I regularly email a friend of mine in the US regarding the progress of the Mayo team. He is quite fanatical about Mayo football and regularly travels ‘home’ to see his beloved county play in the championship. He could not travel for the All-Ireland but did watch it live on TV. He sought my views on the game. I have decided to let you see his response to my email where I suggested that Mayo were beaten by a better team on the day.
“I am afraid you have been infected with the same ‘tragic philosophy’ that has grown up in Mayo over the years. I believe we could have won! We just didn't play our own game, end of story. After defeats we have grown used to making excuses and I see by your e-mail, here we go again! You mention the full forward line in comparison to Donegal. If games were played on paper there would be no need for a field! Hey, we beat Dublin who had a good forward line and where was the Donegal forward line after the first 10 minutes. We actually outscored Donegal in the remaining 60 minutes by three points! I don't give any credit to the "after game" philosophies to soothe our pain. We have been at that too long. If I were manager I would take that team into the meeting place at the beginning of the new season and literally tell them we threw it away and let's not have any "after" excuses this year. I forgive James Horan for his misplaced strategy. It blew up in his face and I hope he has learned. The great backs we had all year sort of disappeared at least for 15 minutes and the forwards were left throughout the game — as I saw it — without the familiar runs of the half backs. John, we have to blow away this "ah, sure ....etc" philosophy. I said at the beginning of the year I thought we have a right good team, particularly after their victory over Leitrim. We sparkled against Down and Dublin. John, we HAD THE ABILITY TO WIN IT ALL. Trouble of waiting till next year is that I am getting older and wondering if I will ever see the day again! Little did I know that September 23, 1951 would be a day of joy that would have to last a lifetime. There had to be disappointments all over the place. Nearly every member of my family was there last Sunday, scrounging tickets everywhere and got quite a few in Cork from their cousins. I read there were people from Australia who had come with great hope. They went home in tears. Pauric Carney — the great Mayo player — a legend has expressed the opinion he can't understand what has happened to the Mayo spirit. I think a lot of it is we take defeats too easily. If we suffered more we might not be so tolerant of losing and making excuses. It was Henry Ford who said ‘if you believe you can do it, you will, if you don't believe then you won’t.’ You and I have seen so many examples in football of that saying. Hopefully we will discover a good man or two in the off season, but I say those guys are young and they CAN do it. (Did I ever tell you about my years with Craobh Rua in Sligo? Everybody said when we got the club going again we had no chance. We dug up players everywhere and won two championships. Somebody believed! ) Enough!”
This email from my friend has resonated with me. It has made me think about how close Mayo are to an All-Ireland title. Over recent years we have gradually managed to raise the profile of the county and the expectations of supporters, to levels that are a long way off the earlier status quo. Here I refer to the decade of the seventies during which Mayo did not get to perform championship football in Croke Park at all. It was a dark time for Mayo football. When we did eventually make the breakthrough in the early eighties, we simply were not ready to win an All-Ireland. Now we know what competing at this level is all about. No team really outplays a Mayo team these days. Mayo over the past few years have become one of the most consistent counties in the country and, notwithstanding the fact that luck and timing have not been kind to us, we are very definitely getting closer to the Holy Grail.
Youth is on our side in the battle for glory
This current Mayo side has a very formidable defensive system with quality players who luckily have plenty of youth on their side. Ger Cafferkey and Keith Higgins are two players that are recognised among their peer group as real quality. Kevin Keane, despite a shaky opening 10 minutes in the All-Ireland, displayed great character by having a massive game after being partly responsible for conceding a couple of early scores. Lesser players would have been looking towards the side line for a rescue, but not this Covey. He will be a massive player for Mayo into the future.
Our half back line has two All Star nominations… No need to elaborate here. We are more than capable of holding our own at midfield, albeit this sector could do with a player with greater mobility. The one area that needs strengthening is the full forward line. We have struggled to put up scores when faced by teams who pay a particular emphasis on defence. Andy Moran, when he recovers from his knee injury, will strengthen this line considerably and if the likes of Conor O’Shea and/or Cathal Carolan, both members of the current squad, can make an impression over the next few months, I expect they will have lots to offer a Mayo forward line.
I have spoken to a few in Castlebar Mitchel’s who think that, if he could put on a few Kgs, Tom King has the potential to make it. Evan Regan could also come into the reckoning in the near future as he showed lots of classy touches at underage level. If a couple of those lads could step up to the mark then a really bright future beckons with no reason why Mayo cannot be back at HQ next year with another good chance of landing the big prize.
