Mayo GAA News 30 July 1997
Bank of Ireland Connacht Championship
Final Preview
By John Melvin
Seldom has the burden of expectancy weighed as heavily on a team as it does on defending champions Mayo, who face Sligo in Sunday's Connacht senior football Final at Hyde Park, Roscommon (4.15).
Mayo manager John Maughan is fully aware of the wave of expectancy that is currently sweeping the county in the wake of last year's tremendous All Ireland run and the fact that this year's championship has been blown wide open by a number of unexpected results, notably the defeat of Derry in the Ulster Final.
There is a strong belief that the All Ireland title is very much an open race and Mayo are still one of the seven horses still in the races, the others being Sligo, Offally, Kerry, Meath Kildare and Cavan.
However, Maughan is also very much aware that any team that looks any further than the next game is only asking for trouble. He is also keen to point out that Mayo had one very important concealed weapon last year: the element of surprise. In any attack on a championship that can be critical. But that is now well gone, and, in fact, Mayo now have to compete with the results of last year's success, which makes them the team every team, particularly in Connacht will want to beat. The two questions facing Mayo on Sunday is whether they have the same hunger as last year and can they strengthen their resolve to achieve the ultimate success. On both counts I think the answer is yes.
Only one team remains in the province with a chance of putting a spanner in the Mayo works and that is the incentive that will fire up a young Sligo team, who go into Sunday's final as total underdogs, a tag they will gladly wear, while Mayo will want to shun the mantle of red hot favourites, as they are currently being quoted as 3\1 second favourites for the All Ireland title. How times have changed.
But such is the price of success, albeit limited. But the county has new and higher profile and has joined the elite of Gaelic football, and that is what makes them a prime target for young and eager Sligo team who have nothing to lose in Sunday's final. The motivating influence for Mayo could well come from the knowledge that the cupboard is partly bare. The Nestor Cup, the prize for winning Connacht, is nice to look at but unless it has a partner, the hard work of a long year can seem insignificant when the high goals of All Ireland achievement are not attained. But for Mayo it is first things first. Sligo will push them hard and in the light of a few injury problems and the absence of Colm McManamon, Mayo could find themselves breaking out in a sweat, at a venue which has not always been too kind to them, before they get to hands on the Nestor Cup for another year.
Mayo would be particularly concerned about the absence of McManamon whose phenomenal work rate has been a key element in their wins over both Galway and Leitrim on route to the final.
What will be interesting in the Mayo team selection is how Mayo can compensate for the huge loss of MacManamon at midfield.
David Brady is making steady progress and would be ideally suited to step in, thus releasing Liam McHale to the forty. However, Maughan has resited the temptation to play Brady, wisely opting to keep him under wraps for what most Mayo people at least expect to be the more demanding challenges ahead.
There is no surprise either with the selection of the backs. Rumours have been flying all week about Kenneth Mortimer's injury problem but he appears to be well and is named in the corner with Dermot Flanagan in the opposite corner and Pat Holmes, as expected, standing in for the injured Kevin Cahill.
Holmes will have his hands full with the nifty Paul Taylor who will be wearing that the number fourteen shirt for Sligo. The ploy of starting James Nallen at midfield did not work against Leitrim and it is good to see him back in his more familiar role at centre back flanked by Fergal Costello and Noel Conneely.
Cahill's absence is a big blow. His pace and ability to read the game has been a crucial part of the Mayo defensive set up but in selecting Pat Holmes to fill his position, Maughan has made a good choice, Holmes having performed adequately when required to fill in to the full back role in the past.
With Colm McManamon suspended for two months, it was always going to be a Liam McHale-Pat Fallon midfield partnership. McHale picked up an injury in training during the week but is obviously well enough to play and he will be looking for an improved display on his semi-final appearance.
Pat Fallon carried the show very much on his own that day and the Balla footballer is injury free and playing the best football of his inter-county career at the moment.
McManamon's absence creates an opening for Ronan Golding to get a start. With P.J. Loftus ruled out because of a rib injury sustained against Leitrim, Golding will be anxious to seize his opportunity to prove himself in an attack, which welcomes the return of David Nestor, a player who has an awesome capacity for hard work.
The Ballyhaunis clubman finds himself in a new role at left half forward with Golding at top of the left and James Horan also taking up a new position at centre half-forward.
It is a surprising attacking formation with John Casey named again at full forward in what should be another interesting confrontation with Colin White while Kieran McDonald stays in a position ideally suited to his talent for taking points from difficult angles.
Sligo are expected to stick by the side which beat Roscommon by 1-14 to 1-11 with the exception of half forward Philp Neary who was injured in a car crash. His place is likely to be filled by Brian Walsh who came on as a sub that day.
Pat Kilcoyne (goals), Mark Cosgrove, Colin White, Niall Carew, Bernard Mulhern, Nigel Clancy and Brendan Kilcoyne are expected to hold down the defensive positions with Paul Durcan and Dermot Keavney at midfield.
Paul Seevers, Eamon 0'Hara, Paul Taylor and Dessie Sloyan are the forwards Sligo will be hoping can unhinge that Mayo defence.
Final Verdict: Mayo have invested too much into this year's and last year's championship to slip up at this stage. Their belief in their own a ability is as strong as ever and their determination and hunger does not appear to have waned one bit. The question is whether they have strengthened their resolve. They believe themselves they are owed another day out in Croke Park and while I don't think they are going to win in spectacular style on Sunday, they are sufficiently well equipped to see off the challenge of Sligo. Final Shot: Mayo 1-15 Sligo 0-12
MAYO TEAM:
Nestor and Golding on board
David Nestor, who was unable to play in the semi-final due to injury returns to the Mayo team for Sunday while Ronan Golding gets a call up in an attack which has been reshuffled due to the absence of Colm McMenamon.
Peter Burke
Kenneth Mortimer Pat Holmes Dermot Flanagan
Fergal Costello James Nallen Noel Conneely
Pat
Fallon Liam McHale
Maurice Sheridan James Horan David Nestor
Ciaran McDonald John Casey Ronan
Golding
