John Fogarty: We can all feel a little Mayo right now

Mayo's Lee Keegan is tackled by Conor Campbell, left, and Gary O'Donnell of Galway at Tuam Stadium. Photo by Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile

The wisecracks about Mayo weren’t long in flooding social media on Sunday as James Horan brought his 100% season record against Galway as manager to five games.

As the GAA season teetered on the brink, the irony of it being lost just as Mayo trounced their neighbours was lost on nobody; delicious for some who have grown tired of their loitering around All-Ireland titles, disgusting for those most loyal to whom the joke isn’t funny anymore.

Irony isn’t considerable enough a word to describe the bad luck that has befallen Mayo this last while. That’s not to say they haven’t been their own worst enemy but two freak own goals in one half of football never mind in that of an All-Ireland final doesn’t smack of a team entirely to blame for their own undoing.

If there is somebody from outside Mayo who feels just as unlucky, it must be Dessie Farrell.

Not that he was handed a poisoned chalice by Jim Gavin but the timing of Gavin’s decision combined with the team holiday left him with little time to make an early season impression. And just when he was finding a little rhythm along comes a game that should never been played in Omagh followed by the pandemic.

That there will be an All-Ireland must feel like a reprieve for him.

For the champions, there is the incentive of winning another competition by a third format having done so via the qualifier system thrice and the Super 8s twice.

And after the self-proclaimed “most embarrassing day of my career” on Sunday, how happy must Pádraic Joyce be that he may well have a chance in four weeks to atone for what happened in Tuam. Anybody thinking Galway were playing possum doesn’t understand the competitive streak among the men involved in Joyce’s management or the man himself.

To relegate Mayo was a tantalising carrot, more tantalising than claiming a Division 1 title.

In Dublin’s era of dominance, a Championship lost would have been gravely felt in Kerry where the expectation on the potential in Peter Keane’s group would have grown to frightening proportions in 2021.

No fault of his own but there would have be no patience afforded to Keane by the time next summer rolled around.

However, nobody wanted a Championship more than Mayo.

Not the supporters whose yearning only seems to grow and not this group, not the thirtysomethings who cling on for fear they will miss out when it eventually happens and are so keen to contribute to the communal effort that they will happily pace-make in training.

The utter determination of 34-year-old Colm Boyle to be available again after damaging his cruciate back in February must have been inspiring to his team-mates.

Now, Mayo’s desire for the League to resume wouldn’t have been as strong.

They were jokes about holding onto the Division 1 title for a second season but there had been trepidation about carrying on from where they left off in March.

Needing two wins to keep their proud 22-year Division 1 existence against table-topping Galway and Tyrone one week after another immediately followed by three Connacht SFC games in as many weeks to get to the final seemed a tall order.

Even after their mauling of Galway, it remains a gauntlet, which may well explain why Horan has been keen to keep his training panel as big as possible.

However, facing a Tyrone team who must have two eyes on returning to Ballybofey six days later there will be confidence they can back up Sunday’s performance and again against Leitrim.

A good friend of ours has been constantly in touch looking to know the fate of the Championship while passing on what he’s heard about Mayo’s preparations.

After they beat Donegal in a challenge match in Markievicz Park, he was wondering how much could be heeded in the five-point win. When Horan fielded a second team against Clare soon afterwards, he was messaging about Jason Coyne impressing at corner-back and Keith Higgins manning the centre-back spot.

A childhood friend of ours has promised his long-time girlfriend that he will propose to her when Mayo cast 1951 to history.

He wasn’t slow about getting on following Sunday’s result: “Great win for Maigh Eo today. We’ll probably have an awful championship.”

Whether he was bargaining or guilty of that old Mayo failing of fatalism, Mayo folk have learnt to protect themselves but there is always that chink of hope.

Throughout these different phases of lockdown, there has remained a chink of hope that a Championship could take place.

Over these next eight weekends, six of which we are to be kept in our homes, it will warm, it will distract, it will enchant, it will disarm and it will delight.

Above everything else, there is a chance to forget and whatever we return to afterwards we will be able to cope that bit better.

We can all feel a little Mayo right now.

Leitrim really should have acted quicker

Tipperary’s David Power could be accused of waving a red flag to Leitrim’s bull ahead of their Division 3 relegation clash in Carrick-on-Shannon this weekend but his frustration with their decision to concede their game against Down was understandable.

Leitrim have some difficulties but there are some inconvenient truths attached to their situation. First of all, it could be calculated that heading to Newry was unnecessary given so much rides on the outcome of their clash with Tipperary on Sunday.

Secondly, all counties were informed about the availability of the rapid testing system last Tuesday. It appears Leitrim knew they had some difficulty last Wednesday. In an interview with The Irish News published on Saturday, Terry Hyland highlighted their predicament: “There is worry over the travelling part, we have concern in our camp with guys with close contacts. Every hour the thing is changing, that’s the problem. I could get three phone calls today saying ‘I’m close contact, I can’t travel’, and then you just have to deal with that.”

Both Wexford senior panels availed of the rapid testing system at the start of last week — and before anyone suggests lowly Leitrim wouldn’t be considered as quickly, the Wexford’s footballers are a Division 4 team. They should have availed of them.

So much sympathy should be paid to Fermanagh given their circumstances and subsequent relegation fate but admiration too for fulfilling their fixture against Clare. The integrity of the league has been retained as a result of their decision to head to Ennis and that shouldn’t be forgotten. Indeed, you hope it will be upheld by so many other counties who are due to travel this weekend to play games of little or no consequence to them but possibly others.

Leitrim, as Power rightfully says, have caused damage.

Football league is fine just as it is

It doesn’t seem everyone is happy Roscommon are on the cusp of promotion from Division 1 again. That they are about to ascend to the top flight for the third time in six seasons has prompted calls for the Allianz Football League to be reformatted.

In the cases of Cavan and Roscommon in recent years, there would seem to be a yo-yo effect between Division 1 and 2 but highlighting this pair alone as examples of the need for change isn’t enough.

For one, Division 1 isn’t a closed shop. In the 10 seasons from 2010 to 2020, 20 of the 32 teams have played there, Dublin, Kerry, and Mayo the only constants.

Of the 20 counties promoted to Division 1 from 2010 to 2019, 13 stayed up the following season. Just once have both promoted teams — Cavan and Roscommon in 2018 — been relegated the next year.

A glass ceiling does not exist and there is more variety to the make-up of the divisions than many make out. Over the last seven seasons, Westmeath have featured in all four divisions. Derry played in all four from 2014 to 2019. Cork have been in three divisions in the past five seasons.

Turning the league back into more of a developmental competition when it has proven time and again to not only to be a portent for the Championship — Mickey Harte’s claim in 2011 that only a Division 1 team will win that year’s All-Ireland has yet to be refuted — would be harmful to the best and fairest competition around..

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