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You are > Home > The next generation offers Mayo new hope
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Wednesday, June 30, 2010
The next generation offers Mayo new hope
BY MICHAEL GALLAGHER
WHEN the history books are written, last Saturday will be recalled as one of Mayo football’s dark days but two hours before the senior shambles in Longford, the championship campaign of the Mayo minors slipped into gear.
A well-merited win over Roscommon in wind-swept McHale Park was well received by the small Mayo following and afterwards team captain, Cillian O’Connor, put his thoughts into words.
“We played in patches.We were very good at times and died off at other times but that was down to Roscommon. They’re a good, big physical team and we knew that we’d be up against it here today.
“Every time we got a score in the second half they hit back with one so the game was there for the taking for a long time but we got a couple of points at vital times and the goal in the first half really stood to us,” the captain explained.
The goal had come courtesy of his own trusty boot after Darren Coen split the defence with a superb pass midway through the first half. “I drifted inside, but I didn’t think there was anything on and Darren picked me out with a brilliant ball. I was in on goal before I knew it and there wasn’t much to do after that,” he added before saying that the wind had played a huge factor in proceedings.
“We knew we weren’t going to score much against the wind in the first half so we were conscious of not shooting from silly angles and only took it on if the opportunity was right,” he continued after a match where the Ballintubber ace kicked 1-6.
O’Connor is one of the leaders of the team this year, a changed situation from last season where he was just one of the boys.
“It’s a bit different this year. The experience from last year is good but this year I have to step up and take a bit more responsibility. There’s more of an onus on the experienced lads to step up and lead the team especially if things are going wrong.
“We’re playing Leitrim next weekend. We don’t know a lot about them except they’re a big physical team who will pose a huge threat to us. We played them in the league and only came through by a point after they controlled all the game. We were lucky to get four goals that day which swung it in our favour. We were very lucky to beat them and will have to be at our best next weekend,” he concluded.
Down the corridor, the Mayo manager, Tony Duffy was holding court. “We started poorly and it took us a while to get to grips with Roscommon and the wind. The wind was a huge factor as we knew it would be. We toyed with the idea of playing with an extra defender from the start, but didn’t because we thought we might handle them without it but after ten minutes we had to get a man back. We put Ryan Quirke there and it shored things up, Roscommon started shooting from long range and shot a lot of wides.
“We knew that if we went in at half-time still in touch, a couple of points up or down, that we had the players and the desire to kick on in the second half.
“The wind was a massive factor. It was horrible and worth at least four of five points. We used it fairly well in the second half and our goal against it in the first half was a great boost.
“Roscommon were winning the battle in the middle of the field for long periods of the first half while we weren’t catching the ball or winning the breaks. We talked about that aspect at half-time and improved. We kicked early points at the start of the second half and it made the game reasonably comfortable or as comfortable as these games can be.
“Roscommon had great fight and great heart. They’re a fine team and it’s tough on them being out of the championship after just one game like that,” he added before turning his attention to the next challenge – a meeting with Leitrim next weekend.
“We were second best at midfield today and that won’t be good enough against Leitrim. We went up there in the league and were lucky to win by a point. They were very good that day and if they perform like that again and we don’t improve on today’s display we’ll come home second best.
“Today was all about winning the game and getting to the next round. It would have been nice to have won it playing even worse. It might have lured Leitrim into a false sense of security,” the manager joked before being asked for his opinion on the poor showing of Mayo supporters in McHale Park.
“It’d be nice if more Mayo people turned out to support the team, but the lads don’t really mind. All they want to do is to try and win the Connacht title and progress in the championship. Nothing else matters to them,” he concluded.
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