Unluckiest Gaelic football team ever loses another shining light

Inside Track with John McIntyre

THE break-up of the greatest team never to win the All-Ireland football title continues. Keith Higgins has become the latest Mayo player to bow to the inevitable retirement conclusion . . . simply because his legs would no longer carry him to where his mind wanted them to go.

It’s proven a sad few weeks for the followers of this Mayo team who came so agonisingly and heartbreakingly close to ending the county’s Sam Maguire famine now stretching back to the early fifties. They repeatedly endured the kind of gut-wrenching despair which would have broken the spirit of most men, but these admirable players kept coming back for more.

By any standards, Mayo’s tale of woe over the past nine years must be unequalled in any sport, never mind Gaelic Games. Losing five All-Ireland finals – remarkably three of them were only by one-point margins to Dublin – during that period was bad enough, but they also suffered two defeats in semi-final replays.

Perhaps, the legacy of this Mayo team would have turned out vastly different if they hadn’t made such a disastrous start to Donegal in the 2012 decider. Rocked by the concession of two early goals, they were playing catch up for the rest of the match and though the Connacht champions were probably the better team, it proved beyond them to reel in Jim McGuinness’ troops.

The following year Mayo went down by a solitary point to Dublin in the final, while in 2014 they had Kerry on the ropes in the semi-final only to surrender a winning hand late on. The replay was held in the Gaelic Grounds and typical of Mayo’s misfortune an accidental clash between Aidan O’Shea and Cillian O’Connor led to both players’ temporary removal from the action. Neither was the same force when they came back on, but still Mayo took Kerry to extra time only to end up losing by three points (3-16 to 3-13).

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App

Download the Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App to access to Galway’s best-selling newspaper.

Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.

Or purchase the Digital Edition for PC, Mac or Laptop from Pagesuite  HERE.

Get the Connacht Tribune Live app
The Connacht Tribune Live app is the home of everything that is happening in Galway City and county. It’s completely FREE and features all the latest news, sport and information on what’s on in your area. Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.