GAA championship reflections from Mayo

by Martin Carney

WITH nothing looming on the immediate horizon for the Mayo senior team at the moment and given that every one of the contestants in all of the provinces have at least had their first day out, I suppose it’s as good a time as any to reflect on what we have seen to date.

To begin with I’d like to revisit the opening weekend again where results came with a mix of shocks and surprises, and not all in Connacht at that. Mayo’s failure to beat Roscommon came under the ‘big disappointment’ banner but registering it as a shock would be to over-dramatise matters.

Aside from the fact that the teams were separated by a small margin after their Hyde Park contest, Roscommon ended up third place in the league.

Sligo made their trip to London a fruitful one and their progress to the semi-final was another indicator of the progress evident in the county.

New York’s first win in the province was 25 years in the making but given the whispers emanating from the Big Apple beforehand, it was always likely that Leitrim’s journey there came wrapped under the ‘treat with caution’ bracket.

Those involved on the other side had made a huge effort, not alone by way of preparation but in recruiting the best possible talent on the eastern seaboard.

With the confidence that came from the Leitrim success spurring them on, I can only guess at their collective disappointment last Saturday evening when their performance standards against Sligo fell far short of expected and led to defeat.

Whether or not it was a case of being overawed by the occasion, the facts were they offered little by way of resistance to a Sligo team who comfortably swatted them aside.

Sligo then had little time in waiting to discover the identity of their opponents in the Connacht final, where 24 hours later Galway, despite a wobbly third quarter, did enough to see off the Roscommon challenge.

Traces of the Roscommon in-game inconsistencies that reared their heads in the Mayo clash reappeared during this encounter.

On this occasion, a barely credible first-half performance that yielded a meagre three points – none from play, incidentally – proved their undoing. In this period, by over-emphasising defence, they allowed Galway too much possession and failed to unleash their attacking potential.

Then, on the back of an excellent third quarter when they did place greater emphasis on attack, they established a narrow lead but were unable to make their supremacy count on the scoreboard due to a combination of unforced errors and glaring misses.

In contrast, Galway found the key scores at vital moments, none more so that an opportunist Damien Comer goal which restored a lead they were never to lose.

The outcome of these results is that the winner of the Galway v Sligo Connacht final will be seeded one while the runner-up will be a number two seed. And as for Mayo and Roscommon, both will be seeded three when the draw is made for the group stages of the championship in a few weeks’ time.

CEMENTED

Roughly 40 years ago, the Meath senior footballers looked far from All-Ireland senior winners.

Getting knocked out by Wexford in 1981 and Longford a year later, few would have predicted that they would twice have raised the Sam Maguire by the turn on that decade, on both occasions at the expense of Cork.

Further successes in 1996 (how can we in Mayo ever consign that result to the margins?) and 1999 cemented their position as one of the most successful teams of the past 25 years, so imagine how supporters in the county feel today now that their only remaining football for the year will be in the Tailteann Cup.

Defeat to Offaly on Sunday sealed their fate, so a county with one of the biggest populations, a thriving club scene and a home for the All-Ireland minor winners two years ago will have to endure the ignominy of competing in the ‘B’ championship.

Donegal, though not for now as drastically infirm as the Royals, were well beaten by Down on Sunday but nonetheless will enjoy equal status as Mayo as a number three seed when the draw is made.

From watching affairs in my native county closely, I fear that it may take time for a county that has experienced All-Ireland success as recently as 2012 to regain the eminence it once enjoyed.

In highlighting the fate of these counties, it goes to show that nothing is ever constant in sport.

And Louth will today be celebrating this fact from another angle entirely. In a footballing limbo for years, they have out of nowhere managed to raise their standards and will now face the might of Dublin in the upcoming Leinster semi-final.

Their last success in the province was in 1957, a year they went on to win the Sam Maguire. Their last appearance in a Leinster final came in 2010 (incidentally their first since 1960), so one can imagine the excitement that their championship run has generated locally.

The catalyst for this was the appointment of Mickey Harte as manager.

Along a shrewd county chairman, Peter Fitzpatrick (a footballer of some renown in his day), they have managed to infuse the required standards into a group of players who will relish the prospect of rubbing shoulders with the mighty Dubs.

IMPRESSION

Few people I’ve met during my time in the GAA left as deep an impression as Crossmolina’s Dr. Mickey Loftus, who went to his eternal reward last weekend.

A gentleman in every sense of the word, he managed to run a thriving medical practice alongside devoting endless hours to promoting all aspects of the GAA.

Part of the 1950/51 Mayo squad, a distinguished All-Ireland referee in the '60s, an erudite, fair and far-thinking administrator who became the President of the GAA, he treated people of all classes and creeds with the greatest respect.

An outspoken commentator on the issue of alcohol abuse, he did all in his power to bring about changing attitudes in relation to the link between alcohol advertising and sport.

Sincere sympathy to his family. May he rest in peace.