Mayo’s inter-county football season is set to conclude this coming Friday evening, as the county contests a first ever all-Connacht All-Ireland final, taking on Galway in this year’s Minor decider. Dr Hyde Park in Roscommon is the venue for what will be the third meeting of these two teams in this Minor campaign but this time the Tom Markham Cup is on offer to the winners.
In this episode of the Mayo News Football Podcast Rob Murphy and I preview Friday’s derby decider, focusing on the novel occasion itself and the path this Mayo team – unbeaten in all seven matches they’ve played to date – have taken to the final. We also hear from Mayo manager Seán Deane and from selector Gary Ruane, as well as getting the Galway perspective from Jonathan Higgins of Galway Bay FM.
This episode of the Mayo News Football Podcast is now online and is available to listen to on iTunes, SoundCloud, Podomatic and Spotify. You can also listen to it directly on the Mayo News website as well as here on the blog using the SoundCloud player below.
The podcast is also on Patreon, where club members enjoy exclusive access to bonus episodes and more besides. The Patreon variant of this episode is an extended one, in which in which Rob and I chat some more about the upcoming Minor final and also discuss the highly successful Tailteann Cup, the inaugural final of which is also down for decision this weekend.
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The Mayo News Football Podcast is proudly sponsored by the Oxford Arms, a really lovely pub in London’s Camden Town, and the podcast is produced and edited by Ger Duffy Media.
It’s great to have Séan Deane’s excellent team of youngster’s to support. They have played a fantastic style of football up to this..Some brilliant forwards, some brilliant backs, a under 17 goalkeeper who’s saves rival some of the great saves of David Clarke, and who’s distance in his restarts rival none other than Rory Beggan..The Hurley’s, Clarke from Bohola, Rio Mortimer, and McGonagall. Come On Mayo!
I noticed Sean Deane didnt catergorically rule himself out of the big job
@1989..Why should Séan Deane rule himself out?..I don’t know that he’s even interested in the Job or not. But if he were interested, he’d have to be on everybody’s short list. ..At this stage until we know who exactly are the prospective candidates and their possible back room team’s, it’s impossible to form an informed opinion of who should get the gig…I don’t think any of the recently touted candidates have categorically ruled themselves out with the exception of Andy Moran who has committed himself to Leitrim. I’ll be honest, one or two of the candidates I would need some convincing. …
Big step up from minor to senior, just look at Kerry.
Minors will do what’s the manager says, not the case with seniors, some with big egos in every county.
Sean Deane needs to stay with minors forca few years to build the football capacity of youngsters coming through so that we will not be in a situation like we are now with players not sufficiently able to execute skills to the required standard. There needs to be a strong link between the senior under 20’s and minors all coordinated with one philosophy and approach to attain the strategic priorities of ensuring Mayo football can be sustained at the top level and ultimately win All Irelands….
This could be the mother of all battles. The fiercest neighbour rivalry. This being the 3rd meeting of the championship with Galway smarting after home and away defeats and Mayo wanting to make it 3 from 3. Both teams are packed with outstanding talents and being the first ever all Connacht final all will want to shine. Mayo have been imperious to date while Galway were hosed in the round Robin stage but improved dramatically in the Connacht final and were very impressive in the quarter and semi finals. Nothing but the best will do come Friday evening and I’m sure Sean Deane and co have their work done. I hope every club in the county is urging their members and in particular the U16s who get in free to support this brilliant group. They deserve it.
We have a very good minor team brimming with talent. However this is a nightmare fixture for us. Having beaten Galway twice already, all the pressure is on our lads. Have no doubt, Galway will relish the opportunity to send us packing. And we all know what pressure can do to even seasoned players let alone 16/17 Yr old. ! If they can overcome the nerves, the pressure and the expectations then it will be some achievement and a huge boost for Mayo football.
I’m pretty sure Sean is interested in the Senior job but I think he should be retained for 1 more yr at minor then get the U20’s for 2yrs. This is natural progression and we know he can do it at this level so needs to be nurtured. CB should do all to retain him
Win or lose on Friday, I’d like to see Deane perhaps graduate through the age groups, U20s, junior and whatnot before getting a shot at the big job.
There are a lot of inexperienced fellas being touted for the senior managerial post (Andy, McDanger, Dempsey etc.) at a time when we need an experienced inter-county coach to handle a period of transition for us. It’s not a time for a greenhorn IMO.
I echo Diehard’s thoughts on Friday’s match, huge banana skin for us, and wouldn’t Galway fans just love it if they turned us over! No one like Mayo to slip up as favourites, etc. etc.
