Countdown begins now

Countdown begins now

Daniel Carey

DAVID Brady and Trevor Mortimer are both expected to be fit for Mayo’s opening Connacht Championship match against Galway on May 20. Manager John O’Mahony said that last Sunday’s National Football League final ‘probably came a week too early’ for Brady, who has been hampered by calf and quad problems in recent weeks. Mortimer, whose metatarsal injury has kept him sidelined for much of the league, is also ‘very close’ to a return.
However, midfielder Barry Moran joined the extensive list of walking wound ed at the weekend. The Castlebar Mitchels man  has been ruled out for eight weeks after damaging ankle ligaments in Saturday’s All-Ireland U-21 semi-final against Laois. Ronan McGarrity’s illness means he almost definitely won’t be involved in Pearse Stadium next month, while Ciarán McDonald is also considered unlikely to feature. The Crossmolina attacker has made a few attempts to do light training, however, and is continuing to get treatment on his back.
McDonald’s clubmate James Nallen hurt his calf on Sunday and was replaced in injury time. All Star attacker Alan Dillon, who has had back problems on and off, also picked up a knock. Neither are thought to be too serious, however. Goalkeeper David Clarke played the full 70 minutes, despite suffering a hamstring injury in the league semi-final. Fellow netminder Kenneth O’Malley is still unavailable after dislocating his thumb in the victory over Dublin, but Marty McNicholas should be fully fit within a fortnight. The Breaffy attacker cracked a bone in his foot during a recent club match against Ballina.
O’Mahony has promised Mayo will ‘dust ourselves down’ after Sunday’s defeat by Donegal, but admitted that he ‘would have loved’ to have landed the league title, the only national crown that has eluded him as a manager.
“I think a victory would have stood us in good stead, and I felt we might have closed it out,” he said. “With a lot of injuries, it would have been nice to do it. But it wasn’t to be and you move on. Before today, we would have already [had] our plans and preparations in place for May 20, so the focus switches to that now.
“I’m disappointed to lose it … In that second half it was a crunch time, I felt we might have closed the deal at that stage. But it wasn’t to be, and fair play to Donegal, they came back and they closed it out. I feel that if we had gone a point ahead we’d have done the business.”
As speculation mounts about what 15 players will start against Galway, he paid tribute to his own squad for their efforts, saying their ‘co-operation, effort and commitment’ was ‘unrivalled anywhere’.

MEANWHILE, Mayo take on Clare at 3.30pm on Sunday in a challenge match in Parke in a game which will be preceded by the meeting of Parke and the Mayo Over-40s team. The matches are being organised to mark the opening of the club’s new stand which is dedicated to the memory of Jimmy McHugh, a club stalwart whose life was brought to an untimely end in December 1996.