kildare team to reach an All-Ireland intermediate club final. The county sits top of the roll of honour for provincial intermediate titles.

PEDIGREE

SINCE the competition was born in 2003, four Mayo teams contested the final (2012, 2014, 2016 and 2017) before Westport became the first - and only - Mayo team to win the competition in 2017. 

While they may lack experience and hail from a county so lacking in All-Ireland club championship pedigree, Caragh certainly don’t want for talent.

The main man to watch out for is young corner forward Jake Corrigan, who has hit 4-11 in their past three games.

Another who’ll stand out, literally and metaphorically, is their captain Kevin Connor, a 6’6” man mountain who delivered a man-of-the-match performance in the Leinster semi-final.

Expect Jordan Flynn, who trails him by five inches, or the 6’4” Darragh Syron, to have a busy day tagging Connor.

That’s not to say Caragh don’t have other weapons in their arsenal. The brilliantly-named Darragh Swords has been scoring all year while fellow forward Dan Campbell found the net twice against the Kilkenny champions during their Leinster campaign.

Tommy Callaghan of the Leinster Leader also cites Ryan Burke - who got a call-up to the Kildare seniors last year - and Cathal McKennedy as two men who’ve stood out in defence alongside Matthew McNally, described as ‘a full-back who likes to get forward’.

Crossmolina are at least a match for the Prosperous-based side in every area of the field.

The aforementioned Flynn and Syron have put it up to every midfield pair they’ve faced in this year’s championship.

In Kevin Mulhern, - an ‘unsung hero’, according to Michael Moyles - Cross’ have a rock-solid ball-playing full-back. Conor Loftus has been playing super football all year in front of him at Number 6.

They have proven score-getters in James Maheady and Fionán Duffy, workaholic terriers in the Coggins brothers and an imposing unit in full-forward in Patrick Leddy.

They’ve no shortage of depth on the bench either. One-time Mayo seniors Stephen Duffy and Cathal Carolan are great options to have while their captain Mikie Loftus is all but guaranteed to feature at some stage.

One thing that still eludes Brian Benson’s men is a full-60 minute performance. Their proclivity to go missing for periods followed them to Hyde Park when they stormed in front before hitting a lull in the Connacht final.

According to Michael Moyles, they’ve come a long way from their calamitous five-goal group rise-and-fall against Moy Davitts.

“Sports psychologists call it ‘the fear of the tape’. Sometimes when you see the finishing line nerves can set in,” said Moyles, citing their Connacht encounters with Elphin and St Michaels

“They are a very young team, Crossmolina, and I think people kind of forget that and there is more young fellas coming through that’s going to add into them, but they are a very young team. This experience itself has been massive.”

READ: Crossmolina captain Loftus fighting his way back into the team

FIXTURE:

ALL-IRELAND INTERMEDIATE CLUB CHAMPIONSHIP SEMI-FINAL

CROSSMOLINA V CARAGH

SATURDAY, JANUARY 4, PEARSE PARK, LONGFORD AT 1PM