Mayo GAA 19 June 1996

Connaught Telegraph


Bank of Ireland Connaught
Senior Football Championship Semi-final

It's make your move time for Mayo footballers

Big match preview

By John Melvin

EXPERIENCE teaches you many things. But it can never prepare you for the unexpected. And as sure as night follows day, you can expect the unexpected in Hyde Park on Sunday (4.00) where Mayo and Roscommon will be bidding for a place in the Connaught senior football final. And predicting what Mayo will do is a bit like riding a horse in the Grand National. They could get around with some ease, and then again, they could fall at the first fence. You just never know with Mayo. Write them off and they bounce back. Build them up and they leave you hanging out to dry.

But this time John Maughan is in the saddle. It has not been the smoothest ride so far, but eaten bread can be very soon forgotten and it must be remembered that Maughan is still on course for his twin targets of league promotion and a provincial title. If some of the players had half of Maughan's grit and determination Sunday's game would be a formality. Unfortunately, it is going to be a journey fraught with peril.

Galway may believe they have that title already won following Sunday's very impressive win over Leitrim, but that fence is for another day on a different course. Championships are won in stages and from a Mayo point of view, stage one has posed it's own share of problems and headaches.

Maughan's work with the team has been steady and progressive, but we are still waiting for the signal that suggests they are going to be a championship force. So far, that signal has not emerged, or if it did, then it went unnoticed by this writer.

But it was said at the beginning of John Maughan's term that patience would be needed. And in a time when demands are always there for immediate success it is not easy to be patient in an impatient world.

But if any set of supporters could write the definitive book on patience being a virtue, then Mayo supporters must be in that category following over four decades standing outside Croke park while the celebrations were going on inside.

Liam O'Neill 84-88, John O'Mahony 88-91, Brian McDonald 92-93, Jack O'Shea 93-94 and Anthony Egan 94-95, have come and gone. Each left their mark and all had varying degrees of success, all, in fact, won Connaught titles, but that All Ireland title seems as far away as it ever did.

Anyone less than a realist, and I'd put myself in that bracket, could not see Mayo going further than a Connaught title this year. Even that, I believe, would be a tremendous achievement by John Maughan, who, in his first championship season is trying to put together a team that is going to last a few years and achieve the targets he sets for them, and Maughan will be setting targets and demanding results.

Maughan had set his twin aims in his first year as promotion and winning Connaught. He has achieved the former, but whether he has a team capable of achieving the latter is very much a matter that is currently being hotly debated.

Blind allegiance will not winkle out a win in Hyde Park on Sunday. I'd love to travel to Roscommon convinced Mayo are going to repeat what they did in Castlebar a year ago almost to the very day when they emerged winners by 2-11 to 1-10 over Roscommon.

So what is so different now from then?. Mind you, it's not that Roscommon have thrown any great shapes in the meantime. Far from it, in fact. Roscommon found it difficult enough to stay in the the third division and Mayo have beaten them twice in both the National and F.B.D Connaught League. It's not that I can see Roscommon beating Mayo, but I can see Mayo beating Mayo on Sunday.

Maughan has been firm with the team. He mapped a difficult course through division three, and although some of the opposition was even less than mediocre, but getting two points out of tight corners in places like Wexford, Monaghan and Fermanagh was not done without some effort.

Promotion

Promotion was welcome, and indeed expected, but what wasn't anticipated was a league semi-final place. The quarter final meeting with Meath was seen as no more than a bonus, but Mayo, in Hyde Park it must be noted, sprung something of a surprise by beating Meath, and no Meath team is ever easily beaten.

In Croke Park, injury-hit Mayo, did not do themselves justice a Derry side which went on to win the National league title and are many peoples tip to add the championship to their collection. However, it was the quality of the Mayo performance which left lingering doubts about their capacity to take on the bigger guns and look after themselves in tougher company.

Roscommon could hardly be described as one of the bigger guns in national terms. But on the fairly even playing pitch that is Connaught Football, they have always posed a problem.

