Mayo’s future in flux as we watch the Jack and Jim show

On my return visit to Meath last week a new phenomenon hit me. From the border at Kilcock on towards Maynooth and the windy road into Dunboyne, the once customary Mayo flags that flew for twelve All Ireland semi-finals since 2004 were replaced by Meath favours, their third time of hoisting since 2001.

Most parts of Meath are deeply connected with Mayo and the West, not always in sporting harmony but the loyalty throughout the county for things Mayo and Galway is still very strong. So seeing green and gold favours flying was a novelty. I could say it was also a reflection of how far we have fallen and Meath has risen but that would be wrong after Donegal’s demolition job on the Royals.

The best two teams are in this year’s All-Ireland final. No doubt at all about that. The rest melted as the heat rose. Both teams characterised their quarter-final march onwards with power driven second-halves that shattered all opposition. Perfect timing… so far.

Donegal are facing their tenth championship match this year. The new rules and format have thrown up an equality of sorts. I got a text after the semi-finals from a friend. It was simple. ‘They (Donegal) beat us (Mayo) by one. They beat Meath by 20’. True. So too is the fact that Meath beat Kerry and Tyrone beat Donegal also in this year’s championship. We beat Tyrone but Cavan beat us. So what does that prove?

Maybe it proves that having the right leader on the sideline matters. From the off this season, both Donegal and Kerry targeted this year’s All-Ireland final and made no secret about it. Both came a different route as evidenced by the National League. We were the beneficiaries and the beaten in that competition. Donegal would have made a league final had they got a result against us in Castlebar; many think that it wasn’t a priority for them – better perhaps to meet Kerry once this year and see what happens. Kerry on the other hand said ‘Yerra, shure it’s an auld cup and we might as well win it’. That they did, with us in that particular sandwich.

So, how come a team that looked dishevelled and dispirited in March 2023, that was on the receiving end of a 1-17 to 0-9 hammering from Mayo in Ballybofey, are now equally rated to land the big one a mere two seasons later? A flood of new players maybe? No. A change of manager? Yes, to a point. That Ballybofey hammering ended Paddy Carr’s tenure, a decent man who only wanted to serve his county. But we live in different times, expectations are high, demands unceasing. Maybe Paddy was too nice? Donegal limped that season out. Jim McGuinness came back and took them to last year’s semi-final and this year’s final. Shades of 2011-12?

Let’s revisit Ballybofey that March Sunday two years ago and compare the team with the one that destroyed Meath on a hot July Sunday a week ago. Ten of the starting fifteen in Ballybofey started against Meath, three came on as subs. That’s thirteen from two seasons ago alive and well. Add in McBrearty, Murphy and McHugh who weren’t available two seasons ago along with Brennan in the panel and we note nothing structurally different about Donegal’s make up. Or is there? The addition of young Roarty, aged 19 but like a 19-year-old Ciaran Kilkenny, 19 trapped in the body of a 29-year-old, youth mixed with physique. The discovery of Moore, a speed merchant with an eye for a score. Mogan from left corner-forward to left corner-back and hey presto!

Still, it cannot be that simple. Or is it? Surely McGuinness isn’t a magician – or is he? Of course not, but he does carry one unbendable trait. He’s the boss. Starts with him, ends with him, not a coalition of coaches and worthies in tracksuits. Yes, his old confrere McFadden is there but as a corporal not an officer.

Let’s rewind McGuinness. A successful U21 manager who only got the job because the maestro of Donegal’s improbable 1992 All-Ireland breakout win put his reputation on the line and vouched for McGuinness. The Donegal County Board didn’t want Jim but feared Brian McEniff, their ex manager, and though it was McEniff’s clout that eased Jim in, it would be McGuinness’ hard-nosed attitude that would do the rest.

