With the thaw finally starting to set in, we can at last start to look forward to the belated return of inter-county action in a few days. This means that the announcement (yesterday on Midwest and this morning in the Indo) that Trevor will captain the Mayo senior team again in 2010, with Peadar Gardiner also reappointed as vice-captain, is a timely one. The Midwest report quotes Johnno as saying that “both players provided great leadership in 2009” which I reckon is a fair enough assessment.
An injury-free Trevor lined out in every league and championship match for us last year, scoring in most of them, and he certainly led by example in terms of hard work and effort over the course of the year. He also got to be the first ever Mayoman to lift the Nestor Cup at Pearse Stadium. Peadar was ever-present in 2009 as well and while he had a less than happy seventy minutes in the quarter-final against Meath, his defining contribution in 2009 also came at Salthill three weeks prior to that.
Both Trevor and Peadar are obvious leaders within the senior squad and so the decision to reappoint them as captain and vice-captain respectively for 2010 makes sense. Best of luck for the year ahead, lads.
By the way, I see Uncle Eugene has now added his tuppence worth to the debate about the Paídí v Johnno spat. Eugene reckons that the exchange represents a welcome change from the usual kind of non-comments that managers come out with and he expresses the hope that this set-to might represent the birth of a new era of plain speaking from the men on the sideline. Aside from Eugene’s ignoring the obvious fact that Paídí isn’t a manager at the moment, I doubt if this particular bout of verbal handbags presages the arrival of some kind of glasnost in this area. Instead, like the rapidly disappearing snow, I reckon this disagreement will soon be forgotten about once we’ve all got some on-field action to talk about and that managers will be as reticent as ever to provide any hostages to fortune in their verbal mutterings. It really is time for the year’s football to get underway, don’t you think?
Where was Trevor or Gardiner when they were needed to provide leadership against Meath.
Answers on a postcard to …
They are not the answer any more I’m afraid. Their time has gone. And tgeri contribution in us winning a connacht final counts for very little.
They have too much mental baggage along with McGarrity and few more senior players.
The team should be built around the All Ireland u-21 winning team and the minors from the last few years.
I think that’s a bit unfair, especially on Trevor who ran himself into the ground against Meath. We still need a mix of older campaigners along with the young lads coming through and I think they’ve still got something to contribute.
I tend to agree with both of u. Trev did try against meath but did he inspire those around him. Effort is one thing, leadership a totally different matter and im not sure he has this quality. to be fair there isnt many around that do in the county. OShea would prob be the best leader we had on the pitch and killer wasnt far behind but im grasping at straws here. You win nothing without leaders. In 96 we could have won the big one but only because we had leaders in every line: Mort snr, Cahill, Flannagan, Nallen, Connelly, Mchale, Brady, Horan, McMenemin, & Dempsey. They were all men who led…..and its no coincidence that they were big men too could win the 50/50 ball. The prob werent as skillfull as the current crop but they had the more essential ingredients.
Glad to see that at least one other Mayo man apart from myself sees McGarrity as a hinderance rather than a help. Of course that gang of the class of 2004/06 should go, after all that was part of Johnnos brief when he took over . Instead as the Meath match evidenced we are still stuck with most of them. We all look at the meath match as the low point, could as easily have been in Salthill when a seven point lead evaporated in minutes.
I agree with you Ted. None of the senior players in the panel are leaders when it comes to big games in Croke Park. Why do we need a mix of old campaigners? Young O’Shea showed way more leadership than any of the older guys against Meath.
It’s time to cut our losses on the those players and push on with the young blood.
Harsh I know, but it is the only way in my opinion we can plan to win the holy grail in the future.
The only two senior players I would hold onto is Clarke and Dillon
Can you really see McGarrity, Trevor, Gardiner or Harte turn it on in Croke Park at this stage of their careers and make a difference in a big match?
I have lost all faith in them after the Meath debacle. If they can’t do it against opposition like that, then there is no chance they will do it against the top teams.
All very well saying get rid of x,y, and z but the problem is not with these lads, who after go out to do their best each day they play…Who do you replace them with? Where are the subs thinking to themselves, that guy’s rubbish, I’m going to take his place and tearing themselves apart to do so? Of course, management has to create an atmosphere where promotion to the first 15 is possible as well- I don’t know enough about it to comment on that aspect of affairs. Some of the lads mentioned are obviously better than the alternatives.
I think we do need a mix of experience and youth, I wouldn’t favour dumping Trev or Ronan. Dare I also say, don’t expect too much from AOS, he’s a big man, sure, but I’m afraid that he’ll go the way of his older brother, beef up, slow down and fizzle out.