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Wednesday, July 07, 2010
The reality and the review
BY ANTHONY HENNIGAN
SOME people are still conducting the post mortem.
Some people are looking for the next manager. Some people are searching for light at the end of the tunnel. We’re all looking for answers.
The fall out from Mayo’s latest exit of the All-Ireland Championship continued apace throughout last week. A defeat by Longford lengthened that fall quite considerably. The debate stretched far and wide, as far even as The Tubridy Show on Radio 1 last Friday morning where advice on Mayo football was sought from none other than US Ambassador Dan Rooney, he of Pittsburgh Steelers fame, and his wife Patricia, of Cloontia extraction.
Over on a rival channel former Meath footballer Bernard Flynn said that Mayo should appoint a manager for a three to five year term and let him sort out the county football team. And John O’Mahony’s job of the past four years was what exactly Bernard?
Better placed to talk some sense was Kerry boss Jack O’Connor who believed Mayo this year simply peaked too early. “If you put a lot of emphasis on the league and train very hard, somewhere along the line, you’re going to reach a plateau,” said O’Connor, whose side was one of the six beaten by Mayo in springtime.
Closer to home people have other opinions, some of which are very diverse. Some say the manager didn’t devote enough time to the job. Some say the morale of the players had hit an all-time low. Some close to the camp actually say never before had a Mayo team been as well prepared.
Some say never before was as much invested into a Mayo team. No one said losing to Longford was a true reflection of where Mayo football is at.
But like it or not, that’s exactly where Mayo football is at. We’re out of the championship because Longford beat us fair and square. The sooner the county comes to accept that, the sooner the senior team can hope to return to the loftier stations it once occupied.
Some people, obviously seeking solace, have suggested during this past week that Mayo could play Longford 10 times over the next 10 weeks and win every game; those people were not in Pearse Park last Saturday week.
If they were they would not be so delusional. Yes Mayo could just as easily have won that game but over the 70 minutes there was no discernible difference between the quality of the two teams’ play; Mayo were every bit as bad (or good, depending to what standards you judge) as Longford. And whilst we might believe it’s within the players to improve the quality of their performance to a level Longford players can only dream of, there was no evidence that was going to happen this championship season, no matter how long Mayo’s summer campaign dragged on.
The review
THE news that Mayo GAA is to conduct a major review of the state of football in the county is to be welcomed. There are major issues of on-field and off-field natures that need to be addressed, like why in the barony of Erris the FAI boasts more clubs (Iorras Aontaithe, Bangor Hibs, Kilmore FC, Inver United and Cornboy United) than the GAA. And like why rural villages that once harboured Gaelic football teams such as Attymass, Ballyvary and Mulranny (there are many other examples) now only provide homes to soccer clubs.
Of course, there are countless other issues, some of which we will address in the coming weeks as the review process takes hold.
Already the county’s underage Development Squads seem to be coming in for quite a kicking, with people suggesting Mayo is producing players lacking in the most basic skills. Yet our minor footballers were within one kick of a ball of winning both of the last All-Ireland finals so to blame them and their coaches for the failures of our seniors is both lazy and unjust.
There is, however, an area I feel needs particular attention and centres on an argument consistently proffered (normally by supporters of Mayo’s smallest clubs) as to why the county’s senior football team repeatedly under-performs. It’s that of management failing to take the time to scan the talent of the junior and intermediate ranks.
To fight the ‘little man’s’ corner for a moment, consider the following observation. Of the 30 players who made up the 2010 Mayo senior football panel, only four will not figure in this year’s Mayo SFC.
Belmullet duo Chris Barrett and Billy Joe Padden, Burrishoole’s Liam O’Malley and Keith Higgins of Ballyhaunis will feature in the Intermediate instead. The Mayo senior panel contained not one player from a junior club.
However, as many as 12 members of this season’s 30 strong Mayo minor football panel are from junior and intermediate clubs. It’s a long time since Mayo Gaels, Balla, Ballycastle, Lahardane or Parke provided players to the Mayo senior team yet those clubs each currently boast county minor panellists. And other non senior championship powerhouses such as Ardnaree, Carramore, Killala, Kiltimagh, Swinford, Hollymount, Belmullet and Burrishoole contributed players to last year’s minor team that was within a kick of winning the AllIreland title.
How is it that these clubs can have underage players as good as any in the county (and as Mayo’s prolificacy at minor and under 21 grades would suggest, as good as what’s in the country) yet between them contribute so few players to the senior panel?
What does Mayo football do to try and keep these quite obviously talented players in the inter-county system from once they leave minor or U-21 grades? What opportunities are there for these players who just happen to represent junior and intermediate clubs to have their talents recognised and nurtured?
Why is it a footballer from Ballycastle or Balla who was as good as any in the county when he was 17 or 18 years of age is not (or is not perceived as being) as good as what’s in the county when he’s 20, 25 or 30?
The reason, we’re repeatedly told, is that a player needs to be playing senior club football in order to have any hope of then adjusting to the pace of the inter-county game. Quite frankly, it’s an argument that simply doesn’t stand up. After all, Mayo had this year already exited the Connacht and All-Ireland Championships and had played an entire National League campaign before Aghamore and Moy Davitts even commenced their Mayo SFC campaigns, last Sunday week.
Furthermore, Aghamore had only played four league games and lost all four.
Was it on that scarcity of senior club football that Mayo debutante Alan Freeman developed quickly enough to become the county’s best player in its only two championship appearances? Not likely. Yes the Aghamore man played Sigerson Cup and FBD League games also, but that same opportunity exists for the junior club footballer. At university or college, from what club or county you hail from, no such prejudice exists. If you’re good enough you’re picked. It’s the way it should be.
Besides, once a player is brought into a county environment, how much football they play with their club is questionable anyway. Would playing a few league or championship club games at junior or intermediate grades lessen a Mayo player’s standards so dramatically if that season he might already have 60 or 70 inter-county training sessions or games, be they league or challenge, under his belt?
Of course, it would be wrong to deny there are obvious advantages of having a county’s best players operating at senior club championship level, and it’s of paramount importance that Mayo County Board explore the possibility of replicating the West Mayo model and amalgamating junior clubs for the purpose of playing senior championship games only. It works in Kerry; sometimes to be the best you have to copy the best.
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