And the rest? Two seismic shifts of dropping a bona fide legend and recalling another bona fide legend thirteen seasons apart. Kevin Cassidy, a 2011 All-Star and Donegal leader, was axed form the squad before the 2012 history-making success by Donegal. Only McGuinness knows the rationale behind that move. It wouldn’t happen in most counties – and definitely not in Mayo – but do you know, when your bet on the house wins the stake put down is forgotten. Sympathy for Cassidy but Sam for the county. Thirteen seasons later, McGuinness does a reverse. Like 2011’s semi-final loss and lessons corrected for 2012, McGuinness saw a fly in the 2024 All Ireland semi-final ointment. The return of Michael Murphy at 36, two seasons away from inter-county football was – and still is – a gamble.

What many assumed, okay, what I assumed, was that Murphy was brought back to steady and show leadership, maybe hang around the square, maybe come on with ten or fifteen minutes left, lift the crowd kind of thing. Kick a boomer, lift the fist to the sky and engage the referees. Instead, up until ten minutes into the second-half against Meath last Sunday week, Murphy was and remains central to everything Donegal does. No one knows where he’s going to play – full-forward, half-forward, midfield, hell at one point I saw him on his own 21-yard line. Not alone does he play in those positions, he owns those positions. Tongue wobbling about like an old lad out of breath disguises a finely tuned Rolls Royce.

And yet that gamble might finally run out of steam in the final. I can’t believe I am going to criticise a 36-year-old who has kicked six points in 45 minutes of an All-Ireland semi-final when we have players who over an aggregate of six All-Ireland semi-finals barely mustered a point in all, but I just saw a hint of tiredness in the lad as that sixth cleared the crossbar. I’m not sure McGuinness took him off to save the legs, I think he took him off to save the body. In doing so, McGuinness’ master-plan was laid out for all to see. Murphy is the on-field master of Donegal’s plays. Yes, of course the likes of McHugh, seriously underrated, Thompson, O’Donnell, Gallen, Langan are free to improv because the master on the pitch permits them to.

It’s how Kerry manage to handle Michael Murphy, like how Donegal manage David Clifford, that yet could decide which way the scales may tip. Both in essence are the fulcrums for their respective teams. Clifford exudes youthful brio in all his actions, Murphy conserves himself until the switch has to be thrown. The more I think about this match the tighter the call it is. Strong half-backs both, likewise half-forwards. Midfield hard to call. Full-back lines equal. Three things point a Kerry win for me. Firstly, each year Jack wins the league, he wins Sam. Kerry have also had harder teams to play from quarter-finals onwards, Armagh and Tyrone against Donegal beating essentially a pair of Division Two teams in Monaghan and Meath. Finally, I believe Clifford’s youth may shade Murphy’s guile. Tight and I won’t be betting.

And us? The future in flux as we await a manager. No Jim McGuinness out there awaiting anointing, just a committee set up to pick another committee to pick a manager. Part of that committee is to have a person who won an All-Ireland medal on it. And there’s the usual s**** about competencies, PowerPoints and the names of the managers three main assistants to be given. Imagine asking Jurgen Klopp, Alex Ferguson or Pep for the names of their assistants? Ferguson went through the likes of Kidd, Smith, McClaren, Phelan, Queiroz, Meulensteen, Knox, Ryan and Harrison like a takeaway menu; all helpful to Sir Alex, all disposable as needed.

We need a period away from the spotlight, a manager given two or three seasons free from interference to shift us away from the stasis we currently dwell within. A time when some players are thanked and moved on. A time when we come to grips with the new game – and that’s not all about two pointers as evidenced by Donegal kicking only one of them despite their enormous score against Meath. The new game needs rounded footballers that aren’t just athletes or long distance runners. We don’t have a Murphy, we don’t have a McGuiness, and that worries me.

If it was up to me I’d scrap the interview process. They are futile anyway and have the uncanny knack of arriving at the decision that they already have quietly hoped for in the first place. The board should lead from the front, pick a man they want, not a man slid through an interview process in order to get a man they want anyway, if you follow me? Who’s out there? None that will change us from where we currently dwell, but McEntee did a good job in Sligo with a progressive board down there. He knows Mayo football and that might be a good thing, so too that he knows it but is not part of it. There is a distinction.

Watching Cora Staunton on The Sunday Game the other night, one thought dominated my mind, nobody will push Cora over, we could do worse. And the good news? Mayo forwards are shooting the lights out… across the Atlantic in America.