It Means Nothing to Me – I wouldn’t consider this a period of transition for the senior team. We’ve a good age profile, with a lot of guys in their early 20s who have already experienced winning connacht finals, AI semis and reaching league/AI finals too. We need a new voice with some fresh ideas, similar to what Logan & Dooher brought to Tyrone and Jack O’Connor looks to have brought to Kerry.
There will probably be a couple of retirements and a few lads let go, however there won’t be a huge turnover of players coming up.
@Wide Ball: There may not be a huge turnover in terms of numbers, but in terms of personnel we are potentially looking at the retirement of some players who have been cornerstones of the side for a decade or more- e.g. Keegan, Aido, Kev Mc, maybe Brendan Harrison and Jason Doherty. It’s also not guaranteed that some of the players on the injured list will return the same players, given the severity of the injuries suffered in some cases.
Neither am I convinced that some of the players who have recently broken into the panel have the quality to keep us at the level we have become accustomed to over the last decade or so. There’s several lads who’ve been playing in our forward line who need to start chipping in with a few more scores.
We have also been largely poor at underage for the past several years, regularly shipping big beatings from Galway and Roscommon, with the exception of this minor crop.
All opinion of course, and everyone has one, but that’s my two cents.
Wide ball, I went to Newbridge a number of years ago to see Tom Cunniffe play as I had heard great reports about him from my Castlebar friends, he got roasted and I came away thinking he would never make it ___how wrong I was.
I am a great believer in players making their debut in away games with less pressure con them.
@Jr: Indeed. I played with Tom underage and he didn’t make even the Mitchels’ team at U-14 or U-16, the first year. But he went away and worked on himself and a few years later he was probably our best player in the minor
All-Ireland defeat to Down, and then shortly afterwards had an All-Ireland U21 medal in his back pocket.
Attitude is a huge part of development.
Agree Diehard, it’s a fixture I’m extremely nervous about. We have struggled to put games to bed; think Kildare. Game management will be critical, and this is no easy task; look at Offaly last Sunday; I’m still struggling to see where they lost it.
Offaly did a “mayo” last weekend as someone messaged me. We are consistently competitive which was Horans aim and fair play to him. Now we need to become consistently ruthless. No more of the hard luck, destiny, it’s our year crap. Develop an utterly ruthless mean streak. When we get to another final (whenever that is) it must be won by any means possible. Enough is enough.
A good start is this Friday evening. I’m hearing a lot of fearful voices that “oh it will be hard to beat the same team three times”….utter tripe in my book. It’s there to be won. Go and take it.
Wow, Yew Tree, are you on any candidate’s team? Get out there!
It Means Nothing to Me – of the players you mentioned, Harrison and Doherty have hardly played the last 3 years. Aidan and Kevin Mc have but IMO both would struggle to make our best 15 at the moment (when injuries clear up). Keegan is still one of the best around and of course will be a loss when he steps away (hopefully not for a while yet). However, one thing we don’t lack in Mayo is athletic attack minded defenders.
My point is I don’t see a couple of retirements massively changing our prospects. Every county has to deal with that anyway.
Yew_tree I agree with you. In 2014 O’Mahony more or less put a saddle on Murphy and rode him around Croke Park and got away with it.
@Wide Ball: Aye but a fully fit Harrison or Doc would walk into those positions at the moment. Aido had a fairly good championship IMO while Lee was his usual superstar self.
Yes, every team has to deal with a transition eventually (Kerry have probably been there for the last five years or so) but unlike them, we haven’t had a conveyor belt of young All-Ireland winning tyros to replace our ageing stars. Hopefully this is beginning to change, but a non-scoring half forward line is not a great indicator of success for the moment.
We went out of the championship with a whimper this season, for the first time in many years. Ok we had injuries, but most of those players were back and match fit for the Kerry game, but they disposed of us in second gear. There was none of the fury that we have been accustomed to in the last decade or so.
Hard to believe that we haven’t regressed, in my book anyway.
It Means Nothing to Me – despite all the underage success, David Moran is still the top midfielder in Kerry and Paul Geaney is still one of their main forwards. There were some key players injured for us against Kerry, especially when you’re bemoaning non scoring forwards.
