Mayo Fail to Overhaul Champions
3 September 1997
Missed chances regretted in sad
retrospect
Report from Croke Park by Jonathan Mullin
Laois . . .3-8 Mayo . . .1-9
There is no consolation; nothing you can say to a downhearted Minor footballer in the aftermath of a defeat in Croke Park, be it at the Final stage or, like Sunday, the penultimate level of the Championship. For Minors, there is no next year, no revenge.
Disappointment again governed all other dispositions in the Mayo dressing-room after the game and for the majority of these players, coming as it did on the back of a defeat at the hands of Kerry at the same stage last year, it was a little hard to swallow.
And analysis at its cruelest, laid down a most damning verdict: they only had themselves to blame.
In as open a All-Ireland Minor semi-final played at Headquarters for quite a while, goal chances were plentiful and although there were four green flags hastily raised, the incriminating goal count stood 3-1 in the O'Moore County's favour.
Mayo will rue glorious opportunities foregone at crucial stages in the match, when the balance of the game could have been tipped in either direction, and the Scales of Justice yearned to reward the courageous labours of the youngsters in Red and Green.
When all is said and done, the ruthless efficiency of the reigning All-Ireland champions, Laois, must be admired. Although at times they struggled to earn even a half-share in midfield, offensively they punished Mayo for even the briefest lack of concentration in defence. Indeed the victors had an incredible knack of staking Mayo hearts when they were at their most exuberant.
On countless occasions this season and last, John P. Kean's troops had failed to ignite in the opening exchanges of championship encounters. Last year's Connaught Final in McHale Park against Sligo being a prime example.
But, on Sunday, Mayo were on fire right from the word "Go", despite Brian MacDonald converting an early place kick. Claremorris Ger Brady, revelling in the wide open spaces of a greasy Croke Park, found space through the centre of the Laois defence and although Hill 16 anticipated a goal for a brief moment, a rifled point was a defiant beginning for the Mayo team. And it was only to get better.
The attacking right hand side of the Mayo team, sporting talented footballers of the calibre of Niall Dunne, Trevor Mortimer and Marty McNicholas, were creating a civil state of chaos in the Laois defence, and all three teamed up with Jarlath O'Malley to allow full-forward Gabriel Walsh to bear down on goal and his low shot past Michael Leigh raised expectations to a dangerously high level.
MacDonald, a player of immense talent and a corner-forward on the team last year, was a constant source of worry for Mayo. His final tally amounted to two goals and three points but this cannot be taken as a slur on his direct opponent Ger Brady, for defensive lapses elsewhere ensued that Brady was frequently faced with two forwards bearing down on him.
Jarlath O'Malley, Mayo's star forward in the Connaught Final, was more subdued on Sunday, but his point on eleven minutes was enough to place Mayo back in front.
Respective number 13's, Stephen Kelly and Marty McNicholas, traded points within minutes of each other and with two thirds of the first half completed, Mayo held a single point advantage, and that, remember, playing into a stern breed of a breeze.
Again defensive naivety was to result in yet another hammer blow for the Westerners.
Laois broke smartly from defence on twenty four minutes and appearing to have a wealth of players in tow, their forward division clicked into action and significant off-the-ball running made the space again for MacDonald, who underlined his value to the side with an excellent finish.
Trevor Mortimer, the holder of a bright first half performance, pointed three minutes from the close of the half, but a bare minimum advantage was doubled by Laois on the stroke of half-time with Stephen Kelly's second point.
At the interval Mayo could be forgiven for believing that a second half surge would secure victory - I certainly thought so. But instead of more of the same, which would have been sufficient, the Mayo game plan was torn to shreds, not by an overpowering Laois, but by the Mayo team as a unit.
It is rare that a team can play so poorly in a half and yet one is left hard-pressed to criticise any one performer. To be honest, all sixteen players who took the field for Mayo played very well.
Two early points from Laois, MacDonald with the second, established for them a four point lead and it was explicit that Laois' style of football was not going to be overly perturbed by the breeze.
Stephen Walsh, who had a busy afternoon in the corner, saw his goal-bound effort rise late on thirty-eight minutes and over the bar. And although Laois were persistent in their hounding and harassing, Mayo had all the possession but if one was to put a finger on the reason for this defeat, it would have to be the distribution of this possession.
Marty McNicholas clearly had the beating of his opponent in the opening period, but nevertheless his team mates seemed reluctant to avail of his services in the second half.
The width of the Mayo attack in that second half cramped from the shape they held in the first half, and with distribution poor and the shape almost non-existent, it was always going to be difficult.
Paul Navin pointed from 45 yards, a quarter of an hour from time and this score was a just reward for his toiling. It is one of the sadistic attributes of championship football that so dedicated and talented a footballer can achieve such a high standard of football at the amphitheatre of Gaelic Football and still be allowed by fate to walk sombrely off the hallowed turf.
But that is the hand fate was to deal the Minor captain, for a storming closing decade of minutes from the champions was enough to secure for them a second visit to Croke Park in two years.
Laois: Michael Leigh, Paul McDonald, Eoin Bland, Thomas Mulligan, Diarmuid Mullins, Joe Higgins, John Paul Kehoe (0-1), Brian Fitzpatrick, Darren Rooney, Kieran Kelly, Shane Hennessy (0-1), Brian MacDonald (2-3), Stephen Kelly (1-3), Mark Hovendon and Billy Brennan. Sub: Tom Kelly for Hennessy.
Mayo: Seanie Campbell, Anthony MacDermott, Ger Brady (0-1), David Lynch, Niall Dunne, Paul Navin (0-1), Alan Costello, Ger Brady (0-2), Enda Lavelle (0-1), Trevor Mortimer (0-1), Jarlath O'Malley (0-1), Kieran Kilkenny, Marty McNicholas (0-1), Gabriel Walsh (1-0) and Stephen Walsh (0-1). Sub: Colm Staunton for Kieran Kilkenny.
Referee: Brian Crowe (Cavan).
