All-Ireland Final countdown: Conor hoping Mayo can finish what they started

Conor O'Donoghue never imagined that moving to London for work in 2023 would one day see him line out against his home county. But when Andy Moran's Mayo side travelled across the Irish Sea to face London in April's Connacht quarter-final at McGovern Park in Ruislip, the Charlestown native found himself facing the team he grew up supporting.

“It’s a place I came for work and when I originally came over I never really had any notions of getting in and playing with London, it didn't really cross my mind. But since my first year in club and just seeing the huge Irish community that is over here and the involvement that London football and the clubs has, it’s a proud moment for me and I suppose my family at home and the Charlestown club as well.

“It means a lot to people over here, especially younger players, and you see some of them junior players coming through. It is a massive achievement to represent London.” 

Conor, who plays for the St Kiernan’s club, started in London’s half-back line in April and found the occasion a strange experience.

“Lining out against my own county, it was sort of a bittersweet moment. But I think any day you get to line out for a county team is a pretty proud moment, I enjoyed it.” 

He had his hands full marking Ryan O’Donoghue, who heading into next Sunday’s All-Ireland SFC Final is now second only to David Clifford as the highest scoring player in the country this year.

“The hardest player I've marked is Ryan O’Donoghue,” admits Conor. “I've marked him in two or three club championship games [for Charlestown] then obviously the last day when they played against London. He might have scored a good bit on me, but he is the toughest.” 

Former Charlestown clubmate Paul Towey was playing also against London and Conor says that his former colleague is “a nightmare to mark” and he hopes that he gets to hold onto his starting jersey when Mayo face Kerry in the All-Ireland final.

The St Kiernan’s defender was impressed by the “ferocious” way in which Mayo tackled during their Connacht quarter-final clash.

“They were tackling like you did not have one second on the ball. And I think a few of our lads got caught at different stages taking that extra hop or taking that extra second but yeah, just the work-rate of that Mayo team.” 

Conor has seen a difference in the Mayo side they faced in April to the one Andy Moran has steered in his first campaign to the championship’s final day.

“I think they swapped up a good bit in the defensive setup and shifting different lads around has worked in their favour. Also bringing back in the two U20 lads (Kobe McDonald and Darragh Beirne), I know they were missing for the London game. They’ve got plenty of shout-outs already, but they seem to be just ripping it up since they came back in.” 

Conor believes this Mayo side is different under Moran and his management team, with players encouraged to express themselves without fear of making mistakes.

“Their forwards seem to just be playing with no fear whatsoever. I think it was actually last week I saw a video Maurice Brosnan ( Irish Examiner GAA journalist) had shared, they were doing some coaching class in MacHale Park and Andy was on the sideline speaking up to people in the stand and he was just like you gotta let lads make mistakes, if they don't make mistakes basically, they won't learn.

“And I think that's coming out in the way that Mayo are expressing themselves, especially in attack in these past few games. It just seems to be all out football and they're kicking the ball a lot more, which everyone loves to see.” 

For London, the game against Mayo showed they are making strides and they can put it up to sides seen as stronger. They defended well in periods and pushed back at Mayo on the scoreboard. The bar has been set for the Exiles as they will take great confidence going into next year’s championship with greater motivation.

“The Mayo game has motivated myself and probably a lot of my team members. We did put it up for up to Mayo in spells of that game, I thought we defended pretty well.

“We took on shots maybe that we wouldn't have taken on before, the whole team in general just played with confidence. We see the level that we need to get to and now there's a bar kind of set whereas in other years, those championship games were a total write-off and you never really got anything back out of them.” 

As All-Ireland Sunday looms, Conor will be back in the green and red of his home county for the occasion as the new father is planning a quick visit back to Dublin to take in the game.

“I'll be heading over for the All-Ireland final, so I'll see it in Croke Park. Luckily, I've got the green light from my partner. We had a kid recently, so I'll be flying in on Sunday morning and straight back on the Monday.” 

Should Mayo shock Kerry, break the 75-year drought and bring Sam Maguire back across the Shannon, Conor believes that there should be a Mayo Bank Holiday to celebrate what would be a massive win for the county.

“I think we'd have to have a Mayo bank holiday. It'd be crazy. I think I have been to six All-Irelands, lost them all coming out of Croke Park in the depths of depression.

“But it would be massive for the whole county, even young lads and club players, it would just give a massive boost to everyone so hopefully they do it.”