There was no place to Hyde for Jacko’s army
Leitrim bring about changing of the guard in 1994 victory over Mayo
SIDELINE CUT: By John Melvin
THEY say he was the fastest sprinter at training sessions. So fit that he could, in fact, have selected himself on the team he was managing. He was only 34 and had won seven All-Ireland medals as a member of the famous Kerry team of the late '70s and early '80s. The team that was stopped in their tracks from winning that five-in-a-row by Seamus Darby of Offaly fame (1982).
Jack O’Shea was appointed Mayo manager in 1992 and remains one of the most decorated players in the history of Gaelic football, winning seven All-Ireland senior medals, his first in 1978 and his seventh in 1986. He also has an extensive collection of other major prizes following an illustrious career, including six All-Stars and four Texaco Player of the Year awards.
It was little wonder that his appointment as Mayo manager sent a buzz of excitement and anticipation throughout the county but Jack’s qualities as a player – arguably the greatest midfielder ever to grace the game – could not be transferred to his career as a manager, at least not in Mayo, and he hasn’t ventured anywhere else since his stint with the Green and Red.
I don’t think all the blame can be laid at the feet of the Kerry man for his failure to bring Mayo to that Promised Land. Many have tried before and after Jacko but the gap since 1951 continues to expand rather than contract.
HIGH EXPECTATIONS
Jacko arrived in a county where expectations were always high but delivery on the big occasion had been consistently inconsistent.
Mayo have lived under the long shadows cast by both Galway and Roscommon in the '60s and '70s in particular, Mayo going 11 years without a Connacht title (1969 to 1981) at a time when a provincial senior medal was a highly prized piece of precious metal.
The departure of John O’Mahony in 1991 having brought Mayo within touching distance of an All-Ireland title in 1989 left a few ripples of unease in relation to the autonomy of the manager and the control of the county board.
The Mayo County Board had refused to allow him appoint his own selectors and O’Mahony, who would go on later to bring Galway to two All-Ireland titles (1998 and 2001), stepped down as manager.
O’Shea had taken the reins from Brian McDonald, who had been forced out of the job in the infamous players' revolt.
Jacko did win a Connacht title with Mayo in his first year, beating Roscommon in the final, but suffered a bad mauling when they crashed to Cork in the All-Ireland semi-final by 5-15 to 0-10.
The psychological scars of that hammering at the hands of Cork could possibily have impacted on Mayo’s championship of ’94 as Leitrim brought about both Jack O’Shea and Mayo’s demise by beating them in the final at Dr. Hyde Park, where Leitrim supporters in an estimated crowd of some 27,000 far outnumbered Mayo.
The story goes that at a weekend get-together in Castleblayney prior to the final, the Leitrim players placed a hefty bet on winning the title at odds of 16/1, while O’Mahony was so confident of winning that he had an open-top bus lined up for the tour of Carrick-on-Shannon for the evening of the final.
CAUSING A STIR
O’Mahony’s record since he took over the Leitrim job in 1993 had been causing a stir. His attention to detail and professional approach at all times had begun to instil a newfound belief in the team and it was clear that Leitrim were on a forward march when they defeated Galway in Tuam in the ’93 Connacht quarterfinal for the first time since 1949.
They were beaten by Roscommon in the semi-final, by just two points, but what they achieved in ’93 provided the platform for what was to unfold in '94, when they took three big scalps in succession – Roscommon, Galway and Mayo. O'Shea's Mayo had reached the final after beating Sligo.
Declan Darcy, who would later go on and play with Dublin, proved to be the key man in O’Mahony’s ‘94 successes as he kicked the winning point (a free) against Roscommon in the quarterfinal and nailed another late free against Galway in the semi-final to book a place against Mayo in the decider.
The final, like lot of Connacht finals of the time, was not of the highest quality but Mayo will have some particularly bad memories of the game. They scored a goal inside 18 seconds of the throw-in but failed to score for the remainder of the first half as Leitrim led by 0-6 to 1-0 at the break.
Matters didn’t improve for Mayo, who were outscored by 0-6 to 0-1 in the first 20 minutes of the second half, the damage now done and Mayo’s comeback in vain as they were beaten in the end by 0-12 to 2-4.
WRONG KERRY MAN
Maybe we had chosen the wrong Kerry man. Back in the good old days of The Beaten Path, I recall talking with Gay Nevin, the holder of an All-Ireland minor medal with Mayo, which he won in 1966, suggesting that Mayo should be looking for an outside manager.
Gay was always one to aim high and think outside the box, and he was convinced that Mick O’Dwyer was the right man at the right time for the Mayo job.
The Kerry man was interested, but not so the Mayo County Board. Micko ended up with Kildare, where he did two stints, then Laois and finally Wicklow, making a significant impact in all three counties.
We will never know what the Kerry legend might have brought to Mayo but you sense in retrospect it may have been an opportunity missed.
The decision to bring in Jack O’Shea was indeed a bold one but while Jacko was undoubtedly one the finest ever midfielders to grace the game, his career as a manager never reached the same heights – and that was down to the former Mayo and Galway manager, John O’Mahony, who was in charge of Leitrim when Mayo met them in the Connacht final of 1994.
However, a look back on the landscape prior to, during and after that 1994 final would indicate that Leitrim’s win – fully merited, I might add – was not unexpected, at least not in Leitrim.
It was up with that famous win by Clare under John Maughan over Kerry and produced that iconic image of captain Declan Darcy lifting the Nestor Cup, and by his side was Tom Gannon who captained Leitrim to the title in 1927.
It is highly unlikely we will see another upset this Sunday at MacHale Park. Gaelic football has moved on to a new level, Mayo have evolved and James Horan has assembled some of the finest young talent on the current scene and is trying to combine it with some of the more mature wine as he seeks the winning formula.
Footballers are now athletes, unlike so many teams in the past who were footballers but never became athletes, and in the modern game athleticism is an essential quality.
Sadly, we saw the yawning gap in standards between teams recently as Sligo were cut open by Mayo, who had their semi-final ticket in the bag by the interval.
There were so many positives in the game, notably Mayo’s ruthlessness in the first half in particular, and the fact that, while he is a huge loss, life can and will go on without Cillian O’Connor.
Mayo’s return to Division 1 football, after a brief period in Division 2, allied to their 20-point win over Sligo in the championship puts them in a strong position to build on last year’s run to the All-Ireland final and while it is a cliché to say Mayo can look no further than Sunday’s encounter with Leitrim, anything other than a win would surely result in Mayo facing charges of treason.
On that fateful Connacht final day in 1994, the Mayo team was: B. Heffernan; A. McGarry, K. Cahill, G. Ruane; P. Holmes, M. Coleman, P. Butler; C. McManamon, K. Staunton (1-0), K. O’Neill (0-1f), P. Fallon (1-0), T. Morley; J. Conmy, L. McHale, K. Lydon. Subs used: J. Casey for Morley, R. Golding (0-2) for Conmy, C. McDonald (0-1) for Lydon.
The winning Leitrim team was: M. McHugh; F. Reynolds, S. Quinn, J. Honeyman; N. Moran, D. Darcy (0-2, 1f), G. Flanagan; P. Kieran (0-1, 1f), P. Donoghue; M. Quinn (0-2), G. Dugdale, P. Kenny (0-1); A. Rooney (0-3, 1f), C. McGlynn, L. Conlon (0-1). Subs used: B. Breen for Conlon, J. Ward for Dugdale.