Mayo goalscorer offers free advice

Goalscorer offers some free advice


Alan Freeman epitomised Mayo’s positive attitude

Reaction
Edwin McGreal

AS a gaggle of young Mayo supporters flock around full-forward Alan Freeman immediately after Sunday’s final whistle, one of them is keen to learn.
“What should I do if I’m one on one with a goalkeeper?” asks the budding footballer. “Keep it low,” replies Freeman, minutes after he had practised what he was now preaching.
The 57th minute goal was a key score in the game and pushed Mayo into a position on the scoreboard that reflected their dominance on the field.
“Andy (Moran) got it, I turned my man, and he had to go to Andy,” Freeman explained to The Mayo News. “Andy flicked it over the top and I went through. What I had tried to do was keep it on the ground and luckily it went under him.”
Freeman was one of the Mayo players who struggled to make inroads on the scoreboard in the opening period, but he quickly points out that first-half wastage didn’t adversely affect Mayo’s confidence.
“The missed chances were a little disappointing, but at least we were making the chances. And if we keep making them, we were going to take so many of them.
“I think that in the first half, we made the chances, and in the second half, we took them. We came out all guns blazing. “We got together at half-time and said we were not leaving this behind us, that we were going for it. That’s what we did in the second half.”
Freeman also made the valid point that greasy conditions didn’t make for good football on the day but also feels Mayo took a good step forward from where they were after the near-miss that was the London game in Ruislip.
“We didn’t play well in London. We know that ourselves. We tried to put right what we did wrong. I think we did part of that today but it is only one game. We’ve to concentrate on getting it right the next day as well.”

NOT far away, Mayo goalkeeper Robbie Hennelly was also on autograph duty. Incredibly, the Breaffy man could have been the game’s top scorer had he converted all the long-range efforts he was presented with.
“If I kept my feet I think I might have kicked one or two more,” he said with a rueful grin.
“I was tired by the end of the game now! I was happy to kick the two I did, they were kind of important enough at the time.”
For Hennelly, Mayo’s first-half performance contained more positives than negatives, and the mood at half-time was reflective of that.
“We were told to just keep sticking to the game plan, do everything the same, don’t panic and believe in ourselves. There was a bit of a breeze but we can’t use that as an excuse.
“A good sign of a team is [if you’re winning] most of the breaks. We put a lot of effort into winning breaks and it shows we really wanted it. We knew that if we kept doing the things we were doing, in the second half it would come together. And it did.”
Roscommon await and Hennelly is familiar with many of them through their underage clashes in recent years. He is also firm friends with DCU team-mate Donie Shine.
“Every game against Roscommon is a grudge game,” he smiled. “Down in the Hyde, we’ll settle ourselves now for that. It’s club championship next weekend and Roscommon will be a big game then. It always is and we’re looking forward to it.”