Johnno looking for answers

Johnno looking for answers

REACTION
ROB MURPHY
GALWAY

THE fine line between success and failure in sport is never better illustrated than in the short distance between the dressing-rooms in the immediate aftermath of a championship tussle.
It is here than the hordes of media, officials and well-wishers descend on managers and players alike. The winners, of course, receive the most attention.
As Peter Ford finishes his assessment of the contest, John O’Mahony emerges having just addressed the victorious Galway players. A side room provides the setting for an RTE interview before twelve tape recorders and two microphones converge.
Nothing too tricky for the esteemed manager but an early casual reference to the bad old days in Mayo football sets the tone. Outside some supporters had few qualms about mentioning the heavy defeats of 1981 and ‘95 and inside O’Mahony didn’t shirk from the prospect of such analogies.
“The comparisons with all the bad days will come up but we can’t think about that. We have to analyse what went wrong and work out why we could only get a performance like that. It’s not that the lads haven’t given total commitment but it just wasn’t there for some reason.” 
Outside in the tunnel as O’Mahony reflects Ford is chatting to the trickle of supporters who had found their way down to the dressing rooms, signing autographs and posing for some quick souvenir snaps.  Two different worlds as the Mayo manager continues his assessment.
“We were expecting the Galway forwards to be sharp and we had planned for that. But when you lose, all your plans are wrong and when you win, all your plans are right. I expect to get a negative on all of ours tomorrow morning. That’s the way it works. I’ve been in it long enough to know that.”
If there is one characteristic the two managers share it is the forthright way in which they reflect on a game of football but neither lets a defeat completely consume them either. As the interview continues O’Mahony’s passion for future success comes to the fore.
“This defeat won’t change what we have to do going forward. We have seven weeks now before we go into a more difficult back door situation. It’s about staying together. We are meeting tomorrow evening (Monday). We’ll chat about this and we’ll see who has the will to turn this around.
“That’s the only thing that faces every Mayo player, everyone in management and everyone at county board level in that dressing room. You win together and you lose together and that’s what it is going to be about in the next few days.”
Aspects of the game are discussed including the effect the strong Salthill wind that Mayo faced in the first half had on the contest and the ‘what if’ scenario surrounding Conor Mortimer’s goal chance just after half-time.
“The wind wasn’t really a factor, you can talk about that or anything else but you keep coming back to the problem today which is that we didn’t produce a performance and Galway did simple as that. We’ll talk behind closed doors about this but no team goes out to play as we did out there.“
To finish O’Mahony is asked to assess how frustrating the seven-week break before the qualifiers will be for his squad.
“I have only started thinking about the back door in the last seven minutes. We’ll have to come through that. The only one that can do anything about it is the people within the set-up and I can assure you we’ll be doing something about it.
“On the day the performance was there from Galway and it wasn’t there from us. The one thing about sport is you own up to it. I’m as bewildered as anyone at this stage but I certainly feel we’ll get to the bottom of it.”