Lots of work needed to close gap on rivals admits Gardiner

Peadar Gardiner was as positive as ever when he reflected on his side’s second-half collapse in Castlebar last Wednesday, and a defeat that extends Mayo’s run of six barren campaigns in Connacht at this level. There were no excuses or complaints from the Crossmolina man, but he wasn’t buying into the pervading spirit of doom and gloom either.

“They’re an unbelievable group of players, who came here tonight hoping for a victory but we didn’t get it. Full credit to Sligo, they’re a fantastic team that fully deserved their win,” he said.

“We battled hard for the first-half but unfortunately Sligo came at us in the second-half, which we knew they would and we had no answer for them. They didn’t let us get out, they pressed us high, they had more energy than us. There were a couple of goal chances and we didn’t take any of them that could have put a bit of a gap between us.

“I’m just disappointed for our lads. They’ve given it everything, they’ve made huge sacrifices to play for Mayo and what I said to them was that this is part of their development, and it will stand to them. Some of those lads will go on to play in Croke Park with Mayo as seniors, others will go on to win county championships with their clubs, and today is part of that development. Hopefully they’ll get back on the pitch soon, bring that hurt with them, and be successful.” 

There was no getting away from it however – Mayo now have a worrying track record at this grade, which Gardiner accepted.

“Tonight’s result shows that we have a lot of work to do, Sligo were bigger and stronger than us tonight. But in saying that, we’ve done a lot of good work in Mayo, credit to Seán Deane and his teams that won two minor championships, there are quality players coming through. The academies are doing unbelievable work, the minor teams are very strong, these lads will come, and eight or nine of them will be underage again next year. I’m not sure of the age profile of Sligo but they seemed to be bigger and stronger than us,” he said.

“There will be questions asked but I can assure you, there’s no stone being left unturned in the development of these players from lots of different groups. It will take time, but there’s great work being done in the schools, with the clubs, great work by the academies, so it will come. But we need to find a way to get some victories at U20 level because we haven’t had them for a while.” 

Sligo, in contrast, didn’t have a single Connacht title at this level until 2022. Now, they are two games away from making it three-in-a-row, and it could be argued that they will go into the knockout stages as the form team, despite winning just one of their four group games.

Understandably, manager Paul Henry hopes that this will be the case.

“We’ve got over Mayo today but we’ve a big championship battle next week with Galway. Galway are the one team in Connacht that has beaten us this year. Now we’ve to try and right that wrong, and hopefully put in a performance again next week,” he told the Western People.

“We’re creating (scoring chances), but it’s disappointing that we’re not taking too many of them, and that left us with our backs against the wall coming here. It’s not good for the heart that we’re not taking them because we’ve been under serious pressure there for a few games, but we’ll keep working on that and hopefully next week is the week when it’ll come good.

“I’ll be honest, when I looked at it originally, I thought that a round robin system wasn’t ideal for championship, I always enjoy championship when it’s knockout. Thankfully this year it’s worked out for us in that because it was round-robin, we’re back in it again. It’s given loads of lads quality championship football, and you see from the quality of each of the games in Connacht that it’s been a great championship so far.

“Our job now is to make sure it doesn’t end next Wednesday”.