The retirement of the last remaining link who saw action on the field in the 2001 national league winning side, Trevor Mortimer, was announced this week. The newly announced Mayo vice-captain David Clarke was an unused sub-goalkeeper in that game. The Shrule-Glencorrib man who captained Mayo to the 2009 Nestor Cup had been part of the Mayo set up since 2000 and played in the All Ireland finals in both 2004 and 2006, having also played in the u21 final in 2001 when Tyrone defeated Mayo. He made his senior debut for Mayo in a national league game against Clare the year before.
Mortimer lined up in the full forward line for the majority of his inter-county career, but also played in the half forward line and latterly in the half back line. Mortimer came back into the Mayo starting line up in last year’s Connacht semi-final win over Galway as a wing back, and nailed down the spot of the rest of the season where he had a stand out season and ended up with a nomination for an All Star. Mortimer was one of the players sent on from the bench in the opening round in Ruislip against London to rescue Mayo from what looked like an enbarrassing defeat in the English capital.
