A golden generation is coming to an end

At this stage, we have almost become immune to statements announcing the retirement of Mayo footballers. For the past four or five years, each close of season has seen at least one of our stars call time on their intercounty careers. Most of them have been expected but it still hits hard when you see the “Comunicado Oficial” from Mayo GAA’s Facebook or Twitter page announcing the departure of a player who has served the county with great honour.

The first major retirement from Mayo’s golden generation of the 2010s was probably Andy Moran’s in August 2019. There was another major blow a couple of weeks later when Ger Cafferkey retired.

January is always a particularly grey and grim month but that feeling was heightened in 2021 when Covid returned and seven Mayo stalwarts announced their retirements in the space of 31 days.

Donal Vaughan, Tom Parsons, Seamus O’Shea, Chris Barrett, and David Clarke all exited stage left in the first week of January. Chris Barrett went in mid-January and Keith Higgins, the man with the baby face and electric pace who we thought would never get old, departed at the end of that same month.

Such a mass exodus left huge holes in James Horan’s squad and even bigger holes in our hearts. Veterans’ Day is celebrated in November in America. Such was the feeling of loss at the retirement of our own veterans in that January, it felt like there should be a similar day of commemoration here for a county in mourning.

Everyone’s favourite lionheart, Colm Boyle, followed suit by announcing his retirement in November of that year in the wake of the crushing All-Ireland final defeat to Tyrone.

The coup de grâce in retirement announcements came in January of this year when Lee Keegan, arguably Mayo’s greatest-ever player, decided to ride off into the sunset. After months of ‘will he or won’t he?’, everyone’s worst fears were confirmed with another January statement.

They say that the Irish “get death right”, i.e., we have a unique and culturally rich way of dealing with death and honouring the deceased. Wake traditions, music, song, and storytelling as well as the sense of community all lend themselves to supportive and respectful mourning and funeral traditions.

Of course, a bit of perspective is required and I am not comparing the retirements of footballers to a death in the family but the way we celebrate and honour our retirees in Mayo suggests that Mayo GAA people “get retirement right”.

Statements

There can’t have been any busier PROs in Ireland in the last four years than John Walker, and before him Paul Cunnane, as they carefully crafted retirement statement after statement honouring fantastic careers. In these statements, Liam Moffatt and Seamus Touhy also had to find the words that would encapsulate just what these brilliant Mayo men had done for their county.

Pro-forma, standard template would not do justice to the time, commitment, and talent that the lads brought to their role as Mayo footballers.

I have already mentioned 11 past players who have bowed out in recent years and have been feted in retirement. In the same time, I can only remember one Galway footballer whose retirement has been marked with any sort of fanfare or acknowledgement of a job well done. Gary O’Donnell called it a day in October 2021 after a very commendable intercounty career.

The difference in the quantity of high-profile retirements in the two counties is probably reflective of the epic journey that the Mayo public embarked upon with those players from 2012 to 2021.

During that time, the Galway squad was in a lot more flux with many players coming and going as their seasons repeatedly ended prematurely and underwhelmingly. By contrast, the Mayo players were in it for the long-haul and built up a bond with their adoring followers on many joyful and heartbreaking days in Croke Park.

Of the 11 retirements mentioned above, I haven’t even spoken of the most recent ones. Jason Doherty and Kevin McLoughlin’s departures bring the number to 13. That’s almost a full team. Each of the players who have left were not just squad-fillers or also-rans, they were key pillars of the team and squad and ones that none of the managers in charge at the time would have wanted to see leave.

“Doc” and “Kev Mc” may not have been the most high-profile of departees but don’t let that diminish their worth to the setup. Both are extremely sound and solid men who were loved by every single team-mate. Their lack of ego, versatility, and desire to work hard and improve meant that they were a manager’s dream.

Career in defence

It’s funny that Kevin started his Mayo career in defence and ended up in attack while the reverse is true of Jason. Both men knew how to score a goal though and came up with some clutch moments over the years. The two of them were probably most at home in the half-forward line.

Given Mayo’s trouble in this line in recent times, how Kevin McStay would love to have the two of them starting out their career right now, rather than finishing it. Neither man could have given an ounce more to the Mayo cause and they should both look back with pride on a sterling contribution to their county.

All of the aforementioned lads in this piece could each, in their own way, be described as a Mayo great. Without doubt, it was a golden generation. The massive pity is that all of them hung up their intercounty boots without achieving their due reward.

Each of them squeezed every last bit out of their body in an attempt to fall over the line. Indeed, many of them probably waited on a year or two longer than they wanted for fear of missing out.

The 2012 All-Ireland final against Donegal could perhaps be described as the start of Mayo’s return to the top table of Gaelic football but from that day only Aidan O’Shea and Cillian O’Connor are still representing their county at the top level.

One can only hope that their phenomenal and unwavering devotion to the Mayo mission bears fruit. None of the above players may have won a Celtic Cross but I doubt too many of them would change a lot about their outstanding intercounty innings.

Anyway, we cannot keep looking back. Nostalgia is a disease and we don’t want to become maudlin Mayo fans harking for yesteryear. There is plenty of exciting things to look forward to in the land of Mayo GAA.

Mayo football will always produce top quality footballers and I’m sure that the next wave of stars and household names are in production.

But for all those greats whose time wearing the green and red is done, we look back fondly on the magnificent memories and salute you on a fine job. Gone but not forgotten.

As supporters we must remember that ’tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.