We had a bad year obviously, but there’s no reason we can’t be back challenging for Sam next year IMO. Of course that’s dependant on a good management team being appointed.
yew_tree Offaly also did a “Mayo” by being absolutley ridden by the ref at the end but of course nobody seems to do that either. And what is “doing a Mayo” anway as it comes to all Ireland finals? Anyone remember one, with the exception of 96 where we were nicely ahead coming down the stretch only to lose it? I dont
And no matter what happens this minor final pairing is an absolutle joke. How can you lose 3 matches in championship and still be in the all ireland final?
Irish Rail have put on a special for the game
We’ve been written off more than Rasputin and Boris the Bullet dodger at this stage.
Lads leave the 15/21/26/34, lads join the 15/21/26/34 and the Atlantic ocean still hits our shore.
I agree East Cork Exile. Losing 3 and still being in a final is a bit of a joke but thems the rules. A bit like in US sports, you can get wildcard teams make playoffs and eventually win outright versus teams who blitzed everyone before knockout games etc so if G win on Friday they’ll have won it fair and square but it would still be arguable that Mayo are a better team with what would be a 7 & 1 count so far versus a 5 & 3.
Also I completely disagree that Mayo are in a transition stage. We’ve been in 2 of the last 3 finals and many who played in those are relatively new.
If you have a Mayo team in 2023 with injury free ROD, Conroy and Cillian and just generally have a better ring of luck on injuries overall and we are real contenders. Mayo should be contenders every year. Anything less is unacceptable
i think the format in minor was good this year with round robin play. Galway lost 3 in Connaght but improved steadily throughout, won their quarter and semi and deserve their place in the final. The best team will be the one that wins, hopefully us. This years format is better than previous years when the season might be over after one game, in January for our under 20s one year on go all the way back to 1966, lost to Roscommon in the first game and Roscommon went on to win the All Ireland. The aim is to develop young players and to do that you need games.
I am impressed by this years squad and think they can finish the job. The fact that Galway are in the final after losing 3 games in Connaght says a lot about the standard in Connaght this year.
You can’t argue about Galway being in the final. 2 teams qualified out of Connacht, the same as every other province, and Galway were the 2nd best in Connacht. They deservedly won their QF and SF since then.
If anything, this format should guarantee the best teams reach the AI final. I remember our U20s lost to Galway on penalties in the first round a few years ago. Galway went on and won the All Ireland so maybe if there was a second chance we’d have gone far in the competition?
I see Lee Keegan is one of the analysts for the Derry Galway game on Saturday evening. His input should be interesting.
Really enjoyed Podcast, Sean Deane, and Legend Gary Ruane, are perfect to mold these young men. I live in Galway, so really hope we beat Galway Friday night. But win or loss, there are few good player come out this team to feed in future senior team.
The 2 best teams in the country are in the final as they deservedly beat anything the other provinces had to offer. Mayo beat Kerry but would also have beaten Derry and Galway would have had too much for Kerry if semifinal opponents had been reversed.
East cork exile – we had enough chances to win it the last 10 years to be moaning on about referee decisions.
As for Galway losing three games in Connacht. The structure was changed into an in effect mini league. Minor or u17 is basically a development league/championship which aims to give teams as many games as possible. Galway don’t make the rules.
Moaning about the structure and refs…come on man.
@Wide Ball: I have a feeling that we could go back and forth on this all day. I like Paul Geaney and think he’s underrated, but Kerry’s main forwards are David Clifford and Seán O’Shea, both recent graduates of their youth system. Restrict them from play (no easy task) and you’re a long way towards beating Kerry.
David Moran is another fine player, who had a good game against us, but he’s not a regular starter for Kerry these days. My feeling is that O’Connor put him in there to avoid Aido ruling the skies, which largely worked.
We were missing ROD and Conroy for the Kerry game, that was it. Losses to us both, but not the sort of players who will go to town on the opposition and post six or seven points from play each. They are both more creative types who will either create chances for other forwards (ROD) or punch a hole in the opposition’s defence through pace (Conroy).
We are significantly off the top two teams even with the lads back, and IMHO people are deluding themselves by talking about reaching two All-Ireland finals but not being in transition. We lost both of those finals comfortably and haven’t looked the same since the Tyrone game (I include some of our top players in this, fellas who stayed fit but looked out of form, such as Matty Ruane).
Kerry won an All-Ireland in 2014 in transition, as did the Kilkenny hurlers the year after. Being in transition doesn’t mean a lack of success in all cases.
@Yew Tree: In fairness, he has a point about the structure of the minor championship. If Mayo had been edged out by Kerry a few weeks ago, we’d be out of the championship with a solitary loss while Galway would be in with a shout of the All-Ireland after three losses, two of which were to us. Doesn’t seem equitable to me.
