20 August 1997
Regan blow to All Ireland bid
By John Melvin
Charlie Regan, one of the prime movers behind the march of Mayo junior footballers into the All Ireland Final, is ruled out with a hand injury for Saturday's clash with Kerry at Ennis (5.00).
Regan has been a key figure in the Mayo attack and is a huge loss as the Connacht champions's bid to win a title that the county won tow years ago when they beat London in the Final.
However, some good news for Billy Fitzpatrick's charges is that Ollie Walsh is looking good for a return to the side after injury and they are also boosted by the availability of Tony Morley, who is also on the Mayo senior panel, and Castlebar Mitchels pacey forward, Steve Murphy.
Mayo are likely to name a team very close to that which beat Warwickshire to reach the final and which will include the strong attacking force- which scored 4-10- of Michael Smith, Brendan Fitzpatrick, Dave Loughlin, Brian Shaughnessey and the back-in-form Walsh.
Gary Ruane and Johnny Commins is likely to be named as the midfield partnerhip while, in defence, Mayo are well served by goalkpper John Dunne >from Swinford, Donal Costello (Ballinrobe), John McCallion (Swinford), James Fallen (Mayo Gaels), Declan Touhey (Bonniconlon) and Padraic Hession Garrymore). However, Mayo face much stronger final opponents on Saturday in the guise of Kerry who have looked impressive in their Munster Final win over Clare (1-15 to 0-9) and All Ireland semi-final win over Meath (0-12 to 1-8.
But Mayo-And Kerry clashes have not always gone the way many people expected them in recent years. The senior footballers did beat Kerry it in last years's All Ireland semi-final, the under 21's and minor teams have come close to beating them in recent years, and I have a feeling this Mayo junior side is well capable of putting another one over on the Kingdom.
Mayo have prepared well for the championship and that is reflected in their performances to date, notably their impressive Connacht Final win over Roscommon and an even more impressive All Ireland semi-final defeat of Warwickshire on a whopping 4-10 to 0-8.
The one worry manager Billy Fitzpatrick might have going into this clash with Kerry is the absence of a more rigorous test at the all Ireland semi-final stage as Mayo were really in a different class than Warwickshire.
Meath and Kerry fought out a hard slog before Kerry finally triumphed by a single point but the Kerry side are very strong at midfield and have couple of handy forwards notably the talented former m=minor Liam Brosnan, former senior player Sean McElligott, John Quirke, Johnnie Daly and defender Dessie Moynihan.
A hard one to call but this looks a very well organised Mayo team and I think they will have the punch up front to floor Kerry.
