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AND There is a light that never goes out
BY Tony Tighe
 Despite
57 years of hurt Mayo people still believe john O’Mahony can lead
them to glory this year. We spoke exclusively to the storied bainisteoir
When the All-Ireland semi-final matches were drawn last summer a big
talking point was the fact there was no Ulster side in the final four
— a province, which, apart from Kerry, had yielded the only winners
since 2002.
Yet there was a province who was suffering a lot more. By the quarter-final
stage there was only one representative from Connacht — Sligo —
and they signed off with a whimper against Cork.
Following their crushing
All-Ireland final defeat by Kerry the year previously Mayo had regrouped
and enjoyed a decent League campaign reaching the final only to lose to
Donegal.
Everyone presumed they had shaken off their hangover; that Mayo were back
in business. However, as also proved with Donegal, the League turned out
to be an inaccurate guide for the Championship. The Westerners crashed
out at the first hurdle in both the Connacht Championship and All-Ireland
qualifiers; a premature end to a season which promised so much.
There was no-one more frustrated and disappointed with Mayo’s early
exit than manager John O’Mahony. His return to the helm wasn’t
meant to pan out like this and he’s now working hard to ensure there
won’t be another repeat of their early elimination in 2008.
“Last year was very disappointing for us,” he told The Irish
Post this week. “The League went quite well but unfortunately the
Championship didn’t go quite so good. Whether the disappointment
from losing the All-Ireland final the year previously kicked in at Championship
stage I don’t know. But certainly we weren’t happy at all
with our campaign. It’s something we’ll be looking to improve
greatly on this year.
“The preparations have been going well so far. It’s only in
the last 10 days that we’ve started training outdoors. We held trials
in November so we could assemble a squad and since then we’ve been
preparing with gym programmes. The players had strict conditioning programmes
over the Christmas period but I think everyone is now glad to be back
out on the training pitch.”
While training has been going well for O’Mahony and Mayo he is still
missing the core of his squad with many first-teamers unavailable due
to club and college commitments.
It’s disrupting O’Mahony’s plans to have a set team
in place for the start of the National League which leaves him with little
choice but to experiment during the NFL campaign. Largely inexperienced
sides are being fielded in the FBD League with O’Mahony hoping that
some of his young players will grab this opportunity by the scruff of
the neck.
“We’re obviously quite restricted with the FBD because 14
or 15 of our players are involved with colleges or clubs. That’s
been the biggest upset on preparations for January. I would hope though
that in a couple of week’s time there will be some young players
coming through. We’re looking for guys with ambition; not just to
get on the starting XV but also to win something.
“We introduced some of them last year — players like Tom Cuniffee
and Aidan Campbell — and they coped very well. I’d hope that
we’ll have more like them this year. One bonus though is that we
have James Gill back this year. He’s an experienced player and is
a welcome addition.
“Because we’ve so many players involved in other competitions,
we’ll have to use part of the National League to experiment. Due
to the players missing with club and college commitments we have no choice
but to. Our first game is a very tough one away to Derry on February 2.
We start this year’s League where we finished last year’s
Championship. Hopefully, we’ll be able to exact some revenge.”
It is not the easiest division to experiment in however. The group consists
of high-calibre teams such as reigning All-Ireland champions Kerry, Ulster
champions Tyrone, last year’s League champions Donegal and Kildare
who will be under the guidance of former Armagh legend Kieran McGeeney.
It promises to be a tough test for the Westerners but one they are relishing.
“We’re in a very competitive division,” he admits. “It’s
the top division, the best one. Due to the reformatting of the League
we had to play for positions last year and we managed to get to the League
final which was satisfactory. We’re in with the top eight teams
that performed strongly in the League last year. That includes a lot of
very good teams and that’s a great vehicle for preparing you for
the Championship.
“It’s hard to know. I never make predictions at the beginning
of the year because there are so many variables. It depends on how all
that gels together and avoiding injuries and of course you need that little
bit of luck along the way. We’ll be hampered in the early stages
too because of Ballina’s involvement in the All-Ireland Club Championship.
It’s fantastic for them but we’ll have restricted involvement
until they return.”
Indeed should Ballina progress past the semi-final stage it could mean
O’Mahony will have to do without players like new Mayo captain Ronan
McGarrity and David Brady for even longer.
But it’s not a situation the bainisteoir is worrying about too much
having had experience in this situation before while in charge of Mayo’s
rivals Galway.
