|
|
 |
You are > Home > The Long’ road to nowhere
|
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
The Long’ road to nowhere
BY ANTHONY HENNIGAN
HOW did it come to this? All-Ireland finalists in two of the previous three seasons, Mayo had found the missing piece to the jigsaw – or so a county believed.
Double deliverer of Sam Maguire to Galway, John O’Mahony had finally answered his home county’s call and all was right with the world. Mayo football would now finally deliver upon on its undoubted potential.
That was Autumn, 2006. Roll on to Summer, 2010, and Mayo football is at its lowest ebb in a generation, O’Mahony presiding as the senior team slid from Croke Park contenders to Pearse Park pretenders.
That sounds harsh and yes, it’s painful to write, but it’s fact. One of the great managers of the modern GAA era has had his copybook blemished by a four-year spell with the team he wished most to be successful with. It began in glorious hope with a Division 1 league win over Kerry in February, 2007, and ended in defeat to a Longford team whose only other victories in 2010 have been over the footballers of Kilkenny and London.
Just pause a moment and suck in that last truth. Unable to beat and so finishing below Carlow, Leitrim, Wicklow, Clare, Limerick and Waterford in National League Division 4, by beating Mayo last Saturday, Longford became only the second team of that group of seven to win a championship match this season.
The other six teams’ combined record currently stands at Played 9, Won 1. Factor in London’s two defeats and that Kilkenny won’t even dare to compete in championship, and you get some idea as to the true expectations and capabilities of a Division 4 team.
In contrast, Mayo – this year’s Division 1 table toppers and National League finalists – are the only top flight team already knocked out of this year’s All-Ireland championship. Indeed at this stage six of the eight teams in Division 2 are also still standing.
Where to next for Mayo football and under whose watch are two of the major questions requiring careful attention.
The outgoing O’Mahony has already stated his belief that the County Board need not look too far: “I think there’s plenty of good management material around the county, we’ve exported many managers over the years so I think there’ll be plenty to take it on that little bit.”
Seven championship defeats in 12 outings and four defeats in five Croke Park visits, including two National League final losses, this is not how life for John O’Mahony and Mayo was supposed to be.
Main News Page |
Previous Page
|
|
|
|
Facebook
