When things are going well for a team every previous match or training session throughout the season is seen as having been a signpost towards success and glory. On the other hand when things are not going so well, we very often forget to scrutinise exactly what may be the reasons for failure. I have spent the last few evenings looking back on Crossmolina’s season identifying the little things that led to our current fight for survival in division 1A of the senior league. Last year we won the league at a canter, without losing a single game. This year we drew four games, lost a few, lost another by a couple of points to an opposition that were reduced to 14 men for the entire second half. We did manage to win a couple by the skin of our teeth but now find ourselves in a play off situation with Ballinrobe and Westport to see who is demoted to division 1B along with Burrishoole.
In recent weeks we were presented with two glorious opportunities to win our last two league matches and would have avoided the situation we currently find ourselves in, but we only managed to draw both games. It is not an ideal situation at all. In recent years the Crossmolina boys were shrewd and cunning and had passion. We always had a number of senior players that could persuade any younger player to do anything for the cause. However, some younger players now have notions of grandeur without putting in the required work. It is time some of these young guns stepped up to the mark and took on more responsibility. We have one or two players that just could not or do not want to make the required commitment this year which ultimately is the difference between success and failure. It is a fact, however, that most clubs have a few players who would like to be part of the scene but on their terms only. That is not the way it works and I hope it never is.
The response to poor results might be, for some, to proclaim that the team is going nowhere and the club will never achieve anything close to the success it achieved in recent years. But I am from the old school of thought that any club or group of players with the right dedication and application can achieve success. Back to the relegation scenario. Nobody was quite sure last Saturday evening after the final round of the league what the situation was going to be in deciding which of the three teams currently on eight points would face the drop. It was however decided at a Mayo CCC meeting on Tuesday night that the three teams at the bottom of the league should be involved in a play off with one facing the drop. We are now drawn to play Westport on Sunday week with the losers playing Ballinrobe. It has been a long year.
Gods decided this one for Mitchells
I went along to see the County u-21 final between Castlebar Mitchells and Hollymount/Carramore last Friday night in McHale Park. Castlebar Mitchells were odds on favourites to land this title and looked to be well on their way when leading by two goals at half time. They tagged on another point just after the break and one felt they were as good as home and hosed. Ha, but how naïve of me to have thought that way. And of course having watched Hollymount/Carramore’s semi final victory over Aughamore, I should have known that this well coached and managed team wouldn’t roll over and concede defeat without a fight. And they did nearly pull off what would have been quite a remarkable defeat. Incredibly they managed to score a couple of goals and were leading by three points with minutes left. Castlebar looked dead in the water and I wouldn’t have put a cent on them getting out of their predicament. But they did, and they were extremely lucky to have done so. Eoghan Reilly, Castlebar Mitchell’s full back found himself lurking in a scoring position and when the ball arrived in his hands, he scored the winning goal that saw them land the spoils of a remarkable game. It would have been a disaster for Mitchells to have lost three championship finals in the space of a couple of weeks and I left the venue feeling they were destined to win at least one title. I had a feeling the gods decided this was the title they should win this year.
Don’t underestimate Knockmore
As if I didn’t have enough football, I made my way back again to McHale Park to see the Mitchells play Knockmore in their last league match of the season. A win for Castlebar would have seen them land the league title. I went in convinced that they would beat a Knockmore side that had little to play for. But I underestimated the Knockmore boys. As it happened it was Kevin O Neill’s last game for Knockmore and every member of the team played in a manner that ensured it would be a memorable one for arguably, their finest footballer. They simply outclassed Castlebar and won by an incredible nine points. Last Sunday their attitude and their football were at a temperature that Ray Dempsey would have loved to have witnessed in this year’s championship. For this encounter, he played his players in their more natural positions and they expressed themselves in a fashion that suggested that they too could be a force in the next few years. I didn’t hang around to say hello to my good friend Pat Holmes. I got the impression he wasn’t in the mood for talking.
