Mayo Under 20 hurling manager calls for change to B competition format

Kevin Egan

Mayo Under 20 hurling manager Brian Finn said that he would like to see a revamp of the All-Ireland Under 20 B Championship after his charges crashed out of the competition at the hands of a devastatingly strong Roscommon side in Castlebar yesterday (Monday), losing on a scoreline of 2-30 to 1-10.

“Physically we weren’t strong enough. It wasn’t a match – we just couldn’t keep with them,” was Finn's blunt summary after the game.

He added: “I can’t make any excuses. Our lads did as much as they could but they were stronger and fitter than us and we couldn’t stick with the pace of it.

“There were a lot of young lads out there, they’ll learn from that, regroup and go again certainly. Some have come through from Under 17 last year and they have two more years in the grade, but it was men against boys in a lot of places.”

When it was put to him that their straight knockout format didn’t do a lot for player development when contrasted with the structure for A level counties, or for football teams in the province, Finn was clear in what he’d like to see.

“Take Donegal – we beat them and if they didn’t have the Ulster League, they were out after one game. If we had lost, we were out after one game, which is terrible for lads. With eight teams it’s very easy to have two groups of four, three games, and you have something to build on, and we can’t change that.”

Finn continued: “We have four lads injured. Three of them definitely would have been starters, and injuries from other codes stopped them from playing. We have lads getting pressure from clubs to play games, and we can only take what we get out of them.”

FORCE

Roscommon, with 12 members of their team currently on the senior panel, looked like a completely different force. The stars of the show were wing-back and UL freshers hurler Micheál Hussey, midfielder Keelan Ryan, wing-forward Paddy Fallon (now in his third year with the Roscommon senior panel) and centre-forward Seán Canning, a first cousin of former Galway star Joe Canning.

However, all across the Hastings Insurance MacHale Park pitch the Rossies looked stronger, sharper and more purposeful.

A fine early score from distance from Killian Gallagher and another point from Eoin Ryan, one where there might even have been a hint of a goal chance had he laid off to Ronan Fallon, left Mayo 0-3 to 0-2 ahead after the early exchanges, so there were signs of hope.

Roscommon were boosted by a goal from Brian Mannion, who just out-reached Brian O’Donovan to get a touch on a dropping ball and set up an easy finish, but a point from Colm Enright in response proved that Mayo were still capable of troubling their neighbours.

Then it all went wrong as Roscommon scored 1-4 on the spin, their goal coming from Canning after he scythed through the heart of the defence, with two more points following almost immediately.

Colm Enright scrambled a close-range goal for the hosts but Roscommon snatched momentum right back with a run of points leading up to half-time, including a nice strike on the run by Rory Lyons just before the break.

Mayo mustered up an element of resistance in the first five minutes of the second half, with just one point scored at either end to make it 2-14 to 1-7, but the next 25 minutes or so was a procession, with Roscommon knocking over 15 of the next 16 scores.

Late points from Enright and Killian Gallagher were the least that Mayo deserved for an honest effort but one that never looked like yielding a positive result, and a scoreline that should lead to some level of introspection within hurling circles in the county.

Mayo: Brian O’Donovan; Aidan McGing, Conor Ketterick, Anthony Rowland; Killian Gallagher (0-2), Matthew Connor, Jake Glavey; Fiachra Glavey, Seán McGhee; Seán Geraghty, Eoghan Ketterick, Eoin Ryan (0-1); Colm Enright (1-2), Ronan Fallon (0-4f), James Byrne (0-1).

Subs used: James Greally for E. Ketterick (27), Micheál Richardson for J. Glavey (44), Lucas Kenny for Byrne (44), Cathal Guilfoyle for Geraghty (44), Oisín Mulroy for Rowland (50).

Roscommon: Jack Ryan; Oisín Flynn, James Dillon, Tomás Tiernan; Jimmy Hoey, Tommy Fleming, Micheál Hussey (0-1); Liam Óg Coyle (0-3), Keelan Ryan (0-1); Paddy Fallon (0-12, 5f, 1s), Seán Canning (1-6), Rory Coyle; Brian Mannion (1-3), Gavin Meares (0-1), Rory Lyons (0-3).

Subs used: Conor Kelly for R. Coyle (44), Daniel Bolger for Tiernan (44), Cathal Geraghty for Meares (48), Jack Tully for Dillon (48), Aidan Hoare for L. Óg Coyle (51).

Referee: Michael Connolly (Sligo).