Voices
What a terrible team to play against. A pain. You try and take a throw-in. They have got everybody picked up, a man in front of the winger, a man on you. You can’t even take a throw-in. It demoralises you. After half an hour you think, ‘Oh hell, we can’t even take a throw in and get the ball.’ It is terrible.
Eamon Dunphy on Leeds United in Only A Game?
*****
When Tyrone beat Mayo in last year’s All Ireland final, it was, for many people, confirmation that Mayo would always find a way to lose.
We know all the stories, all the talk of curses and the sorry tales of misfortune and misery.
There were other narratives too. The idea of Mayo as celebrities rather than serious footballers was out there in the media. As somebody who played them many times, I can tell you nothing could be further from the truth.
I have never felt as beaten up and emotionally drained as I did following the battles we had with Mayo, in particular the 2013 final and 2015 semi-final. Some of the most attritional games I ever played were against Mayo.
The Eamon Dunphy line from Only A Game sums up what it was like to play them. Any time you tried to do anything, Mayo had you marked. They were in your face on kickouts and always on top of you. If you happened to win the kickout they pressed aggressively through the middle third. And their repeated sprint ability meant they kept that intensity up for the duration of the game. I’ve never played against any other team that put you under such intolerable pressure, and, as Dunphy said about Leeds, they were a pain.
And yet I would hear this stuff about them which bore no resemblance to the reality of playing them.
They were a side that had the smartest tactical ideas and were full of warriors with heart and skill. The only reason they didn’t win a stack of All Irelands, and I’ll forego the false modesty, is because they came up against Dublin. Even the years they did beat us in semi-finals, I believe the energy, physically and emotionally was drained out of them by the time they played the final.
Some of that I would put down to not controlling their emotions and executing their gameplan when the needed most. Clinical decision making under pressure, selfless shot selection and intelligent game management are key indicators that a team are psychologically in the right place- and at critical times in the past, Mayo have struggled with this.
So when I look at Mayo this year, I am torn between these two points of view. One – which is the generally accepted one – is that another two defeats in two finals (in a row) is an impossible accumulation of baggage for one side already weighed down by too much history. The other – which is my gut feeling – that they are rebuilding and accumulating experience as they do it. And this year could be the year they go one step further.
Mayo have managed transition extremely well reaching two All-Ireland finals in a period when nobody fancied them to do much at all.
I put a lot of that down to James Horan, a manager who I rate as up there with the best. A kick of the ball the other way and he would have won four All Irelands. The way he thinks about the game and – more importantly – the way he transmits that thinking to his players – is as good as anyone in the game.
Mayo’s set up over the previous number of years has a similar foundation to the previous term under Horan with an important blend of youth and exuberance mixed in. This has allowed them to press teams higher up the pitch when they don’t have the ball and transition the ball quicker when they have the ball. Two simple but important tactical characteristics of this team.
High intensity and high energy are non-negotiables under Horan. If you don’t work hard, you won’t get game time. This trait allows the team set up with an aggressive zonal or man to man press for opposition kickouts – which is the foundation for their defensive structure. The emphasis on high press in recent years has meant teams that play slow controlled plays out of defensive have struggled to play against them and inevitably get pinned into their own half.
Dublin experienced this in the second half of the 2021 semi-final. This high-risk style of football has a feel of the GAA’s version of the gegenpress that has been adopted by the successful football teams in the Premier League – the principle being you press and smother the opponent that is currently on the ball as soon as you lose it and look to counter. Not only is this exciting to watch but it is, in my opinion the style of football that is needed to win all-Irelands in the modern era.
Mayo’s transitions with the ball has equally been as impressive with pace and a mix of runners from deep and diagonal foot passing to inside forwards.
The absence of Tommy Conroy this year is a blow because he offered something different up front. His pace and the enigmatic way about him could create opportunities out of very little.
But against that Cillian O’Connor and Jason Doherty return and they have the ongoing leadership of Aidan O’Shea to steer them. These three players have the scars on their backs from the defeats through the years but they still have so much to offer if managed shrewdly, like I’d expect Horan to do.
If Mayo are a team I don’t recognise in the headlines about them, then O’Shea is a different person to the player lazily depicted.
He is a fierce competitor who brings a physicality that complements his incredible skills for a big man. People need to accept that he may not be the player he once was. He probably has had multiple operations from chronic injuries – the hidden injuries that cause internal pain on a daily basis and reduce your physical capacity by a couple of per cent. I don’t think he has got the credit he deserves for the consistent level of performance he has put in over the past decade.
But the same is true of Mayo in general. They don’t get the credit they deserve. They never have. What made them stand out in those games in 2013 and 2015 remains. They have a never say die attitude and work rate which is the core value of Mayo.
As they continue to rebuild in a manner I’d expect from James Horan, I would be less surprised than most people if this year happened to be their year.
