The Mayo boys of summer 1971

FIFTY YEARS AGO The Mayo minor team are pictured before the start of the 1971 All-Ireland Final win over Cork. Back row, left to right: John O’Mahony, Johnny Culkin, James Quinn, Ray McNicholas, Mick Griffin, Con Moynihan, Frank Harty and Ger Farragher. Front: Seamus Reilly (RIP), Michael ‘Tick’ Higgins, Adrian Durkan, JP Kean, Ger Feeney (RIP), Mickey Maloney (RIP) and Mick Gannon (RIP). Pic: Connolly Collection

Reflections
SeΡn Rice

HALF a century has passed and the memory of a young football team paving a path to success is evoked. Images swirl in the mind of Mayo’s minors taking on the world of Gaelic football, streaking through the championship and stirring so much hope for the future.
The shadow of the county’s recent fall to Tyrone had obscured the achievement, and were it not for a nudge from sports editor, Mike Finnerty, the anniversary of that success and its promise would have shamefully passed us by.
The year 1971 had begun with lofty expectations after Mayo’s National League win the previous year. But like so many of Mayo’s promises that, too, took a tumble when in the first round of the championship Mayo, touted as All-Ireland material, lost to Roscommon.
So, whatever aspirations were held by the minor team that Austin Garvin, Paddy Waldron, Paddy Muldoon, Sean Reilly, Tommy O’Brien and others assembled that year, not a lot was expected from them by the general public.
Not even when they walloped Leitrim in the preliminary round by 5-19 to 0-2.
In a victory of that size it was easy to be a star. The big tests lay ahead. Still no one could ignore the leadership displayed by Con Moynihan, John O’Mahony of Ballaghaderreen, John P. Kean of Claremorris, Ger Farragher of Garrymore and Michael Gannon of Westport.
The scorers were G. Farragher (1-1); M. Gannon (1-3); J.P. Kean (0-3); M. Higgins (0-2) M. Cunningham (2-3); G. Feeney (0-6). Sub: C. Moynihan (1-1).
And they, too, stood out when they beat Galway by a point in the semi-final at MacHale Park. The final score was 1-7 to 0-9 and as the even distribution of Mayo’s scores indicates this was a side depending on no single star to succeed.
Scorers: G. Farragher (0-1); M. Gannon (0-1); J.P. Kean  (0-2); M. Higgins (0-1); N. Joyce (0-1); M. Cunningham (1-0). Subs: R. McNicholas; F. Harty (0-1); M. Fahy.
At that same venue they took on Roscommon in the final and won by 2-12 to 1-8.
Followers began to take notice. Style, speed and cohesion were the team’s main attributes. There was ambition and purpose in their moves.
The scorers were G. Farragher (0-2); J. Quinn (1-1); M. Gannon (0-2); J.P. Kean (0-1); F. Harty (1-3); M. Higgins (0-2). Subs: R. McNicholas and M. Fahy (0-1).
Tyrone provided the opposition in the All-Ireland semi-final, and the stiff test they offered was what Mayo needed for the final against Cork.Tyrone were not the football power they are now, but to have emerged from the tough opposition of the north was enough to indicate their capacity to send Mayo packing.
In the end four points separated them . . . 3-8 to 0-13. The Mayo scorers were M. Gannon (1-3); JP Kean (1-3);  M. Higgins (0-2) and sub M. Fahy (1-0).
And so when the ball was thrown in on All-Ireland final day on September 26, 1971, Mayo were outsiders. Cork had the record and the legacy. To dismiss Kerry from the championship was the commendation on which they breezed into the final as clear favourites.
And there they met their Waterloo. All of the class that Mayo had exhibited throughout the campaign blended into an all-round faultless performance in the final climaxing in a seven-point win. . . 2-15 to 2-7.
Michael Griffin in goal, John O’Mahony, Seamus Reilly and Aghamore man Adrian Durkin formed a full-back line that was sturdy and assured all through, and equally unflinching in the final.
Much of the pressure on them was absorbed by the outstanding half-back line of Ballintubber’s Ger Feeney, Con Moynihan and Ardnaree man Johnny Culkin.
James Quinn of Castlebar and Kiltimagh man Ray McNicholas dominated the midfield exchanges and while Kean, Gannon and Farragher were the leading lights up front, their performances were burnished by the selflessness of their Claremorris colleagues Mick Higgins and Mickey Maloney, and Frank Harty and Michael Fahy.
The Mayo scorers were: Con Moynihan (0-1), Ray McNicholas (1-1); Michael Gannon (0-3) John P. Kean (0-4) Michael Higgins (0-3) Ger Farragher and Frank Harty (0-1 each) and Michael Maloney (1-1).
Some members of that side went on to help win the Under-21 All-Ireland the following year. Two teams with great senior potential. Alas! Throughout the remainder of the decade the Mayo senior side languished in the doldrums.
Everyone had a solution for their difficulties. New managers came and went. The county board, players and management were censured. Nothing has changed.
Where has it all gone wrong?
The answer, as it was fifty years ago, is in the words of the song ‘blowing in the wind.’