Standing at the back of the crowd who had gathered in front of the stand in Sligo on Saturday evening to witness Tom Parsons lift Mayo’s fourth JJ Fahy cup in a row, Pat Holmes was a happy man. In the four years since he has taken over the side with his joint manager Noel Connelly they have not failed to deliver a provincial title and they bagged one All Ireland in their first year in 2006. While the celebrations went on in front of him Holmes was happy to take it all in from the back of the crowd and reflect on the game and what lies ahead for his side. “It is nice, each year there has been a different bunch of players and it is always very nice to win a Connacht title.” This year’s crop of players had come through two tough games against Galway and Roscommon to get to the final, in both those games they let big leads slip, something that Holmes had drilled into his side they couldn’t afford to do this time. “In the last two games we had let big advantages slip and that is something we have worked on, and we were very conscious at half-time that we couldn’t afford to take our foot off the pedal, and that we had to keep working hard.”
Mayo were drawn on the tougher side of the competition this year with heavy hitters Roscommon and Galway in it with them, there was a danger that after seeing off those two sides they would become complacent and get caught by the Sligo challenge, but the former Mayo senior inter-county star along with his management team had the team prepared. “It was very important that we maintained the same level of intensity because we hadn’t forgotten what had happened in the games against Roscommon and Galway. We allowed them back into the games when they increased their work rate, and we weren’t able to match it so we made sure that we started the second half well today and put Sligo away.”
Next up for Mayo are the Ulster champions and a place in the All Ireland final up for grabs, a challenge Holmes is looking forward to. “It is brilliant that the challenges keep coming. When you are on a run that is what you want. Once you get into championship mode it is all about playing games.”
