Minor heroes had a major impact

The Male Team of the Year in the Mayo Young Sports Stars Awards were minor heroes who had a major impact on the local sporting landscape.

County championships are hard come by, particularly at underage level. To win a cup and league double at minor level is a special achievement, and it was evident from the early stages of the 2019 that Knockmore had nurtured a team that had all the attributes of talent and a good attitude towards what is needed to make the top – hard work, dedication and perseverance. You also need a good management team, and Knockmore came up with all the right ingredients.

It was also clear from an early stage in the year that they worked as a team. Yes, they had some excellent individual players who had all the skills when it came to the finer points of the game – and, no doubt, we will see a few of them make the cut at county level in the future – but what Knockmore produced was a special minor team that combined so many of the qualities that are necessary to become champions.

They fell short - just short, in fact - in their search for a Connaught title but we felt their exploits at county level were enough to secure them our Male Team of the Year Award.