Longford remains like a fishbone struck in the craw and continues to be a source of major discomfort as the blind is pulled down on 2010 and we open the curtain of hope to illuminate what we hope will be a good year for Mayo sport in general and Mayo football in particular.
Yes, Mayo has a fine sporting tradition, and teams and individuals have done themselves and the county proud, but, at the end of the day, the success of the county is measured against the yardstick of how the senior football team performs and how far down the road they can travel in what is the ultimate test – the championship.
Had we known the wait for Sam Maguire would now be entering into a sixth decade, and had we been aware of the light-year speed in advances in science, we could well be in a position now to clone the men of '50 and '51 if someone had the foresight to take a sample of their DNA for preservation.

Had the men of '50 and '51 been told their achievements would never be surpassed by at least one generation, if not two, they might well have shook their heads in disbelief.
We got a look into the shop front on a few occasions, notably '89, '96 and '97, but that championship defeat at the hands of Longford has forced us to re-evaluate just where exactly Mayo stand in the evolutionary chain of teams most likely to win a championship in 2010. Outside the top 10, in my humble opinion.
It may not have been the worst year ever for Mayo football but it certainly rates up there with the top five of years you would prefer to forget.
Funny how deceptive things can be and, not for the first time, we were lulled into high expectations on the back of what turned out to be some deceptive results.
After giving a hiding to Galway in the first round of the league at McHale Park it was difficult to envisage Mayo take another hammering in Croke Park in the national league final against Cork, Dublin the only team to beat them in the league.
It proved another traumatic day in Croker, and the misery followed Mayo into the championship, the Longford disaster coming, as it did, on the heel of another unpalatable defeat at the hands of Sligo.
As it transpired, Sligo turned out to be one of the better teams in the 2010 championship, adding the scalp of Galway to that of Mayo in a rare giant-killing double, but ultimately falling to Roscommon who took the Connaught title.
Those who travelled to Longford witnessed one of Mayo's darkest day, and a result which led to the immediate resignation of manager John O'Mahony.

O'Mahony took the flack for the failure of his team to stand up to what was a mediocre Longford side but few were left in doubt that the manager himself had not shuffled the deck very well.
It marked the end for O'Mahony who, despite the enormous trust placed in him and the support given to him, never looked like repeating what he had done twice in Galway by bringing back two All-Ireland titles.

Mayo were back under the glare of the media spotlight again as a successor to O'Mahony was sought and as the bookies stopped taking money on former Dublin manager Tommy Lyons, it was James Horan who slipped in quietly to take over the reins.
The Ballintubber man wasn't strongly fancied for the job but from once the former Mayo All-Star guided Ballintubber to the club's first ever senior football final his hand was strengthened and the pendulum swung violently in favour of appointing a local man for the job rather than going for an outsider.

He has the support of the Mayo public but his first test will be maintaining that support and, at the end of the day, league survival and a respectable crack at the championship will sway the public one way or the other.
What James Horan does deserve is time to impose his style on the team and time to assemble a team that will 'wear the shirt with pride', as he said after his appointment. He has to be afforded that time and space.

Minors shine a light

IF the senior and Under 21 football teams proved something of a disappointment, the same cannot be said for the county minor side who, once again, kept the flame of hope burning brightly.
They made it a hat trick of Connaught titles but ultimately came up against Tyrone, their nemesis of two years previously, when they came the closest to bridging that 25-year gap since the minor title last came to the county.
Tyrone were tipped for the title from the word go, and indeed the team ultimately delivered in the final, but not before being pushed all the way by Tony Duffy's young army who gave a very good account of themselves
The minor grade continues to provide an avenue of hope for Mayo football and if the minors and Under 21s can be coordinated, as they are in the plans of James Horan, we may see more prosperous times in the year ahead.
The day we lose hope is the day we throw in the towel.

Ballintubber, Tourmakeady and Parke arrive

The arrival of Tourmakeady, threatening to win the intermediate title for the last three years, was not unexpected but what caught a few of us scribes off guard was the emergence of Ballintubber as senior club champions.
Not even when it got down to the business end of things, which left Castlebar, Shrule-Glencorrib, Ballintubber and Knockmore in the race, were many of us convinced of Ballintubber's championship credentials, Knockmore the napped side.
In a disappointing final, which was enveloped in a cloud of sadness following the deaths of Ger Feeney and Donal McEllin in a boating tragedy, it was James Horan's defensive strategy which won the day against Castlebar Mitchels and captured Ballintubber's first ever senior title.

Patience paid off in the end for Tourmakeady who produced some of the best football on the club scene this year.
They went into the county final as underdogs against a strongly fancied Burrishoole side who failed to cope with the expansive attacking play of the Tourmakeady men, who made up for the bitter disappointment of losing out to Westport in the final the previous year.
Parke, with Frank McHale cracking the whip, delivered a county and a Connaught title and remain in the hunt for the All-Ireland title. They brought some good football to the junior grade and proved great champions, overcoming neighbours Islandeady in the Mayo final.

 

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