Mayo minor manager looks ahead

Duffy looks to next step


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Edwin McGreal

MAYO’S manager Tony Duffy wasn’t getting carried away in the aftermath of his first Connacht Minor title win.
His team may have won comfortably in the end by five points, but the Ballintubber bainisteoir knows there were flaws in the performance too.
“When Mayo play Galway there’s never much in it,” he told The Mayo News. “We knew it was going to be a battle and we’re just delighted. It was all about winning and we won it.”
At half-time Mayo were level despite having had the aid of a strong breeze. The manager admitted that some stern words were said at the break.
“We conceded a soft goal which didn’t help but, having said that, Paul Mannion (goalkeeper) made a great save before that,” he explained. “We laid into them at half-time and said it wasn’t good enough. In fairness, they did up it.
“In the last 20 minutes we played very well. We probably went a bit too defensive, invited Galway onto us but, generally speaking, we’re delighted to get through it.”
It was three goals in four crazy minutes that set Mayo on their way. The captain Cillian O’Connor was well-flagged as the Mayo danger-man but Darren Coen stepped up to the plate.
“We knew that once Cillian would be shackled obviously Darren could come to the fore,” nodded Duffy. “We have that luxury and, yeah, Darren had a superb game.
“I’ve said it all along, we’ve some very good sharpshooters up front. If we feed them with good ball it’s very hard for a defence to hold them for 60 minutes and that was proved again today.
“Darren has an unbelievable amount of skill, it’s just [a case of] getting it out of him. He’s a serious operator and himself and Cillian work very well together. I’m delighted for Darren because Cillian has been getting all the plaudits.”

MEANWHILE, the man himself was modesty personified. The man of the match award under his oxter, he was, to use the modern euphemism, ‘sharing the love’ when asked about his display underlined by two cracking goals.
“The lads were all man of the matches,” beamed Darren Coen. “It’s a huge team effort and it’s just unbelievable to have the cup here at the end of it.
“The first one, I’ll have to admit, was lucky,“ he smiled. “The first one hit, I think, a defender on the way in and finished in the back of the net. The second one, (it was) close your eyes and hit it is all I’d say,” he laughed.
“Surely, you must deserve some praise for scoring one off either foot?” enquired yours truly.
“I suppose, yeah, it is always nice to do that,” he conceded. “Your coaches would be telling you down through the years to work on both feet and it paid off today.”
The beaten Leinster finalists Offaly now await in the All-Ireland Quarter-Final on the August Bank Holiday weekend and Tony Duffy has already taken the opportunity to view them first-hand.
“I saw Offaly play against Longford last weekend and they were very good,“ he said. “They played poorly on the day but they have potential and I’d say they could be kicking after losing a Leinster final that they didn’t expect to lose. But we’ll enjoy this day and we’ll talk about it during the week.”