Forde dismisses revenge talk

PETER FORDE does not expect Mayo trainer John Morrison’s critical remarks about his Galway side to have any impact when the sides meet in Sunday’s Connacht final.

Galway coasted to a surprisingly comfortable five-point victory over Mickey Moran’s side when the counties met in the NFL in Castlebar last April but it was Morrison’s subsequent tirade minutes after the final whistle that dominated the subsequent headlines.

The former Derry trainer accused Galway of “destroying skill” and predicted they would never win an All-Ireland utilising what he claimed were tactics based on pulling and dragging the opposition.

Forde, a former Mayo player who lives in Castlebar, doesn’t believe his fellow countymen will carry a desire for retribution into the weekend’s game in his home town.

“Mickey Moran might be able to explain that better. Mayo are the same as Galway. They don’t go out to play aggressive, spoiling football. I can’t see Mayo changing because of that remark.

“The Mayo players didn’t see it that way. I’m quite sure of that. They’re not going to go out hitting all around them. That’s not their style.”

Forde said he found the comment “amusing”. The only time he has previously commented on it was when pressed to do so at a press conference launching the league final fixture against Kerry.

“It didn’t bother me. I’d say he regrets saying it. Sometimes after matches, when you’re still full of emotion, people say things off the cuff. I’d say, given another ten minutes, he probably wouldn’t have said that.

“It’s been brought up by the Mayo papers, but Mayo supporters and players were disappointed with the remark. They’re not like that. They accept that we were better on the day. It was just an over-reaction.”

Galway have impressed in patches since that league semi-final. They were left for dead in the second half of the NFL final by Kerry and took a full 36 minutes to register a score in a frustrating provincial semi-final against Roscommon.

Their attacking unit may be the most lethal in the game on paper but has failed to gel as a unit. The same could be said for the entire team after the badly-needed injection of new young blood to the panel by Forde last winter.

Roscommon may have given them a taste of things to come when, mindful of Galway’s attacking potential, they fielded eight defenders in the first half of that semi-final despite having a significant wind at their backs.

“It was something we just didn’t think they’d do. We found it impossible to get the ball in to our own forwards. We had a lot of the ball in the first half but it kept breaking down because they so many people behind the ball.

“We were glad when half-time came because we were going nowhere. We got the goals early enough after the break and it was easy enough after that, but the first half was worrying.”

Mayo carry their own crosses into the decider having seen a commanding eight-point lead dwindle down to the bare minimum in a fraught second half against Leitrim in Carrick-on-Shannon. The reaction to that was predictable.

Moran and Morrison have since lamented what they regard as the sometimes crushing negativity of the Mayo public when it comes to their senior inter-county team but Forde isn’t reading anything into any perceived frailties.

“Galway played Leitrim last year and we only beat them by three points in Pearse Stadium. Nobody gave us a hope playing Mayo in the Connacht final. We were in a pretty similar position to what Mayo were in when we were five or six points up and probably sat back a bit.

“Leitrim got a run at us and had a shot on goal that would have given them a draw. But semi-finals are strange. You don’t have to be spectacular in semi-finals, just do the job and keep your best play for the final.”

Moran will certainly hope so. Though only appointed to his post last October, the pressure on him to deliver is already beginning to build after a bright start to the league tailed off towards the end.

No expense has been spared this year by the county board with a staggering 43 players used during January’s FBD League campaign and a significant return is expected on that investment in a county that hungers for All-Ireland success like few others.

“The passion for football in Mayo is unrivalled,” Moran said. “It’s the main talking point. Forget about religion. There’s a massive local press and radio stations and it’s all you hear. We have no control over that.

“At the end of the day, a provincial final is a tremendous date in the GAA calendar. Connacht is no different to anywhere else. Galway and Mayo is a traditional game and it would be an honour to win it.”