Not Galway’s fault or something our lads should be thinking about, but perhaps something to be looked at after the championship concludes.
If galway lose they’ll probably have the distinction of being the only players in history of the gaa to lose 4 minor championship matches.
It Means Nothing to Me – how many forwards have kicked 6 or 7 points from play in big championship games recently? Never mind two players in one game! It’s the knock on effects of missing Ryan and Tommy as much as anything. When they’re there Cillian has more space and our runners from deep aren’t being watched as closely.
Kerry 2014 and probably Tyrone last year prove my point. Decent teams but not world beaters at all.
The likes of Ruane, Paddy Durcan and a few others never got out of the blocks this year. No reason they can’t be back stronger than ever next year however. I thought Keegan was on his last legs a few seasons ago due to injuries and mileage, but he roared back into top form. So it can be done.
Getting a good management team in place to motivate the squad is the key.
@Wide Ball: Shane McGuigan scored 1-7 from play for Derry the last day out; Eoin Cleary replied 1-5 for Clare in the same match, two of which were from frees; Con O’Callaghan has scored 2-12 from play in three Leinster Championship games this term; Shane Walsh scored 0-6 against Armagh, five of which were from play; Rory Grugan got 1-3 for Armagh against the Galwegians; Jack McCarron got 0-7 for Monaghan against Down; Paddy McBrearty got 1-4 against Cavan; Keelan Sexton got 2-6 for Clare against the Rossies, etc. etc.
Who knows what David Clifford would be averaging if he hadn’t been injured for most of this championship season so far? Man scored 1-3 off of us on one leg.
We are not as good as either Kerry or Tyrone at the moment and they are unencumbered by our mental baggage at the business end of this season. We have been well off the All-Ireland champions since 2018, truth hurts.
Getting the likes of Tommy C and Ryan back will be a boon but they can’t do it on their own, and our scores from play tally in their absence says it all. Getting a good management team in place would also undoubtedly help, but frankly I wouldn’t trust the powers that be to run a raffle at this point, so let’s see how the process ends up.
Cant understand this moaning about the format tbh.. if you want two unbeaten teams in the final then you need to make it a straight knockout competition.. there was plenty of upset after Mayo lost out on penalties to Galway a few years back in under 20, as Wide Ball alludes to, so I’d doubt anyone really wants that either
This Connacht championship format has been fantastic imo, every team is guaranteed 4 matches, and it allows much more panelists from each side see meaningful championship game time… very important and beneficial for lads of 16/17 years of age
In truth Galway have won every game they needed to win – bar one. The Leitrim game was a nothing match which allowed them give game time to their extended panel. Their full first team would obviously have won that match
Kilkenny were a Dublin defeat of Galway from going out of the hurling a few weeks ago after losing two round robin matches. They also now find themselves in an All Ireland final. In Euro 2016, Portugal – the eventual champions – only won one match in normal time throughout the whole event
It is very hard to get any structure perfect and even harder to please everyone
Again to reference Wide Ball, formats like these actually go a lot further in ensuring the top teams make the latter stages
Just look at the 2020 senior football championship to get an idea of how farcical knockout football can be (those semi finals *shudder*!!)
I also like the minor format and would like to see something similar at senior level. Hopefully, now that there have been changes made to the all ireland structure, the provincial councils will start to look at their own competition structures.
For what it’s worth, my suggestion would be a round robin involving the six teams that play in the national league. I’d also abolish the FBD and use this time to play some of the games. Rank teams based on the previous year and play as many of the perceived mismatches as possible in January
yew_tree, fair play to you, you must live in Mayo where everyone can lick their wounds together. It gets a fair bit annoying for those of us out in the rest of the world who have to constantly listen to nonsense about Mayo choking etc. when the facts are that Mayo have done anything but choke the past 10 years (last year excepted). On at least 3 of those occasions we’ve been directly denied by extremely poor referring decisions. So yes will continue to give out about that. And imho thats part of the reason we regularly get fucked over because we actually dont make enough noise about it. We just shrug our shoulders and say “sure we cant be moaning” and then it happens again. “Big teams” get the calls, what they mean by that is the ones that punch well in the board room and make plenty of noise when they dont, who get the big calls.
How do you think Kerry would have reacted if they got fucked over like us in 2014? Why doesnt it happen to them on a regular basis?
On the championship structure.Its not moaning, its facts, losing 3 times and still getting to a final in a championship is a joke no matter what team it is. If it was us I’d be saying the same thing. Changing the age grade was another dope decision and this is just another one.