|
|
 |
You are > Home > Mayo will need to buck tradition
|
Wednesday, May 05, 2010
Mayo will need to buck tradition
BY ANTHONY HENNIGAN
IT’S NOT to add to the depression of Mayo football supporters that I’ve this week uncovered one startling statistic that does nothing to inspire any confidence that the Green and Red will retain the Nestor Cup in 2010.
Skirting back over the past 43 years, back as far as when Galway followed up their three-in-a-row of All-Ireland titles by landing the 1967 National League title, the record books reveal that of the 12 finals played that involved a team from Connacht, in only one of those seasons did that same team go on to win the Connacht Championship. It was Galway who bucked the trend after losing to Kerry in 1984.
Even more surprising is that during that same 43 year time-frame, when two National League finals were actually contested by a pair of Connacht teams, neither of the finalists went on to win that year’s Connacht Championship. In 1981 Galway defeated Roscommon in the league decider yet it was Mayo who bridged a 12 year gap to reclaim the Nestor Cup. In 2001, the year of Mayo’s last league triumph, they were unable to build upon that Croke Park victory over Galway and instead lost to Roscommon in the provincial final.
All the while, Galway minded their own business and recovered from that initial set-back to return to headquarters later in the year via the newly installed qualifier system and claim All-Ireland honours.
Galway’s achievement shows how beaten National League finalists can recover in quite dramatic fashion, however, the then manager John O’Mahony was dealing with players of proven pedigree, players who had already drank from the Holy Grail in 1998, who had also contested the 2000 All-Ireland final and who opposing teams had a genuine fear of playing.
On most recent evidence, O’Mahony is not equipped with the same tools in his current guise as Mayo manager. And here’s another statistic for you.
Of the last seven times Mayo have contested the National League final, they have failed to win that same year’s Connacht Championship. One has to go as far back as 1951 when the Green and Red lost to Meath in the National League final, 0-6 to 0-3, to find a year that they followed up a league final appearance by winning the provincial silverware.
Like Galway in 2001, again that shows what beaten league finalists can achieve. However, in an uncanny resemblence with that Galway team of 2001, the Mayo team of 1951 had also lost and won All-Ireland titles in the previous four seasons (1948 and 1950) and so the players had know how and knowledge. They understood what it took to win and what was required of them to bounce back from defeat. In fact, their record of winning four Connacht titles in succession (1948-51) has yet to be surpassed by another Mayo team*.
Today’s Mayo players have yet to experience the same winning feelings as their illustrious predecessors, the sort, it’s argued, that could inspire this great football county to heights it continually threatens to reach.
Instead we’re left with doubts as to whether Mayo will this year manage something that has been achieved just three times in the past two decades for the defending Connacht champions to win two-in-a-row.
For sure, Mayo has a tradition and strike-rate of reaching finals at all grades to be proud of, one that is the envy of a whole host of other counties, however, to knock on the big door so often and be refused entry each and every time is to realise we’re a county stuck in a rut from which we’re unsure how to escape.
* Galway won five Connacht titles in-a-row between 1956 and 1960 and their only four-in-a-row between 1963 and 1966. Roscommon’s only four-in-a-row was achieved between 1977 and 1980. Prior to 1951, Mayo had previously completed a four-in-a-row in1932. Their only five-in-a-row was achieved between 1906 and 1910.
Mayo The National League Final years
Excluding last Sunday week, Mayo’s seven previous appearances in National League finals all resulted in unsuccessful championship campaigns later that year.
LEAGUE FINAL………………. CONNACHT
CHAMPIONS
1954 Bt. Carlow 2-10, 0-3 …………Galway
1970 Bt. Down 4-10, 0-10 …………Galway
1971 Lst. Kerry 0-11, 0-8 ………….Galway
1972 Lst. Kerry, 2-11, 1-9 …………Roscommon
1978 Lst. Dublin 2-18, 2-13 ……….Roscommon
2001 Bt. Galway, 0-13, 0-12 ………Roscommon*
2007 Lst. Donegal, 0-13, 0-10 …….Sligo**
2010 Lst. Cork, 1-17, 0-12 ……………?????
* Mayo recovered from their Connacht final defeat to Roscommon to beat Limerick in the first year of the AllIreland Qualifiers. However, they were beaten next time out by Westmeath.
** A month after beating Galway in the National League semi-final, Mayo were beaten by the Tribesmen in the preliminary round of the provincial championship. A qualifer defeat of Cavan was followed by defeat to Derry.
It’s a fact...
Only three times in the past 21 seasons (and five in 32) have beaten National League finalists gone on to win their provincial championship.
Dublin did so after losing to Cork in 1989 and Derry after losing to Offaly in 1998 but perhaps Mayo can take most heart from Laois. In the 2003 National League final against Tyrone, Mick O’Dwyer’s team conceded a point more (0-21) and scored a point less (1-8) than the Green and Red recently managed in their heavy defeat to Cork, but recovered to beat Dublin in the Leinster final.
They then pushed the defending All-Ireland champions Armagh to within two points in the quarter-finals of the Race for Sam. Armagh were subsequently beaten by Tyrone in the final who completed a league and championship double.
Main News Page |
Previous Page
|
|
|
|
Facebook
