Dempsey slams the system

Dempsey slams the system

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Edwin McGreal

MAYO Minor boss Raymond Dempsey has slammed the structure of the Connacht Minor football championship which saw Mayo, playing their first game in the championship, defeated by Roscommon, lining out for the third time.
Roscommon and Sligo had earlier come through a round robin series of games with Leitrim being the other county involved. The round robin was brought in early last year to aid the so-called ‘weaker’ counties but, ironically, Roscommon were included prior to going on an actually winning last year’s All-Ireland.
“I’m disappointed and I will say that Roscommon were far the better team,” Dempsey told The Mayo News. “A big worry for me going into the game was the lack of a championship game in advance. Roscommon had that advantage. They drew their first game with Leitrim but by the time they were playing us they had a lot more momentum.
“Roscommon are All-Ireland champions and were given the chance to improve and to find their best team,” he added. “We hadn’t seen our lads in championship and it was hard for them to play against a side who had the benefit of earlier games.”
The Knockmore man feels that labelling Galway and Mayo as ‘stronger’ sides in Connacht is unfair as minor teams change from year to year.
“I’m not looking for excuses but there is no reason why Mayo and Galway should be handicapped,“ he said. “You’re not dealing with players who have loads of experience at this level, you’re dealing with players who are coming into the scene for the first time and their opponents (Roscommon) are afforded a much better opportunity to prepare.
“You hear senior players complain about going into a game cold but most of them will have at least played championship at that grade before. Most of our Minor players were competing at this level for the first time. I won’t go down the road of criticising my players, it’s nearly an impossibility for them, it’s their first exposure at this level.”
But the Mayo manager was effusive in his praise for Fergal O’Donnell’s side and feels that Mayo can learn from them. “I knew Roscommon would cause us serious problems. They’ve a quality team and a quality set-up. They’ve had Dermot Earley [Roscommon legend] in and have a huge network of people involved.
“People might read this as an excuse but these are the facts. Roscommon are on weights since last September. Those who were in last year’s panel have been doing them since the previous September. They’ve a huge amount spent on their underage system and they are getting to work with lads as soon as possible.”
Dempsey added that the Mayo dressing-room was not a nice place to be after Saturday’s defeat but that how the players respond will say a lot about their character.
“My view is that after a defeat like that it is better to get back up on the horse as quick as possible. It’s all about the lads’ own attitude to sport and to life as to how they will come back from this. There are some of them minor again next year, all of them can return to their clubs, they can look at aiming to play U-21 football in the future with Mayo and look at Mayo seniors.
“We have put in a hard six months,” continued Dempsey, who was appointed in December. “But Roscommon are All-Ireland champions and they have two games under their belts.
“It was very hard to compete with that. I would never back down from a challenge but it was the players’ first appearance at this level. Roscommon were playing championship six weeks ago, we had our first game on Saturday. There is only so much training games and challenges will do for you.”
As for his future as manager, Dempsey was taking a wait and see approach. “It’s a thing for me and the county board to discuss. It will be their call.”