The highlights and lowlights of Mayo GAA during 2023

by Martin Carney, Mayo GAA's foremost columnist

AS we’re in the final week of the year and it's time to review the action, I’ll try to recall some of my highlights and lowlights from 2023.

So, without further ado, I'll start with the game of the year.

We were looking for signs, searching for morsels that would give hope for greater things to come. Looking to see if the county team retained the umph and wherewithal to continue its search for the golden fleece.

Certainly the league final win over Galway on the first week of April gave grounds for that optimism.

Aside from the quality displayed, the fact that the team won a National League title for only the third time in the last 53 years provided supporters with reason to hope.

A three-point win in a game where the scoreline didn’t reflect their dominance was orchestrated by displays from Colm Reape in goal, Sam Callinan in defence and Ryan O’Donoghue up front. The introduction of Tommy Conroy was pivotal in hindsight.

What impressed more than anything though was Mayo’s response when Galway trimmed their lead to the minimum with six minutes left to play.

Then displaying great character and conviction, O’Donoghue, Coyne and Callinan reeled off the final three scores to give Mayo victory. It’s the game I remember most fondly from the year gone.

For me, three players put their hands up to earn the top player accolade: Kilmeena’s Stephen Staunton, Ballina’s Sam Callinan and Breaffy's Aidan O’Shea.

Staunton displayed a consistency all year with the west Mayo lads that helped steer them to intermediate honours. Strong in defence and excellent at linking with his attack, he made things tick when most needed.

Callinan’s reputation soared as the year grew and for one so young (still eligible for Under 21), he showed great maturity when winning a National League medal but, in particular, driving Ballina to their first title in 16 years.

My vote for the honour, though, rests with Aidan O’Shea.

Rarely absent, always giving his best, his performances this year in driving Breaffy to the county final were nothing short of exceptional.

Last on everyone’s lips when the list of possible county champions were mooted early in the year, O’Shea somehow managed to drag his team forward to contest the final.

The response from many around him didn’t quite reach the levels demanded so it became his responsibility to carry the extra work-load.

The final didn’t go as planned but for his selfless consistency in getting Breaffy to the final, he gets my nod for player of the year.

They say goals win games. Well in Lahardane’s case, their second-half brace in the junior county final spelt the difference between winning and losing.

Making something from nothing and adorning it with a piece of instinctive improvisation earned Mark Noone’s decisive strike for his club my vote for goal of the year. A goal was needed.

The intended pass to Noone looked more mis-kick than deliberate, yet with a flick of the outside of his boot, Noone somehow, defying the laws of physics, magically guided the ball to the corner of the net. A special moment.

Without labouring the point, I’d award this honour to Kilmeena. Building on their All-Ireland junior success from the previous year, they annexed the intermediate crown showing little signs of the continuous demands asked from them over the previous years.

Always endeavouring to play positive football, Jack Reilly’s men cleared every hurdle before them.

In Jack Carney, Darragh Keaveney and Caolach Halligan, they had an attacking trio who always seemed to find the scores when they were most needed. Boasting a fine pitch and clubhouse, Kilmeena are going in the right direction and get my nod for team of the year.

The quirky moment of the year arrived in mid-June. I arrived early in the car park of Limerick’s Gaelic Grounds. I was due to do a Midwest Radio commentary with Michael D. McAndrew on the Mayo v Cork qualifier.

Catching my breath after the drive, two lads across from the car park caught my attention. One wore a Limerick county jersey, the other the black and red UCC top emblazoned with the distinctive skull and crossbones.

Standing 10 yards apart, they hurled a sliotar at one another with all the power they could muster. Without exception the ball stuck to the bas of their hurls on every occasion.

Watching this little skills cameo reinforced the belief that hurling is special beyond words. To those who consistently promote it, a special thanks.

I have harped on about it like a broken record during the latter stages of 2023, but my big disappointment had to do with the overall standards evident in the game. For whatever reason, the defensive mindset that was ever-present robbed so many games of their appeal.

The plague was too often manifest in county games.

That absence of ambition, an unwillingness to take the occasional risk and an obsession with retaining possession for its own sake were common throughout the year.

Numerous games failed to engage spectator interest, leaving many feeling short-changed as a consequence.

The senior county final was a case in point but it was only one of many games where the dominant ethos was built around the principle of grim mass defending.

This concerns those gone but not forgotten in a footballing sense, of course!

That we have seen the last of Jason Doherty, Kevin McLoughlin and Brendan Harrison removes some of the most enduring characters to have worn the county jersey over the last 12 years or more.

By my reckoning, in the period since 2012, Mayo contested a total of 18 All-Ireland semi-finals and finals. Quite remarkable. The aforementioned played key roles throughout that time.

McLoughlin competed in each and every one of those games; Jason Doherty in 10; while Harrison played his part on eight occasions.

The unimaginable agonies of close calls and ‘what might have been’ never deterred them.

Year after year, in declaring their availability, they gave all a glimpse of their strength of character and love of county. They refused to buckle under criticisms levelled and injuries endured.

They were part of a special breed who all of us were lucky enough to see play. Guys like this don’t come around too often. The least they deserve is our respect.