Young blood still offers hope at banquet

Young blood still offers hope at banquet


Citywest
Michael Duffy

THE Mayo GAA community have had their fair share of post mortems at banquets in various hotels around Dublin over the last 28 years, but  last Sunday night in the Citywest Hotel in Saggart, at least there was an important piece of silverware taking centre stage.
Okay, it wasn’t the big one we had all being waiting so long to get our hands on, but the Tom Markham Cup has a history all of its own and Stephen Coen, Mayo minor captain, was a proud man as he led his team-mates into a room packed with some 1700 guests.
Twenty-eight years is a long time for a footballing mad county like Mayo to go without winning a minor title and there is no doubt that the victory over Tyrone gave everyone a chance to celebrate, a chance that so obviously wasn’t there at previous banquets in the aftermath of the recent senior defeats in 2004, 2006 and 2012.
Before the arrival of the victorious minors, James Horan’s valiant senior side were clapped into the Citywest with great verve, the huge attendance making a real effort to help the lads realise that their heroics of 2013 are deeply appreciated.
Most of the players looked uneasy, accepting handshakes and pats on the back, and as Andy Moran explained, their main concern was that they did not want to take away from the marvellous victory of their younger counterparts.
All of the speakers, Paddy McNicholas, Mayo County Board Chairman; Frank Burke, President of the Connacht Council and senior manager, James Horan, re-emphasised the great achievement of the minor team but Horan was also keen to impress on the U-18’s that this could just be  the start of a great footballing journey for them during their playing careers.
Both captain Stephen Coen and manager Enda Gilvarry spoke eloquently about what the victory actually means to them, with Coen stating the victory would mean he and his 30 or so team-mates would now be ‘friends for life’.
With the speeches over and a sumptuous meal courtesy of the Citywest Hotel out of the way, the crowd proceeded to set about enjoying the rest of the night, safe in the knowledge there was no work tomorrow.
This prior planning had been done in the hope that Sam Maguire would be hosting a party to remember. Sam had an able deputy in the shape of Tom Markham, but the majority of conversations were really about how Sam ended up in the Gibson Hotel with the Dublin team and not in Citywest. At the heel of the hunt, Mayo ended up marginally second best for the second year in a row at senior level, but the minors are top dogs for 2013 - and that in itself is something to celebrate.