So with the seniors out of the championship before June was finished, the u21 season over, and the Mayo ladies in an even worse mess than the men’s senior team all hope of provincial and national success rests on the tender shoulders of the Mayo minor squad of 2010. That is a lot of pressure, and that kind of pressure should never be applied to this or any batch of 17 and 18-year-olds who are still only learning their trade in the game. And the real Mayo supporter will never place that kind of pressure on the latest batch to don the green and red for the minor side, no matter how success starved they are.
It’s so far so good for Tony Duffy and his back room team. Last Saturday as the vast majority of Mayo supporters made the journey to Longford to see the senior side crash out in ignominy, his minor team were getting their championship under way in the low key surroundings of an almost deserted McHale Park. Cillian O’Connor played the captain’s role to perfection scoring 1-6 of Mayo’s 1-11 in a three point win over Roscommon to set up this Saturday’s semi-final against Leitrim on the under card of the Sligo v Galway Connacht SFC semi-final clash in Sligo. With no back door for the minor championship until the provincial final, the win was all important last weekend and Mayo minor manager Tony Duffy was delighted to get it. “It was a good win, it might not have been pretty to watch but it was all about making sure we had the win at the end of the game. We always knew it was going to be tough against Roscommon, they were good in the league, and we knew that there was high hopes within Roscommon for this side doing well and making an impact so we’re really pleased to have got over them.”
With Cillian O’Connor being the main man on the scoreboard last weekend, he will be the one that Leitrim will be keeping a close eye on on Saturday afternoon. Duffy is not too concerned that Mayo rely on O’Connor too much and if he is closed down it could seriously hamper their chances of winning the game. “Ideally you’d want to see every forward getting on the scoreboard at some stage over the game. But if you look at Cillian’s record from the last day, he scored six points from frees and there wasn’t even half of them that he was the player fouled, so we have the lads getting in scoring positions and forcing the defenders to foul them. But Cillian is a class operator and you know you are going to get a big performance from him every day.”
Leitrim on paper should be an easy win for Mayo, but as the county has so recently learned with the senior side, paper victories count for nothing until the final whistle is blown on the field and Duffy is not taking anything for granted. “We played them in the last round of the minor league down there and came out with a win. They are a big physical side much like Roscommon were, and they won’t be in any way an easy task, from the research we’ve done on them, they seem to be confident that they’ll beat us. But it’s going to be a 50/50 game and were going to have to give it all on the pitch again to make sure we make the Connacht final.” Duffy also reports that the minors have a clean bill of health going into the game, with only a few minor niggles to deal with. So, the next generation of Mayo footballers will hope to continue their charge towards the provincial final on Sunday afternoon.
