Mayo face high-flying Sligo in battle for provincial final spot
Mayo and Sligo will battle it out for a place in the Connacht Under 20 championship final when they clash in the Connacht GAA Centre of Excellence, Bekan, this evening (Wednesday) at 7 p.m., writes Aiden Henry.
The prize for the winners will be a meeting with Galway in Carrick-on-Shannon next Wednesday evening.
For Mayo this will be their first game in the championship. However, the reigning Connacht champions, Sligo, already have a game under their belt as they proved too strong for Roscommon in Dr. Hyde Park last week in the quarterfinal.
On the evidence of Sligo’s 0-15 to 1-8 victory in Roscommon, Mayo will have their work cut out for them if they are to beat the defending champions who have eight or nine of the team that caused a major shock in winning the title last year. Indeed, it was tomorrow’s opponents who Sligo beat in last year’s decider.
Mayo Under 20 manager Maurice Sheridan is under no illusion regarding the size of the task his side has against Sligo this evening.
“I watched them against Roscommon and they were very impressive,” he said. “They are strong all over the field and have plenty of forwards who will punish any mistakes.”
Sheridan and his backroom team will be well aware that their charges have to put a full strong 60 minutes if they are to come out on top. When they met in the last year's decider in Markievicz Park, Mayo took the lead for the first time in the 41st minute and went five points clear with eight minutes remaining. Although Sligo were reduced to 14 players, they didn't throw in the towel and caught Mayo with two late goals to win by 4-4 to 1-12.
There is little doubt that Sligo have been improving with every game this year. They could and should have beaten Roscommon by more. While they have plenty of good scoring forwards, the one player Mayo will have to watch is Luke Marren. The corner forward was on fire against Roscommon as he scored 10 of his side's 15 points. Five of these came from open play.
EXPERIENCE
However, while Sligo are a fine team, so too are Mayo. Sheridan's team did very well in the Leo Murphy Cup, reaching the final against Meath. While this final was not played as it was rained off and Meath were out the following week in the Leinster championship, Mayo showed enough in most of their games – including against Sligo on their first day out – that they are a good side and are coming on in leaps and bounds with each game.
With Mayo getting to the All-Ireland minor final last year, a lot of these players are now involved in this Under 20 side.
The mix of these players along with a number who played on the Under 20 team last year means Mayo will not lack in experience when they take to the field in Bekan this evening.
Mayo are also fortunate to be able to call on two of the county's senior stars, Sam Callinan and Bob Tuohy. Maurice Sheridan and the Mayo senior team manager, Kevin McStay, have a good relationship and genuine respect for each other, with the latter allowing Tuohy to join the Under 20 squad after the league final. Although Callinan was in the Mayo 26-man squad for the Connacht championship opener against Roscommon last Sunday, the young Ballina star was an unused sub and thus can line out for the Under 20 team against Sligo.
Callinan, who did a marvellous job on Shane Walsh in the Allianz National Football League Division 1 final last Sunday week in Croke Park, will, along with Tuohy, boost Mayo’s chances greatly.
However, it will take a good all round team performance for Mayo to win this and team manager Sheridan is well aware of this.
“We haven’t had a competitive game for some time, but we did play a few challenge games,” he said. “This, along with a lot of players doing their orals for the Leaving Cert, has not made it easy either. Sligo, on the other hand, have had a good competitive game. You can do all the training and preparing but you can’t beat a solid competitive outing. But other than that, the lads have been doing very well.”
Maurice went on to say that that every year it is a new team you have to build at this age group as there are always new challenges.
“We have four or five of the players who played in the Connacht final last year and about eight of the minors who went so close to winning the All-Ireland last year. We have a good base and it is all about getting them to gel together.
“However, it all comes down to the evening. There will be little between the two teams. There are very good footballers on both sides and we know we have one real tough game on our hands.
“One thing is we will be taking nothing for granted. It is now a case of hoping the lads will rise to the occasion and perform on the night. The lads will be asked some serious questions from Sligo and hopefully they will come up with all the answers.
“At this stage we are just looking forward to the game and hoping that the lads will be able to perform they way we know they can,” concluded the manager.
The Mayo team for this evening's game was announced earlier today. The team is: David Dolan (Balla); Cian McHale (PKC), Sam Callinan (Ballina Stephenites), Ciaran Boland (Ballina Stephenites); Paul Gilmore (Claremorris), Sean Morahan (Castlebar Mitchels), Conal Dawson (Westport); Bob Tuohy (Castlebar Mitchels), Fenton Kelly (Davitts); Cathal Corless (Davitts), Tom O'Flaherty (Aghamore), Jack Fallon (Mayo Gaels); Cian McHale (Bohola Moy Davitts), James Maheady (Crossmolina Deel Rovers), Dara Hurley (Claremorris). On the subs' bench are: Bryan O'Flaherty (Islandeady), Jack Ferguson (Swinford), Adam Battle (Knockmore), Brendan Collins (Ballina Stephenites), Dara Joyce (Claremorris), Ryan Fadden (Balla), Adam Beirne (Claremorris), Finbarr McLoughlin (Westport) and Conor Mulroy (Castlebar Mitchels).
This evening's match was originally scheduled to be played in Hastings Insurance MacHale Park, Castlebar, but has been switched to the Connacht GAA Centre of Excellence, Bekan. The throw-in time remains 7 p.m. The game is live on TG4's YouTube channel and Midwest Radio, while Mayo GAA will have live updates across its social media. Tickets are available here.