Tradition is something that will count for nothing on Monday when Mayo meet Tipperary in the All Ireland minor quarter final in Tullamore. It would be easy to say that a Mayo football side should beat a Tipperary football team out of sight in the All Ireland championship. But the premier county has been on a crest of a wave in underage football over the last number of years and this year their minor side who Mayo will face ran the powerhouse of Kerry very close in the Munster final and their u21 side put eventual All Ireland champions Cork to the pin of their collar in the Munster championship back in the spring. And Ray Dempsey knows this fact only too well as he gets his side into shape for the bank holiday weekend shoot out down in Offaly. “Look these guy’s can play football and are a very good side, they beat a very good Cork minor side already and they brought Kerry right to the wire in the Munster final. There is nothing easy about any side who makes it to the last eight of and All Ireland, you only also have to look at their u21 side this year Cork needed a last minute goal to beat them and that team went on to win the All Ireland final.”
Wearing the tag of favourites
Mayo went into the Connacht final against Roscommon as the favourites and were lucky to come away with a draw in the game, but they put that to right against the same opposition in their own back yard with a much improved performance. Dealing with the tag of favourites is something that young players have to learn to deal with and is something that can be difficult for young players to learn according to the Knockmore man. “Favouritism is something you have to learn to handle, these are young lads of 16 to 18 years of age. It doesn’t come naturally to people you learn how to deal with it, you also have to remember that most of them are coming from playing club football underage to inter-county football, it’s not an easy thing to do. And being favourites doesn’t mean anything once the ball is thrown in and the game is on,” says Dempsey. “Being favourites is all well and good, but when the ball is thrown in between the two sides it doesn’t mean you have a few points up on the board already, you have to stand up and fight for it and put yourself 100 per cent into the game still to win, it’s all forgotten when the game starts.”
Winning a second Connacht title (Mayo’s 36th in total at this grade ) in his third year in charge of the side is a very good return for Dempsey and his management team, but it could have come at a cost going into Monday’s game. “We’ve had a very short turn around, we had to come down very quickly from the joy of winning on Sunday to get ready to face Tipperary. It doesn’t give you much time to get ready. We’ve only had one training session up to now (Thursday ) and we have four lads who weren’t able to train then. So that is a worrying thing, but it shows the importance of a 30 man panel who are all working as hard as each other to progress and make themselves better footballers. Just because you may not be as talented as another player doesn’t mean that your not as good as him. What these lads have to have is the willingness to go at it 100 per cent when called on and front up to the challenge and take it on and give it everything they have. Because if you get everyone doing that then your along way to winning the game, if you don’t then it can all go wrong.”
Eight will become four
While Mayo will be plying their trade in Tullamore on Monday, their vanquished opponents will be enjoying the spotlight of Croke Park which might seem like a topsy turvy reward for the winners and losers of the Connacht final, but the chance is there to be taken by Mayo to get there themselves with a win over Tipperary. “I don’t know how the lads feel about it but it is not an issue, it’s all about getting out there and beating Tipperary and getting into and All Ireland semi-final and then getting to Croke Park, and when that happens there are only four teams left in the competition and an All Ireland final only a game away.”
