Mayo are not for changing ahead of 2017 championship
WITH the 2017 Connaught senior football championship only weeks away, the main focus now for managers is selecting their 30-man panels they will hope will bring provincial, and ultimately maybe All-Ireland success.
Mayo supporters had been hoping that after a rather topsy-turvy national league campaign, the senior team management would unearth a number of new players to come into the panel to freshen it up and drive the team to success.
But that's not going to happen.
If Mayo are going to achieve the ultimate prize this year, they are going to have to do it with more or less the same panel of players as last year.
I am of the opinion that when Stephen Rochford gets around to announcing his championship panel, he will stick with a group of players who have been involved with the county senior team for a long number of years.
The following is the panel, in alphabetical order, I expect will be his 30-man championship squad
Chris Barrett, Fergal Boland, Colm Boyle, Ger Cafferkey, David Clarke, Stephen Coen, Caolan Crowe, Alan Dillon, Jason Doherty, David Drake, Patrick Durcan, Brendan Harrison, Lee Keegan, Robbie Hennelly, Keith Higgins, Danny Kirby, Conor Loftus, Kevin McLoughlin, Andy Moran, Barry Moran, Shane Nally, Donie Newcombe, Cillian O'Connor, Diarmuid O'Connor, Aidan O'Shea, Conor O'Shea, Seamus O'Shea, Tom Parsons, Evan Regan and Donal Vaughan.
As one can see, other than Fergal Boland, manager Rochford and his selectors haven't added any new players for their second assault on the championship.
When the present management took charge they inherited this panel of players from the James Horan and Noel Connelly/Pat Holmes time at the helm.
I believe this is a very worrying statistic for some crucial reasons.
The other thing to realise about this present Mayo panel is the majority of the players are coming to the twilight of their inter county football careers.
What happens at the end of this year's championship if 10,12, 14 or 16 of them decide to call it a day?
Where are Mayo going to get players to replace them for the years ahead?
Mayo minors won the All-Ireland final in 2013 and most of that group went on to win a second All-Ireland with the county Under 21 team last year. They are already proven winners. But how many of them are in the present Mayo panel now. Very few.
What is going to happen to the likes of Michael Plunkett, Eoin O'Donoghue, Michael Hall, Sharoize Akram, Brian Reape, Liam Irwin, Seamus Cunniffe, Fionn Duffy and Rory Byrne?
Is Adam Gallagher going to make the championship panel? He was added to the national league panel for the last number of games but didn't feature.
Will the likes of Neil Douglas, Ger McDonagh or James Shaughnessy get a chance this summer?
I fear not.
The bottom line is that unless six, seven or eight of Under 21 side from last year are not brought into the senior set-up this year, they might not be around in 2018.
Our present senior squad, which has given great service and many wonderful moments, is ageing and cannot be expected to compete too much longer at the top.
That's why introducing young talent is so important.