27 August 1997
NOW MAYO MUST DELIVER
John Melvin
Bank of Ireland All Ireland semi- final preview
The best way I could think of attempting to explain Offaly's rise from division four of the National League to All Ireland status is that, when the invitations to the All Ireland banquet were sent out, the one addressed to Meath ended up in Offaly. It was no fault of the postman. He had the right address alright, but what many of us did not take into consideration was that Offaly, and manager Tommy Lyons in particular, had become tired of hearing that same old line 'return to sender, sorry, not known at this address'.
And there are many parallels between Mayo and Offaly as Sunday's intriguing All Ireland semi-final clash gets tantalisingly closer. What makes this clash so intriguing is its' uniqueness and, without doubt, its' uncertainty.
But returning to the parallels between the two teams, there is no doubt that Offaly and Mayo are coming from the same poverty trap which has ensnared teams who were weaned on the glory of the heroes who went before them but who have been struggling to find their true value in the modern game.
Seamus Darby is about the only thing that most people can recall when football in Offaly comes up for discussion. It is easy to understand why. Offaly haven't won a championship since that famous final of 82. It was the goal which robbed Kerry of a history making five-in-a-row All Ireland's.
Hunger pains For some reason, Offaly football was never to be the same again. It took them until last Saturday week to rediscover themselves after a celebration which appears to have lasted fifteen years. The Mayo championship famine does not quite extend fifteen years. In fact, some might even suggest there has been a proverbial feast of Connacht titles in the 90's Mayo-six in the last ten years-88, 89, 92, 93, 96 and 97- but the hunger pains that is associated with All Ireland emptiness still gnaws away at the very belly of Mayo football and won't go away until they have feasted on an All Ireland success.
They have come close. That 85 re-play with Dublin, a match that should have been won the first day when an Offaly man by the name of Sean Lowry, the holder of two All Ireland medals with his native county, was inexplicably dropped. Many believe it cost Mayo at least a place in the final, if not a title. In 89 there was another close call when John O'Mahony was on the brink of delivering but lost narrowly to Cork. Then we had the 92 semi-final and Donegal, when Mayo heads were down even before the game and then we had the disgrace of Mayo beaten out of sight by Cork under Jack O'Shea in 93, hailed as the saviour of Mayo football but proving conclusively that great players don't always make great managers.
Reputation
Mayo was getting a reputation as a team who just didn't know how to win, and worse still, didn't have the will or the guts to win.
It was hurtful for a county with such a proud and noble tradition in the art of Gaelic football. It cut deep with supporters who had refused to abandon the cause, no matter how grim it became. It was time for a new vision. A new strategy. A new philosophy. A new breed. Cometh the man, cometh the moment, and John Maughan arrived. He didn't make empty promises, nor did he make wild claims but he did promise he would put pride back in the jersey and on that count he has certainly succeeded. And while he showed last year in two hectic finals with Meath that he is infallible, there is a strong belief that he has a team this year capable of winning an All Ireland title. Offaly manager Tommy Lyons believes the same and Sunday's clash will be just as much a test of managerial wit as foot balling ability on the day.
Test of wit
Maughan preparation has been severely hampered and at the time of writing this piece I was not aware of what team has been selected for duty. But what I do know is that Mayo have set of backs comparable with the best in the country and if Offaly get even half the score that they did against Meath, then I am a poor judge of defensive qualities.
It goes without saying that Kevin Cahill is a huge loss. His cut and dash would have been very suited to the Offaly style of play and he would certainly be the man to take on the big task of marking Roy Malone, a 20 year-old Offaly full forward of immense talent.
But I have great faith in Pat Holmes, whose experience and guile, rather than his quickness of foot, will carry him through on Sunday. The very experienced Vinnie Claffey and Peter Brady pose two serious threats as corner forwards, but again Kenneth Mortimer and Dermot Flanagan, have proven pedigrees having marked the top players in the game.
James Nallen will be hoping to find the form that saw him sparkle in Croke Park last year and he will need to be at his best to contain Sean Grennan, the holder of five senior club championship medals with Ferbane. Nallen is a centre back of real quality and in Fergal Costello and Noel Connelly, Mayo have two wing backs with no shortage of courage and abundance of pace and should be able to close down Colm Quinn and David Reynolds.
I think its a fair observation to make, that if Mayo are to win this match, they are going to win it from the back, rather than the front. We have the backs. But do we have the forwards? Maurice Sheridan, assuming he is out, and the news gets bleaker as the days go by, is an incalculable loss. He is averaging over 0-6 a game while his contribution from play in general has also significantly improved. I can't see any Mayo forward reaching that target on Sunday and that means there has to be a huge effort from the attack in general.
And the man that is best suited to creating those options for the forwards is Liam McHale, not at full forward, but at midfield where I hope he is named, Pat Fallon being his mostly likely partner and Colm McMenamon back to his customary centre forward role with a roaming commission. Observers at training suggest David Heaney is being groomed for a place, possibly midfield. I'd have no problem with the Swinford lad, who can really play in a variety of positions, and who has been showing consistently good form at under 21 level. The question is, at whose expense, and is the gamble on his lack of expense at this level too great at this juncture? Such are the decisions managers have to make. If they work out all is well, but they do have a habit of back-firing.
Ciaran McDonald's absence, along with Sheridan, would, I believe, be just too much for Mayo to hold out serious hopes of scoring enough to win but the news on McDonald does not appear to be bad and I expect him to be wearing he number 13 shirt.
John Casey's loss of form has been perplexing and his posting at full-forward, after series of poor performances has to be seriously questioned. He might profit from a change to the wing or to the corner. James Horan too has not been having the best of seasons and will need to produce a performance on a level with that of last year's All Ireland Final while David Nestor, always a reliable worker, P.J. Loftus, Kevin O'Neill, Diarmuid Byrne, and Ronan Golding are among the alternatives, as Maughan attempts to shape an attacking formation that will undermine an Offaly defence which looked vulnerable enough against Meath. His biggest dilemma is picking the best team to do the job.
Given the long lay-off that David Brady has had, it is unlikely that Maughan will start him, but he is a marvellous substitute to be able to bring in.
Tommy Lyons does not have the problems that John Maughan has. I expect his team will be very much on line with tat which beat Meath.
Their strength lies in the pace of the forwards and a good half back line which has a capacity to deliver fast ball into the forwards but Mayo could exploit some weaknesses in the full back line of Cathal Daly, Larry Carroll and Barry Malone, who at 18, will be the youngest player on the field.
The main task facing Lyons will be to keep his sides' feet on the ground. It can take a while to return to earth after beating the All Ireland champions.
The glare of publicity has been off John Maughan who has chosen to keep his players out of view and away from the media. It is a new tactic which may, or may not, work to his advantage. His biggest challenge will be to get his team to believe they will not be seeing Meath jerseys coming out of the tunnel on Sunday. He must convince them that they will be seeing a fit, determined and well motivated Offaly team in the colours of the Irish flag, and Leinster champions who are now an even bigger threat than Meath ever were to their All Ireland ambitions.
In essence, he must tell his team that while the invitation was intended for Meath, Offaly have replied, and Mayo must now write back and tell them that there are only two teams in an All Ireland Final and convince them that Mayo are going to be one of them. As promised last year, Mayo are back. And they will be back once more this year before the business is done. As the film said 'The Postman always knocks twice', with the appendage 'on his way to Croke Park through Offaly'.
