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You are > Home > Johnno’s fate hinges on a game of Russian Roulette in the last chance saloon
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Wednesday, June 09, 2010
Johnno’s fate hinges on a game of Russian Roulette in the last chance saloon
The shocking capitulation to Sligo has left Mayo football in a very bleak place, writes James Laffey.
The last time John O’Mahony lost a championship match to Sligo it marked the end of his intercounty playing career. It may be too early yet to call time on his intercounty management career but Saturday’s debacle in Markievicz Park has left Johnno playing a game of Russian Roulette in the last chance saloon.
It is possible, but highly improbable, that Mayo will safely negotiate their way through the minefield that is the qualifiers and into an All-Ireland quarter-final in Croke Park, which is the minimum requirement most supporters would set for a continuance of the current managerial regime.
O’Mahony is a proud Mayo man who must be hurting like hell in the wake of Saturday’s embarrassing capitulation. He comes from Ballaghaderreen, a border town defined by its intercounty rivalry. He doesn’t need newspaper writers or bloggers to help him understand the gut-wrenching disappointment that accompanied last weekend’s defeat.
He will have keenly felt it himself and will have wondered – like the supporters in the stands – how it all came to this. How did the second coming of the Messiah – the man who was supposed to lead Mayo’s longsuffering supporters to the promised land of Sam Maguire – reach such abject awfulness?
We can only go on the evidence before us – and perhaps we will be relieved of some of our worst fears when the qualifier rounds begin – but right now the future of Mayo football looks more bleak than at any stage since the mid-1990s when a Croke Park drubbing against Cork was followed by Connacht championship humiliations to Leitrim and Galway.
On the basis of what we saw on Saturday evening we are in poor, poor shape. The spine of our team is as fragile as a summer butterfly, and we have about as many leaders as an army in chaotic retreat. One of the most painful aspects of last Saturday was the number of times our lads came off second best in the physical exchanges. Sligo players like Eamonn O’Hara, Jonathan Davey, Charlie Harrison and even young Stephen Gilmartin bullied and battered Mayo into submission. When it came to the white heat of battle Sligo had all the men and Mayo had all the boys.
A harsh assessment, perhaps, but one that stands up to scrutiny when we reflect on that vital, final quarter when the game was still in the melting pot.
If you were to select a best 15 from the two teams that lined out in Markievicz Park on Saturday evening how many Mayo men would make it?
Two or three at most, and that’s including goalkeeper David Clarke. And what about the battle of the benches? What we saw on the sideline was simply soul-destroying. John O’Mahony, once renowned for his peerless tactical nous, has lost his mojo to such an extent he is incapable of making the sort of changes that are blindingly obvious to everyone else in the ground. For example, it was apparent from an early stage that players like Tom Parsons, Seamus O’Shea and Enda Varley were struggling to make an impact yet they remained on the field until the game was all but lost.
Kevin Walsh, on the other hand, quickly identified young Alan Freeman as a danger man and promptly deployed Eamonn O’Hara as sweeper in front of the Sligo full-back line. It turned the tide in Sligo’s favour, something the Mayo management was unable to do in the second-half when the shoe was on the other foot.
Of course, it should be acknowledged that Sligo were utterly superb and richly deserved their victory. They have dispelled the notion that last summer’s ‘moral victory’ against Kerry was a mere fluke and are now in a position to be regarded as serious challengers in Connacht. In David Kelly they have a forward with genuine match-winning potential while Eamonn O’Hara’s return to form is an unexpected boost.
But, what of Mayo and Project Johnno? There are two schools of thought on the future of Mayo football. The first is that there are better players around the county than the 15 that took to the field last Saturday. Supporters and journalists who subscribe to this particular hypothesis also argue that management can get more out of the existing panel of players; that a change of management and the introduction of some new talent would revive the sagging fortunes of Mayo football.
I’m not so sure. Take, for instance, last autumn’s county senior football final between Charlestown and Knockmore. The two best players on the field that day were Ginger Tiernan for the winners and Kevin O’Neill for the losers. They have a combined age of 70 and are both in the twilight of their distinguished careers. If there is such an embarrassment of riches in Mayo’s club scene why are two 35-year-olds stealing the show in a county senior final?
Club football is not the only barometer for measuring the potential of an intercounty team but it has been a useful yardstick in the past. In the decade from 1996 to 2005, Mayo clubs claimed seven out of the ten Connacht titles on offer and reached five All-Ireland finals, winning two (Crossmolina in 2001 and Ballina in 2005). In the past five years we’ve had one Connacht title winner (Ballina in ’07), and our most recent county champions, Charlestown, looked well off the pace.
Therefore, it’s all very well lambasting the performances of Tom Cunniffe or Trevor Howley at centreback but where are the alternatives? The same logic applies to almost every other position around the field whether it is full-back, corner-back, midfield or centre-forward. Some supporters are still banging on about our All-Ireland semi-final defeat of Dublin in 2006 but it’s worth noting that our victory on that unforgettable August day was inspired by several men who have since retired (most notably Brady, O’Neill and McDonald).
One of the thoughts that struck me last Thursday morning when I opened my e-mails and scanned the Mayo team for the Sligo game was that John O’Mahony hasn’t the foggiest idea of what constitutes Mayo’s best side. But who does? We all have theories of who should be in and who should be out but the truth is that for every argument in favour of a particular player there is a counter argument against.
Managers often talk about a certain player being the first name on a team sheet i.e. the Paul Galvin/Brian Dooher dog of war figure who will inspire his side to greatness. But here in Mayo you would struggle to write the first name on the team sheet, let alone the last.
Why not try it? Who would be your first? The safest bet might be David Clarke but what about outfield players? Maybe Keith Higgins, Alan Freeman or Andy Moran on the evidence of Saturday, and possibly Alan Dillon and Aidan Kilcoyne if they were fit. But the truth is we only have a couple of outfield players who fall into the ‘must have’ category. And that number is dwindling rather than increasing with every insipid championship display.
Maybe there is some great Mayo team hiding within the bowels of the county’s club scene but I respectfully suggest that it would be easier to predict next week’s Lotto numbers than find Mayo’s magic 15. In a quarter of a century following the Mayo team I cannot remember a time when there were so many unanswered questions about so many different positions. It is an unfathomable mystery and perhaps Johnno and Co should head for Knock Shrine rather than McHale Park to plot their glorious recovery.
Of course, it is not beyond the bounds of possibility that O’Mahony could turn things around. He has done so before, most notably with Galway in 2001. But it will take ingenuity and resourcefulness of MacGyver-esque proportions to assemble an All-Ireland winning team from the wreckage of last Saturday.
The best we can hope for is a few soft games in late June and early July that will create a winning momentum.
Should we encounter a Derry or a Kildare early doors it may signal an ignominious end to John O’Mahony’s second coming as Mayo manager. The Ballaghaderreen man has often spoken about that young Mayo team of 1975 – All-Ireland U-21 winners the previous year – who were thrown to the wolves after the infamous defeat to Sligo in McHale Park. The thrust of his argument has been that the team should have been given a second chance. This summer’s qualifiers afford Mayo’s class of 2010 the second chance O’Mahony and his teammates were denied back in the barren 1970s.
If the players take it, the manager’s job is secure for another year; if they don’t he’s heading for the exit door. Understanding the stark dilemma he now faces is the simple bit for John O’Mahony; hitting upon a winning Mayo 15 is another matter entirely.
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