Return of key players can inspire minors to take final step
David Heaney, Pat Clarke, Diarmuid Byrne and Brian Kilkelly are in charge of the Mayo minor team, as is Tom O'Reilly who is joint manager along with Heaney. Pictures: David Farrell Photography
Mayo will bid to reach a first All-Ireland minor final in three years when this year’s crop take on Kerry tomorrow (Sunday) in Ennis.
There have been eighteen meetings between these two counties at minor level, all but four of which have been at the All-Ireland semi-final stage. Two were in finals and two more were quarter-finals. Kerry have won 10 while Mayo have been victorious on seven occasions, the latest of these coming in the most recent semi-final meeting in 2022, where Mayo won 1-9 to 0-8.
While there was much talk and hype about that group and about last year’s squad that reached this stage also, it is fair to say the 2025 Mayo panel has had fewer eyes on them than previous squads.
It must also be said that much of that has come from not only the majority of last year’s panel moving on, but the slow start this group made to this year’s championship. An unconvincing win over Leitrim in their first game could be partially explained by Mayo beginning their championship a week later than everyone else as they had their bye in Round 1, but it was clear who the standout from Connacht was as Roscommon, who play Tyrone in next weekend’s other All-Ireland semi-final, flexed their muscles in the second-half to beat Mayo pulling up in Hyde Park in their Round 2 fixture.
An impressive win over Sligo guaranteed a semi-final against Galway regardless of how the final group game went between both counties. As it happened, both teams rang the changes – but more so Mayo – and that match ended in a narrow win for the Tribesmen. But Mayo, under the tutelage of joint managers David Heaney and Tom Reilly, won the game that mattered with their best performance of the championship against Galway in that semi-final against Galway to set up a rematch with the Rossies in the provincial final.
The strides that Mayo had made throughout the championship were evident in that game in MacHale Park, but Dara Curran’s late goal broke Green and Red hearts as Mayo’s dreams for a fourth Connacht minor title on the spin were shattered.
The defeat set up one of the more intriguing ties of the All-Ireland series when Mayo returned to Hyde Park to take on Offaly. In a remarkable quarter-final, Mayo withstood an early assault from the Faithful County to lead by nine points at half-time. Offaly showed the mettle that won them the Leinster title to wipe out Mayo’s advantage and take the lead in the second-half. But Mayo demonstrated their own powers of recovery as Conor Hession, Oran Murphy and Ben Joyce kicked crucial points in the final minutes to book their side’s place in this weekend’s semi-final.
There is good news on the injury front. Tony Carey is back after recovering from illness that forced him to miss the Offaly game, as is Cian May and Rhys Neary, and they will add great firepower in the Mayo attack. Conor Hession is the side’s top scorer with 3-31 to date and has a penchant for two-pointers, as evidenced with his clutch free from outside the arc to put Mayo back in front against Offaly.
The return of Carey, Mayo’s second highest scorer with 2-11, will be a big boost while from deep, Dara Flanagan has a penchant for big goals either from wing-back or wing-forward. When you add in Fionn Ó Cinnseala, Oran Murphy and Ben Holmes, Mayo’s cohesive strike force will test the Kerry backline.
The Mayo defence has been a consistent presence of the championship to date. Goalkeeper Thomas Williams is the only Mayo player who has started all seven of their matches to date, albeit Cathair Tighe, Conor Jordan and Ben Joyce have also featured in all seven games, Joyce most times off the bench.
Mayo captain Conor Coghill, one of the few survivors of last year’s panel, Barry Langan, Ryan O’Donnell and Declan Duffy have played all but one game of the championship along with Adam Kelly, Fionn Ó Cinnseala, Conor Hession, Tony Carey and Oran Murphy. When you also consider Cian May, Fiachra Ó Cinnseala and Patrick Garvey have played in five of the games, this is a very settled Mayo squad as they stand 60 minutes away from an All-Ireland final.
You could argue this Mayo side is more battle hardened than their Kerry counterparts. The Kingdom played only three times in the Munster Championship, as the round robin series excluded Kerry and Cork to leave the four counties to battle it out. Kerry easily beat Cork in the quarter-final and comfortably defeated Clare before securing another convincing win over the Rebels in the decider.
They got a big fright against Ulster runners-up Cavan in the All-Ireland quarter-final, where the Breffni men arguably should have beaten Kerry as the Green and Gold faded in both halves, but they still had enough in the tank to put Cavan away.
Ben Kelliher has been prominent, as has Tadhg O’Connell, Pádraig Ó Mainnín and Liam O’Brien, while Kevin Griffin, man of the match in the Munster Final, will require special attention.
Kerry’s pedigree always make them dangerous – a record sixteen All-Irelands at this level is proof of that – but if the drop in performance that was evident against Cavan returns, Mayo, who potentially could set up the trilogy with Roscommon should they beat Tyrone in the other semi-final, will have full belief they can topple the Kingdom.
