Mayo girls using last year’s pain to fuel more final ambitions
Francis Regan is hoping to steer Mayo to another All-Ireland LGFA U16 Final, with the Green and Red taking on Kildare this coming Thursday evening. Picture: Michael P Ryan/Sportsfile
“Which feeling would you rather have again next Thursday? That against Cavan last year? Or against Kerry?” It’s a simple question from Mayo manager Francis Regan to his squad ahead of this Thursday’s All-Ireland U16 ‘A’ semi-final against Kildare. It’s also one with a clear answer.
Mayo produced a brilliant performance against the Kingdom in last year’s All-Ireland semi-final to reach a first final at this age grade since 1996. But dreams of winning a first All-Ireland title since 1976 unravelled after a blistering Cavan display left Mayo with too big a mountain to overcome in the final.
With seventeen players from last year’s panel involved this year, Mayo began this season’s campaign with impressive wins over Galway, Leitrim and Sligo to reach the provincial final. Two close games against Roscommon unfolded – in the round robin and the Connacht final – and the latter match saw Mayo dig deep to claim a third Connacht title at this level.
“Roscommon were an excellent team but I think that final is definitely going to stand to us in the long run, that we can pull out a game when not playing great and taking out a one-point win is always good for morale,” Francis Regan told the . “We know that if a game comes down to that in the long run, that we'll be able to pull it out again.”
Regan added: “The girls now know that they've been here, they've done it before. Even the younger ones that came into us, a lot of them have All-Ireland medals from two years ago, so there’s savage experience in this group. That experience has helped the newer girls get to grips with it and the experienced girls are helping them through it as well. It's great having that experience to call upon.”
One player who sadly has had no involvement has been Emma Stagg. A cruciate ligament injury suffered last year has seen her watching from the sidelines. Regan admitted the semi-final is too soon for a comeback, so too a potential All-Ireland final, but she is stepping up off the field as a result while continuing her comeback.
“Any team would love to have Emma Stagg fit and ready for them. Having her there, even doing her rehab at the minute, she's at training every night, she's doing her rehab runs, and even the experience of her there to help other injured girls get back from their injuries is huge.”
Stagg’s absence would be a crisis for most teams given her ability to kick scores under pressure but it has seen Katie Hughes, Aoibhinn McNamara and Mikayla McLoughlin step up to the plate. Westport ace Hughes kicked the winner against the Rossies in the Connacht final, a chance that presented itself thanks to the doggedness of McLoughlin as the Charlestown Sarsfields sharpshooter blasted in a goal after two other chances had gone abegging.
“That's the kind of girls they are. They knew from the get-go that we're going to be without Emma and everyone else has stepped up to it and that's the joys of it. We’ve a strong panel of 31, 32 girls who have all stepped up this year which is great,” said Regan.
“There's not a player in the country like Mikayla that has that confidence in herself to keep going. Any other player, once they missed the one or two in the first-half, they would have dropped their heads, but that's not Mikayla. She knew that the chance would come to her again and when it did, it was the goal that set us up to go on and push on and win the Connacht final.”
It will not be the first time that Mayo have encountered the Leinster champions, who are managed by James Costello. They played each other in a challenge game back in January and Francis Regan knows a big challenge lies ahead, but believes it’s one they can overcome if they bring their A-game down to the Midlands.
“They've some excellent, excellent players. They'd definitely be one of the favourites to go on and win it. We've watched them closely. We've seen them in the Leinster final against Dublin, where they had a fairly comprehensive win. We know that they have their weaknesses too, but there's not too many of them.
“Their half-forward line is probably the best half-forward line I've seen at this age in a long, long time. Really good goalkeepers. They're going to be a really, really well-drilled outfit. [James] is a good GAA man and LGFA man and he knows his stuff too, so he'll have them well set up.
“We know that we haven't reached the heights that we should have reached in the group stage this year, so we're hoping that that performance can come through. We've had a great six-week block of training there now just done, mixed with all the club games and Junior Cert and everything, but the girls are in a really, really good place. They've put in a savage effort. Their response has been excellent after the Connacht final.
“I think that was a great initiative, that we knew we could play better than we did against Roscommon. That's been the stick to beat them with over last couple of weeks and they've really, really came on with us.
“We watched and talked about the Kerry game last year and that's the feeling the girls want to feel again next Thursday night so hopefully we can pull it out of the bag again.”
