Peter Canavan says Mayo are close

Canavan puts on a great show


Daniel Carey

TYRONE football legend Peter Canavan says Mayo are in “a very similar position” to where his native county were before they won their first All-Ireland title. The six-time All Star was speaking at last Friday’s Mayo News/O’Neills Club Stars Charity Banquet at Knockranny House Hotel, Westport, where he was the special guest.
“For years we were the nearly men,” Canavan told the capacity crowd. “People were very quick to pass condescending remarks after we were beaten in Croke Park. A lot of people throughout the country are quick to knock Mayo. [But] persistence paid off for us. We just kept knocking at the door.”
The two-time All-Ireland winner extended best wishes to new Mayo manager James Horan, whom he described as “a man for the big occasion”.
In a hugely entertaining speech, Canavan recalled that after his club, Errigal CiarΡn, won the Tyrone county title in 1993, they were sent on a weekend away – to Hollymount. “I met people tonight I hadn’t seen in 17 years, and on behalf of Errigal CiarΡn, I’d like to apologise for our behaviour that night!” he said with a smile.
He also jokingly claimed credit for Ballintubber’s success in the Mayo Senior Football Championship, remembering an underage presentation night there some years ago where he recalled saying: “Boys, if you listen to everything I say tonight, you’ll win a county senior title.”
On a more serious note, Canavan thanked the people of Mayo for the “respect and dignity” they had shown when Tyrone visited for a National Football League match shortly after the death in 2004 of Cormac McAnallen. He said a memorial Mass held in Ballintubber Abbey the night before the match left its mark, and thanked Mayo people “for the way you treated us and the way you remembered Cormac”.
He congratulated the award winners, saying it was “only right” that club players were “honoured and respected”. Describing the event as “a unique occasion”, he added: “On no other night would the award-winners have to do press-ups on stage”, a reference to a competition overseen by popular MC Liam Horan.