However, in recent years the problem would appear to be far greater for Roscommon than it has for Mayo. Apart from that famous 91 re-play and that Derek Duggan free which forced a replay, which Roscommon won in their own back yard, Mayo have held the upper hand, beating them in both the 92 and 93 Connaught Finals (1-14 o 1-10 and 1-5 to 0-7 respectively) and hammering them in last year's semi-final in Castlebar.

Of course, Mayo, in turn took a hammering from Galway in last years final. Maughan will undoubtedly work on that psychological edge which Mayo is currently enjoying but a measure of Maughan's concern about Roscommon was his attendance at a recent challenge match against Kerry and having watched Roscommon put in a winning performance on a score of 0-16 to 0-10 he was certainly left with much to ponder upon.

While it might be too simplistic to say that Mayo's problems are sole in their lack for scoring power, it is the main area of concern and one that does not seem to getting any nearer towards a solution. Improvements can be effected. Strength is one thing Maughan will be tempted to opt for against Roscommon and in this department he does have the like of James Horan, Ray Dempsey, John Casey, Declan Sweeney and the in-form Diarmuid Byrne who can ship the kind of heavy tackling they can expect from the Roscommon back division.

The formation he decides on will be interesting. Sweeney was one of the few to sparkle against London when he moved to full forward while if it wasn't for the free-taking of Maurice Sheridan Mayo could well have been facing a very embarrassing defeat. However, a number of players will have to up their performance considerably if Mayo are to retain an interest int eh championship after Sunday.

Mayo beat London with a bad performance and that can only leave us to assume that matters will have improved greatly.

They certainly did for the challenge match against Clare but there was a more recent setback when the side suffered a ten point defeat the hands of Derry in a challenge game.

That beating might be just the tonic the side needed going to Hyde Park. Certainly, the warning signs have been there. The question is, are they being heeded?

With no team announced at the time of writing it is very difficult to give a balanced view of how matters are likely to pan out.

The midfield options are numerous, but Maughan will find it very difficult to ignore the claims of David Brady, for a place and it is generally agreed that Brady's best partner is his club mate, Liam McHale, if McHale is not posted to the forty to make room for Colm McMenamon. McMenamon's strength and running ability might be ideally suited to the Roscommon game and it will be difficult not to include him given his current form.

Pat Fallon is also an option up front where I'd be inclined to go for the nippy David Nestor who is re-discovering his goal scoring touch. With doubts still hanging John Casey and Decan Sweeney and Tom Reilly ruled out entirely Maughan may be forced to play McHale in an attacking role.

The only question that arises in the defence is whether Flanagan's experience at this level will see him get the nod of approval ahead of Kevin Beirne, although Fergal Costello could also be a contender following some recent impressive form. Kevin Cahill, who was taken off against the Clare with a hand injury is reported to be fine while Kenneth Mortimer is likely to feature in his familiar corner back role with team captain Noel Connelly, James Nallen and Pat Holmes will make up the half back line.

Roscommon have their own share of injury worries. Fergal O'Donnell and Tom Grehan are two notable and experienced absentees while and Luke Dolan has won his race against time and is penciled in at left full forward.

However, manager Donie Shine does appear to have plenty of back up and the quality of the bench is probably as good as it ever was. He also has a strong and mobile midfield partnership in Tom Ryan and David O'Connor. Ciaran Grogan, Gene Farrell, Martin Feeley, Ross O'Callaghan, Ciaran Heneghan and Clifford McDonnell are the backs that will be hoping to a Mayo attack that has been less than satisfactory.

Don Chinoline, Eddie Lohan, Lorcan Down, Nigel Dineen and Derek Duggan, currently back to his best early 90's form are likely to pose plenty of problems for Mayo at the back.

Mayo are fortunate that expectations were probably never as low. It is a scenario that is tailored for a team that has so many complexities. When you expect them to win, they lose and visa versa. That's why I expect them to lose, if you get my drift.



Connaught Telegraph - News - June 1996

Connaught Telegraph - Sport - June 1996