Great expectations for Mayo fans
But one thing remains constant. The expectation levels in John Maughan’s Mayo rest somewhere between stratospheric and plain unrealistic for another trip to Croker. The fact that the All-Ireland champions, Tyrone, provide the opposition is glossed over by supporters questing for Sam Maguire after the disappointments of the past decade.
In the week leading up to Mayo’s Connacht semi-final against Galway they were quoted at 33-1 to win the All-Ireland, way behind such teams as Meath, Kildare and Cork. Oh, we of little faith.
“A provincial title was always within our compass and Mayo are no strangers to this time of year,” said Maughan yesterday. “I know a lot of our boys put some money on us at 9-2 to win the Connacht title after the New York game.
“We were 9-2 for Connacht and 9-4 to beat Galway. Those were thundering odds. I’m not being boastful or anything, but no-one up here is surprised to see us where we are.
“Mayo didn’t win a single provincial title in the 1970s but that will never happen again. In the 90s we won three titles in four years during my time with the county and it was just unfortunate that we hadn’t won since 1999.”
It’s a welcome return to Headquarters for the county. Their last trip down Jones’ Road ended with a comprehensive defeat by Cork at the same stage two years ago. Truth be told, the gods have failed to smile on them this past five years.
Whether it was that late Roscommon goal in 2001, their failure to put Galway away in 2002 when Conor Mortimer infamously missed the easiest of 25-metre frees, or the disappointment of last year against O’Mahony’s side when “anything that could go wrong did go wrong.”
The signs weren’t any better last spring. Two heavy defeats by Tyrone and Kerry in March had a county in crisis.
“At one point we were down to our fourth choice keeper, Trevor Mortimer was coming over from the UK and wasn’t fit, James Gill was going around eastern Europe, David Brady was in Australia and Kieran McDonald wasn’t available either,” says Maughan.
But something clicked, relegation was avoided, and a championship run began to gather momentum. A week training and bonding in the Catskills set them up perfectly for the summer while, crucially, McDonald, Brady and Gill all returned to the fold. For the first time in his second stint in charge, Maughan could select the best 15 footballers in Mayo.
In the phoney war period between the league and their first serious championship test against Galway, Mayo played a trio of challenge matches against Kildare, Donegal and Meath. Maughan could see the plan coming together. “We had Kieran Mac and David Brady back since the Kildare game and I never thought it would take them long to fit back in. These lads had played together for a long time, even if Kieran hadn’t played for us in about two years.
“I would say the beating we gave Meath was a key moment. Okay, Meath showed later that they were a team on the wane but it wasn’t that we beat them so well, I just felt we were so focused from that point on. I felt the jigsaw was coming together.”
Galway and Roscommon were felled. Now come Tyrone. The champions. The blanket defence.
This Mayo team’s first trip to Croker together. Their biggest test for sure, but not one that’s beyond them, according to their manager. “It’s all on the day. Tyrone, I know, were reasonably happy to draw Mayo. That’s the brutal truth. They were delighted to avoid the likes of Armagh and Kerry. They’ll see Mayo as something of a soft touch and that’s perfectly understandable.
“We’re not going to put any strategy down on paper for anyone to look at but we know what we’re doing up here. We’re not stupid. We’re confident that we have a system to deal with the way Tyrone play.
“Look at it this way, after the draw I got a few texts off some of my lads saying they were delighted.
“This will show where we’re at and we’ll give it our best go.”
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