Mayo GAA has seen worse years than this – a whole lot worse!

by John Melvin

A NATIONAL League Division 1 title, an FBD League title and a quarterfinal exit in the All-Ireland championship. It wasn’t really that bad a year for Kevin McStay, who was finally granted his wish to become manager of the Mayo senior football team.

It was a strange year for Mayo football but we have come to expect that as the Green and Red have a habit of raising our hopes only to drop us in it.

The one thing you can nearly always be sure of is that they will give you an interesting ride, a journey that can take you to the dizzying heights of unbridled joy and sometimes to the depths of despair.

Normally things begin to get better when you get off to a bad start but when Mayo beat Kerry in their first game in the group stages of the All-Ireland championship, some of us that day in the press box in Killarney began to wonder if McStay, who had only taken the reins from James Horan, would become the Messiah in just his first year, leading Mayo to the Promised Land.

It didn’t go horribly wrong after that but instead of being in control of the group, which would have guaranteed them a place in the All-Ireland quarterfinal, a defeat against Cork, having beaten Louth, sent them into a preliminary quarterfinal game against Galway.

That game, played in Croke Park, provided Mayo with the chance to atone for their defeat against the Tribesmen in 2022, but the trouble for Mayo started when they lost to Roscommon in the quarterfinal of the Connacht championship on their home patch at Hastings Insurance MacHale Park.

Having won the league title by beating Galway, Mayo were forced to play their opening championship game a week later, and, to be fair, that was not an ideal situation to find themselves in. Credit to the Mayo manager, he just got gone on with the job at hand.

Ultimately, McStay's charges made their exit from the championship when they lost to Dublin in that quarterfinal (2-17 to 0-13).

SOLACE

There was some solace for McStay to have lost to the eventual All-Ireland champions but there was little comfort for the team given the manner in which they performed, an early second-half blitz from Dublin seizing the initiative after Mayo looked to be well in the game at half-time. They trailed by a single point at the break having been the better team in that opening half.

A midfield collapse and defensive frailties which saw Colm Basquel score two goals, the second one gifted to him, were to prove fatal for Mayo, who looked leg-weary after the end of a long campaign.

The performance exposed some of the issues Mayo will need to address ahead of the 2024 season, but there may be a few crumbs of comfort for McStay – who was, in fairness, in his first year at the helm.

Sam Callinan put in a massive year for Ballina Stephenites, the newly crowned county champions, while the form of Jack Carney, who had a brilliant year with Kilmeena in the intermediate club championship, will ensure that Mayo have two players who particularly impressed in 2023, and I expect we could see big things from them in 2024.

Dylan Thornton is another Ballina player of note, while Luke Feeney was without doubt the outstanding young player of the senior championship.

Knockmore didn’t win two senior titles in a row without producing quality players who are county standard, the likes of Caolan Hopkins, Aaron Timlin and Kieran King putting in some impressive performances, while Ballintubber too are producing the goods, Keelan McDonnell one who certainly caught the eye.

There may be others in the intermediate and junior ranks who could step up to the plate as both those championships produced some terrific games. Hopefully there will be some reward for players who, despite playing in the lower ranks, aspire to wearing the county jersey – and why not.

PASSION

With Kevin McLoughlin, Brendan Harrison and Jason Doherty deciding to call it a day, Mayo will find it difficult to replace three men who wore the shirt with such pride and passion for more than a decade.

Mayo will go into next season well short on experience but despite the poor quality of some games in the senior championship, and the county final especially, Colm Reape, Aidan O’Shea, Padraig O’Hora, Paddy Durcan, Ryan O’Donoghue, Diarmuid O’Connor, Jordan Flynn, Stephen Coen, Mattie Ruane, Tommy Conroy, Jack Coyne and Eoghan McLaughlin will be expected to lead the charge next season, and don’t rule out Cillian O’Connor giving his county one more year.

Westport may have fallen well short in the defence of their senior title, crashing to Breaffy at the quarterfinal stage, but they still have a few players who have plenty to offer, the likes of Colm Moran, Fionn McDonagh and Mark Moran in particular come to mind.

Likewise Castlebar Mitchels have plenty of talent coming through. Bob Tuohy is one that stood out this year, while Paddy Heneghan is a very talented player, as is Mark Dolan, who caught the eye right up to their exit to Breaffy.

Teams like Castlebar and Claremorris have plenty of talent coming through after the county Under 21 final produced one of the best games of the year, while Bohola Moy Davitts and Davitts (Ballindine/Irishtown) lost nothing in their semi-final defeats, so I see the glass very much half-full rather than half-empty for Mayo minor, Under 20 and senior teams in 2024.

The All-Star club selection against a Mayo team should shed some further light on what talent is going to be available for 2024, but one thing is for sure, the players are out there.

Now let’s find them.