3 September 1997
Bank of Ireland All Ireland semi-final analysis
By John Melvin
There was the Great Wall of China; The Berlin Wall; the Wall of Tears; And now we have the Wonder Wall of the Mayo defence. It proved an impenetrable barrier for Offaly in Croke Park on Sunday as an official attendance of 56,369 watched Mayo advance to an All Ireland Final meeting with Kerry, the first final meeting since 1932 between the two great traditionalists of Gaelic football.
Mayo will be first to realise they have just been handed the keys to the Kingdom. Finding the All Ireland treasure is going to need a lot of deep digging before All Ireland Final day on September 28th, but if Mayo proved nothing else on Sunday, they have players willing to do the spade work and the hunger for success has not abated in the least. And what had to be admired in a performance which may not have come anywhere near the high standards of last years semi-finals, partly due to the inclement weather, and Mayo's iron will to win regardless, was the phenomenal workrate of the team in all departments.
Some cohesion in the criticised attack could see Mayo emerge as the team that can succeed in being the first team to return with Sam Maguire since 1951, but in my book it is better to win by six points with seventeen wides than to lose by a point and have no wides.
John Maughan and his men have every reason to approach the final with a great deal of optimism, but also accepting that defences may not always win games.
It was without doubt the most impressive defensive performance of any team in this years championship.
Fears that the Mayo full back line of Kenneth Mortimer, Pat Holmes and Dermot Flanagan might not stand up to the explosive Offaly full forward line proved unfounded. The Offaly full forward line never really got a look in; 0-1 was their tally. But it was the dominance of the Mayo half back line which really shutdown any sort of decent supply of ball into the Offaly attack which failed to register their first score until the 23rd minute, and failed to make an incursion past the Mayo fifty yard line in the first five minutes.
It was operation shutdown. Mayo's ploy of playing Pat Fallon and Colm McMenamon in deep roles further frustrated the Offaly forward line which were not allowed an inch of space. It was an outstanding piece of defensive strategy by army man John Maughan.
If the defence managed to shutdown the Offaly scoring machine it must be said the Mayo midfield partnership of Pat Fallon and David Heaney also helped in frustrating the quantity and quality of the ball coming from midfield.
Fallon's determination to get into this game was obvious from the start. He fielded, worked back in defence, distributed well. In fact, I've never seen the Balla man produce such an inspired display. He revelled in the thick of it all. His critics must now be satisfied that he is a midfielder that can measure up with anything on the current circuit.
It was a big assignment for David Heaney to be asked to make your championship debut at 20 years of age. It was no surprise given the type of progress he has being making and the kind of talent he possesses. He is not just a player with a great future but his present form could be vital in deciding the destiny of Mayo this year. He played as if Croke Park was his back yard and he although he could he accused of some naive play, which will disappear with more big time experience, he made a handsome contribution and proved a worthy assistant to Fallon.
I think the jury remains out on the decision to put Liam McHale at full forward. At halftime they would have said it had worked reasonably well, he was beating the full back to the low ball, but I expected McHale to be getting high ball, and that did not happen and his effectiveness as a target man was not exploited fully.
However, McHales influence was still critical as a linking players in an attack which, in fairness, did not link too well. Take David Nestor out of that attack and Mayo could have been in serious trouble in finding scores. He took two delightful points, worked his guts out and laid on a brilliant ball which should have produced a point, if not a goal, when O'Neill, McDonald and McHale in turn were shutdown. Why Mayo don't take points when they are just as good as a goal is something Mayo supporters will bring to the grave with them, if an All Ireland title isn't won soon. But when class was needed, Ciaran McDonald did deliver, three precious points in fact, one a beauty from the left wing after doing what corner forwards are meant to do- turn their men and disappear towards goal- but the skill of the chip-up was just as delightful to watch as the score itself. McDonald has the style and finishing ability but a bit more vision is needed if Mayo are to beat Kerry. The introduction of Kevin O'Neill for James Horan, whose game is suffering at the moment, proved an inspired choice from the bench.
It might have been his lowest contribution in terms of scores (0-3) but Maurice Sheridan's contribution from frees and work besides, was significant on a day when all hands had to be on deck.
It was a performance designed to suit the condition and brings Offaly dream run to an end. The next day it will need a different game plan when the stakes will be much, much higher.
Inside your top sports paper ....we have the reaction from the Mayo and Offaly camps; John Melvin's detailed match report on the senior game, Jonathan Mullins on the Mayo minors, Aiden Henry talks to some of the big names including the Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, and also visits the Mayo dressing room., T.J. Kilgallon give his expert view plus the best of colour photographic coverage that puts you in the picture.
