Green and Red boys chase minor three-in-a-row

If there’s one thing that seems pretty certain about this week’s upcoming final of the Connacht U17 football championship (Friday at 7.30pm in Dr Hyde Park) between Mayo and Roscommon, it’s that the result is unlikely to define the season of whoever is victor and whoever is vanquished.

Mayo won last year’s title yet were chastened by Ulster’s second best, Monaghan, in the All-Ireland quarter-final while the year before, Mayo were also Connacht champions yet in the All-Ireland final, infamously succumbed to their provincial rivals Galway, whom they had already beaten twice that year.

So, while it’ll be particularly cherished if Tom Hession, as Mayo captain, gets to hoist aloft the Kilcoyne Cup on Friday evening, it’s by no means going to represent the final destination for the Eastern Gaels defender and his teammates. There’ll be more water to flow beneath that bridge, the only question being how much.

A Connacht title, however, is never to be sneezed as – just think how sore this county was after the senior team’s final defeat earlier this month – so between the silverware and the more favourable All-Ireland quarter-final draw on offer to the winners this Friday, it seems reasonable to expect some fireworks.

Unsurprisingly for the team that qualified without the inconvenience of a semi-final, Mayo were the heaviest scorers of the round-robin phase, averaging over 17 points per game and actually hitting their biggest tallies in the opening two rounds against Roscommon and Galway, against whom they scored 2-13 both times. It seems reasonable to suggest that tinkering with personnel contributed to Mayo’s scoring rate dipping slightly in rounds three and four, although there was nothing too shabby about scoring three goals against Leitrim (no county scored three goals in any of the other nine round robin games although Roscommon did in last Friday’s semi-final) while the 1-11 that Mayo struck against Sligo was still the Yeats County’s highest concession of the championship along with 2-8 shipped against the Rossies.

The Mayo team that started that Round 4 clash with Sligo showed four changes from that which had started against Roscommon in Round 1 but dig a little deeper into the facts and figures and it’s revealed that only seven Mayo players started all four games, namely the aforementioned Tom Hession, fellow full-back line member Daithi Butler, midfielder Josh Moyles, his Crossmolina clubmates Kobe McDonald, Dylan Flynn and Oisin Deane, and their fellow attacker Evan Walsh.

They are likely to be joined in the starting team on Friday by goalkeeper Nathan Roddy, who played the opening three matches until qualification to the Connacht final was secure, and centre-back Mark Noonan for whom the game against Sligo was also the only one he didn’t start. Like Roddy and Noonan, corner-back Conor Coghill, wing-back David Hurley, midfielder Owen Loughney and the very accurate forward Harry McHale have started three times for Mayo as well, so are likely to earn their 1 to 15 place when joint managers David Heaney and Tom O’Reilly, and head coach Ciaran McDonald, settle upon their final pick this week.

And with a total of 28 players used so far by Mayo in this championship campaign, it's fair to say that management’s options look quite plentiful; Conor Moriarty kicked points in both of the games he started, Andrew Quinn scored a goal when sprung from the bench against Roscommon, Joe Forry has carried a big impact when introduced, raising flags against Roscommon and Sligo, while Fionn Ó Cinnsela and Jack O’Malley have also scored points this campaign.

The clean sheet kept by Oisin Costello when deputising for Nathan Roddy between the posts against Sligo will have done his confidence no harm while Mark Sheeran, Oran Murphy, Conor Kavanagh, Barry Langan, Charlie Beale, Killian Conway, Mark Feeney, Seán Óg McGuinness and Derry Óg Cox have all also played their part in Mayo’s progression to the decider.

Their final opponents, Roscommon, were 3-5 to 0-7 winners over Galway in a quite dour semi-final at Tuam Stadium last Friday evening. Dara Curran contributed 1-2 while Dean Casey and Eoin Collins, who scored the other goals, also hit the net against Mayo in Round 1. In fact, 13 of the Roscommon starters that day also started against Galway, and the other two players were introduced from the bench, so the Green and Red will have more than a fair idea of what to expect in this Connacht final – it’s really a case of how much improvement the Shannonsiders have made since that game mid-April.

Galway led by a point after 25 minutes of Friday’s semi-final but two goals just before half-time by Collins and Curran laid the groundwork for Roscommon’s success. They led 2-3 to 0-4 at the break and a black card for wing-back Shay Rabbitt did nothing to help the cause of Galway who could only add one further point to their tally in the third quarter. In contrast, Dara Curran swung over a free for Roscommon before playing a delightful pass into the path of Dean Casey for his side’s third goal with ten minutes remaining.

When Mayo hosted Roscommon at MacHale Park on April 12, the side co-managed by David Heaney and Tom O’Reilly moved from level-pegging to six points ahead in the space of four second-half minutes and by the 56th minute were all of 10 points in front.

A bombardment of the Mayo goal in stoppage time saw Roscommon reduce their deficit somewhat, with Mayo eventually running out 2-13 to 2-07 winners.

Particularly with Roscommon enjoying home advantage for next Friday’s final, it’s very possible that that gap between the team may close even further but all evidence is pointing towards Mayo winning the Connacht U17 football championship for the third year running.