“What we want is not to in any way affect their preparations,”
he said. “But we have a game three weeks ahead of their semi-final
so that would be the only game where we’d hopefully have some involvement.
But that’ll be worked out. I’ve done this many years with
teams in Galway, particularly teams that went on to win All-Ireland club
titles, so we’ll work with that as the weeks go on.”
O’Mahony is also still waiting on reports on the fitness of seasoned
campaigner Ciaran McDonald. The blonde bombshell struggled with a niggling
back injury last season and is still fighting to shake it off.
James Nallen is another who could return but he has not yet decided whether
to commit to another season in the red-and-green. They are two influential
players which any county would miss and the Co. Mayo TD is hoping both
will feature in the National League.
“There’s no word from them as of yet,” said O’Mahony
who has won Connacht titles with Mayo, Leitrim and Galway. “I’ve
given some of the veteran players an extended break. In James Nallen’s
case, he got married back in October and hasn’t yet decided on whether
to return or not. He has been magnificent for Mayo over the years playing
in four All-Ireland finals and whatever he decides we wish him all the
best.
“In Ciaran McDonald’s case, he had a troublesome back problem
last year which greatly restricted his training. If that continues it’ll
make it difficult for him to play to his usual standard. He’s been
a wonderful servant for us. It’s going to be tricky for him to get
that right and unless he does we’ll have to wait and see. We’ll
keep an open mind. Injuries tend to catch up on everyone but Ciaran has
a great attitude and hopefully that situation will change.”
Ronan McGarrity has been selected as Mayo captain for the coming year,
a decision which has gone down well in all parts of the county. McGarrity
was one of Ballina Stephenites’ key figures as they reclaimed the
Mayo and Connacht Championships they last won in 2004. But before that
he had spent four months recuperating from treatment for testicular cancer
that he was diagnosed with last March during Mayo’s League campaign.
McGarrity drew great admiration from his colleagues from the way he handled
the situation and his promise to be back playing during the summer. The
new captain will face into 2008 with renewed enthusiasm on the back of
his appointment which his county manager says is well deserved.
“I think Ronan has shown himself to be a leader on the field ever
since he donned the Mayo jersey and I think he showed leadership in many
respects of his life last year. People find it hard to realise he’s
only 25. He’s had to grow up very quickly. It’s an honour
that’s well deserved and we’re looking forward to working
with him. He’s a fine person and a good leader and he’ll do
a good job for us.”
Mayo endured a miserable Connacht Championship last year crashing out
to a Cormac Bane-inspired Galway in the first round. Sligo went on to
shock the Tribesmen in the final, capturing their first title since 1975,
resulting in joyous scenes on the Hyde Park pitch.
Mayo face the winners of the Sligo-London clash in Ruislip and O’Mahony
predicts another open provincial Championship this year where every team
will feel they’re in with a shout of success.
“I feel it’s going to be one of the most open Championships
in years,” he said. “Galway have a new manager in Liam Sammon
and he’ll be wanting to get off to a winning start. Sligo won their
first Championship in 32 years and will not loosen their grip on the title
too easily. Roscommon are going quietly about their business under John
Maughan and have some decent young players coming through while Leitrim
have been very unlucky in the last few seasons and will be looking to
finally turn the corner.
“We’re playing the winners of Sligo and London and that’ll
be a very tough opener for us. I think a lot of teams in Connacht are
in a developmental stage which will make for a very competitive Championship.
People always tend to criticise the province, saying: ‘Sure it’s
only Connacht’ but in my experience down the years I’ve found
it to be a very difficult competition to win. We’ll be setting our
sights on winning it but it’s not going to be easy. Every other
team is going to be thinking the same thing but we’d be hoping that
we could come out on top.”
Once Mayo move out of Connacht — Nestor Cup in hand or not —
O’Mahony feels that Kerry are still the team for all the others
to beat. The Kingdom are bidding for three Sam Maguires in a row as they
attempt to emulate the great ‘three-in-a-row’ Kerry side of
the 1980s.
“It’s a case of Kerry and the rest really,” he admits.
“Dublin and Tyrone wouldn’t be far behind and then come the
chasing pack. Every year there’s a surprise team — Monaghan
came out of the woodwork last year as did Sligo — but at this stage
it’s hard to tell. I don’t believe in too much crystal ball
gazing. We just have to knuckle down and put in the hard work.
“Our first goal is to try and establish a good run in the League
and keep our Division One status. The Connacht Championship is a good
target for us and should we achieve that, well we’ll take it from
there.” |
