Mayo ready for high noon showdown

THE Mayo minor Gaelic footballers will face Roscommon in the 2014 provincial decider when they meet in Elverys MacHale Park, Castlebar, on Sunday next at 12 noon.

The minor final will be the curtain-raiser to the senior decider between Mayo and Galway, which will get underway at 2 p.m.

It promises to be an enthralling minor final as both Mayo and Roscommon are excellent teams and both have been to the forefront not alone in Connaught, but also in the All-Ireland series over the past number of years.

Mayo, the reigning Connaught and All-Ireland champions, will be hoping to bring off the first part of a Mayo winning double, and emulate the feat achieved last year by the county seniors and minors.

However, the minors face an enormous task as they will be taking on a Roscommon side who are highly regarded, and were hugely impressive in their semi-final win over Leitrim.

With both Mayo and Roscommon having already booked their All-Ireland quarterfinal spots (the winners and losers of the provincial finals play in the All-Ireland quarterfinals), they can now fully focus on Sunday’s big prize.

The two teams had very tough semi-finals, with Mayo really having to pull out the stops along with a fair bit of luck before ending on the right side of a one-point game.

For Mayo, the game against Galway was always going to be a very tough assignment as not alone had they to face their arch rivals in the home of Galway football, Tuam Stadium, but they were up against a Galway side which expected to go a long way this year.

After 20 minutes of the clash it looked as if Mayo’s reign was going to come to an end as they not alone trailed by 0-6 to 0-2, but were simply being outplayed in every section of the field.

After a few changes by the team management, Mayo came back into the game in the final moments of the half and after team captain Cian Hanley brilliantly fired home a penalty, all of a sudden Mayo were back in the game.

Although points were traded on four occasions in the third quarter it was noticeable that Mayo had finally got into top gear where they began to win a lot more of the ball, and especially the loose balls, around the middle of the field.

Their cause was greatly helped by Galway being reduced to 14 players after they had midfielder Michael Daly sent off. After a thrilling last quarter, Mayo finally took the lead three minutes from time and held on for a great victory.

What was most encouraging from a Mayo point of view was that they showed magnificent battling qualities and somehow carved out a victory when most other teams would have ended up losing.

But one thing we can expect is that Mayo will come on in leaps and bounds from this outing (it must be realised this was their first game in the championship while it was Galway’s second) and will be much better equipped to deal with Sunday’s opponents right from the start.

Manager Enda Gilvarry and his selectors will not have an easy task in choosing their starting 15, as the changes in personnel and positional switches against Galway certainly paid dividends. However, we should see little change in defence, where Sean Conlon is likely to fill the centre-half back position. Gary Walsh and Matthew Ruane are likely to start in midfield, with the option being there to bring T.J. Byrne out from full-forward, as happened against Galway, if the need occurs.

There should also be little change up front. However, it will be very interesting to see where Sharoize Akram starts. He played at wing-forward against Galway in the first half but was brought back to wing-back for the second half, where he turned in a man of the match performance.

There is also plenty of talent on the bench, as we saw against Galway. Stephen Brennan, Fionán Duffy, Liam Byrne and Jack Reilly all acquitted themselves well in that game after entering the fray as substitutes.

Meanwhile, Fergal O’Donnell’s Roscommon will go into the final in confident mood after they overcame a Leitrim side which was regarded as one of their best ever. Their winning margin was five points and while they had to work very hard, their exceptional class came through in the end.

They are a balanced team, with plenty of fine young footballers, such as Shane Mannion, Brian Stack, Evan McGrath, Eoin Fallon, Tom Butler, Ronan Raftery, Luke Carty, a younger brother of Connacht rugby player and former Roscommon minor Jack Carty, and goal scorers against Leitrim, Noel Gately and Hubert Darcy.

So, what we have are two talented teams who will go hammer and tongs from the off in order to secure victory. However, while it will be very close throughout I feel Mayo will have their heads in front when it comes to the finishing line.
Verdict: Mayo.