Mayo urgently needs fresh faces with personality
Kevin McStay can only choose from the hand the clubs present him with
by Martin Carney, Mayo's foremost GAA columnist
It started with the usual salutation. ’I’ll only keep you a minute’.
One of the joys of my early daily walk through town is the occasional encounter with taxi- man Ger Dunne.
Looking over his glasses through a half-opened front car window he reminded me that there was only one place to be that evening: James Stephens Park for the Stephenites v Mitchels league fixture.
Armed with this and nearly afraid to disappoint, I managed to find myself there later on.
Between them, Castlebar Mitchels and Ballina Stephenites share 67 county senior titles. They are well ahead of the chasing pack; Knockmore with 10 come closest.
As reigning county champions Ballina expect to mount a strong defence of their crown this year while opponents Castlebar are in the business of reclaiming a title last won in 2017.
That success steered them to a three in a row which the club hadn’t managed since the early 1950’s. That particular group had indeed the distinction of claiming five back-to-back.
Whether or not that is possible in the modern era only time will tell.
With a display that placed heavy emphasis on attacking football Mitchels prevailed thanks in the main to a blistering first half display which yielded four goals.
Tormentor in chief Stevie Keane was at the heart of this Mitchels attack-fest and got able support from Donnacha McHugh , Paddy Heneghan and Neil Douglas.
What pleased followers was a seemingly greater emphasis on attacking football than had been the case over the last few years. Barry Moran and Neil Lydon made a bold call this year by introducing Shane Hopkins and Eoghan Hughes to their management ticket.
The former proved himself an innovative coach with the club intermediate team over the past few seasons. His excellent reading of the game with an ability to interact well with players should stand the club in good stead this year.
Hughes had forged a respectable reputation for himself while working with his home club the Neale. Both should bring an extra dimension to the team and prove themselves of immeasurable benefit to Moran, Lydon and the club .
What made the game attractive for the spectator was a seemingly greater emphasis placed on foot passing than is normally the case in the county game.
Long deliveries were commonplace, support play rarely wavered and levels of accuracy franked many flowing moves. A nine-points interval deficit would have cowed a lesser team than Ballina.
To their eternal credit they rallied impressively and an eventual four points losing margin was due to their defiant second half performance.
None more than Padraic O’ Hora epitomised this. His solo goal at the death was one of the finest scores he will get in an entire career.
On a broader scale, many of us there were hoping to see new faces announce themselves onto the scene with a view to stepping up to county level.
The need for new blood on the county scene never wavers. At the moment it is particularly acute.
Beyond Bob Tuohy, who incidentally impressed for the Mitchels despite incurring a black card, not a single new player from a senior club forced himself into Kevin McStay’s reckoning this year in championship football.
Newbies came mainly from the intermediate ranks. It is a big concern at the moment within the county that clubs in general, but especially senior clubs, aren’t producing enough talent that would boost the county senior squad.
The late great Mick Burke, manager of the 1985 All-Ireland winning minor team, coined a lovely (maybe, not necessarily P C) expression that ‘you can only dance with the ladies in the hall’ in his attempt to make the point that a manager is constrained by whatever talent is available at a particular time.
Mc Stay, I’d contend, is feeling the pinch in this regards and isn’t getting the required stream of players at the moment capable of adding that little extra to his squad.
Ask the question; were there players excluded or ignored this year who ought to have been there? I cannot think of any. To his credit he cast the net far and wide and drew in the best available.
Some interesting facts emerge on an examination of the grade below senior.
In a province with five counties, Mayo lead the roll of honour with 25 Connacht titles in the Under- 21 grade.
Yet, an ominous statistic persists that since 2009 the county has only twice found itself in the winner’s enclosure in the grade; in 2016 and 2018.
The dividend from the earlier success was a subsequent All-Ireland title with a healthy core group moving up to the senior stage.
Eoin O’ Donoghue, Mattie Ruane, Stephen Coen, Fergal Boland, Conor Loftus, Diarmuid O’ Connor, Bryan Walsh, Michael Plunkett and James Carr were among the most prominent.
After retaining the provincial crown in 2018 the team went to the All–Ireland final before losing to Kildare in the decider.
From this, the trio of Jordan Flynn, Tommy Conroy and Ryan O’ Donoghue have added real substance during their time in the senior ranks. Since then the graduating stream has thinned ominously.
The search for new blood is a never-ending quest but right now Mayo needs fresh faces more than ever; players with personality, skill and attitude who can transform where the county finds itself at the moment.
The onus is on clubs to nuture quality and keep the conveyor belt turning. I accept that not everyone given the chance will succeed.
Becoming an established senior player makes huge demands on all aspects of life and quite simply many have little ambition in giving the time demanded.
Let’s be honest, much as it pains to say, Aidan O’ Shea, Cillian O’ Connor, Patrick Durcan et al have fewer footballing tomorrow’s than yesterdays. It’s not quite obituary time, but they cannot go on forever.
I just thought during the season ended that there was a stark absence of fresh talent; new faces announcing themselves who could begin to help elevate matters back to where we were a few years ago.
Kevin McStay can only choose from the hand the clubs present him with. I believe at the moment he is being short-changed by the supply chain on offer.
If I had one wish for the summer, aside from Mitchels winning the title, it would be that the championship unearth new blood with a blend of talent and attitude suited to moving the team up another notch. I, like many others, live in hope.
And Ger Dunne does likewise.