Mayo’s mighty ‘auld dogs’ show they still possess plenty of bite

Inside Track with John McIntyre

Those mighty warriors from Mayo just don’t know when to give up. The most popular GAA team in the country – notwithstanding the natural antipathy towards them in some Galway football strongholds – are back in an All-Ireland semi-final for the eighth time in nine seasons.

There was a presumption that this generation of Mayo players were in terminal decline in the wake of last year’s Super 8s defeat to Kildare in the infamous ‘Newbridge or nowhere’ encounter. The O’Shea brothers, Colm Boyle, Keith Higgins, Lee Keegan, Kevin McLoughlin, Chris Barrett, Brendan Harrison and Andy Moran had been around a long time, and the law of diminishing returns was stalking the squad.

Throw in the fact that the O’Connor brothers and Jason Doherty have a lot of miles chalked up as well, the omens certainly didn’t look great for Mayo last winter, especially when Stephen Rochford – the former successful Corofin supremo – discovered that his proposed new management team was not going down well in the local corridors of power.

When Rochford saw the lie of the land, he very quickly packed his bags, only for a few weeks later to link up with Donegal in a coaching capacity. The Mayo players’ silence at this turn of events told its own story. There was no great support among their ranks for Rochford to stay despite guiding the county to a couple of All-Ireland finals.

Instead, Mayo went back to the future. James Horan returned to the managerial hot-seat and when the team finally got their hands on some national silverware by overcoming Kerry in the league final at Croke Park on the last day of March, they looked revitalised. Within a couple of months, however, the wheels had come off when suffering a shock Connacht semi-final loss to Roscommon at MacHale Park.

Their obituary was being written again and though Mayo regrouped for hard-earned qualifier wins over Down (1-16 to 1-11) and Armagh (2-13 to 1-15), there was no great spark to their play – and then what happens: they end up facing arch rivals Galway in the final round of qualifiers at the Gaelic Grounds. It was the injection they needed.

Having lost to the Tribesmen in their previous seven competitive outings, Mayo would not be lacking motivation for the trip to Limerick. They tore out of the blocks with two goals from James Carr, the second a wonderful individual effort, laying the foundation for a three-point win. They were heading for the Super 8s after a topsy-turvy championship so far.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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