Mayo chief looks to close the gap

NEW Mayo boss John O’Mahony believes that there is still ‘a fair gap’ between themselves and Kerry, their opening League opponents in Castlebar on Sunday.

He was speaking at the official launch of the Allianz League in Dublin yesterday, which was performed by the Taoiseach in company with Ulster chairman Micheal Greenan, who was representing the president.

O’Mahony, who is also preoccupied with campaigning for the next General Election, was accompanied by new Kerry manager Pat O’Shea, Dublin manager Paul Caffrey and Louth’s Eamonn McMcEnaney

In relation to Dublin’s sell-out game with Tyrone in Croke Park under the new lights on Saturday night, Caffrey expressed confidence that it would be devoid of the incidents which marred their encounter last year in what came to be known as ‘the battle of Omagh.’

“Mickey Harte is a man I have massive respect for and I hugely admire the way he has carried out his job. Last year is ‘long gone.’ We’re all looking forward to a decent game.”

O’Mahony agreed that irrespective of the game in Castlebar turns out, it won’t ‘wipe away’ the bad memories of the All-Ireland final ‘or solve anything that happened last September.

“For us on Sunday it’s about us trying to get the show back on the road, about us getting a performance and how much we can close that gap — and it’s a fair bit!

“There’s no point in talking about the All-Ireland final when you’re playing the first round of the League. That’s down the road, I’d love to be in that position, but the relevance for us will be the performance and to see if we can get the gap close.”

Caffrey, meanwhile, has set a target of getting to the League semi-final and, if possible to the final (last qualifying in 1999 and winners six years before). “We take the League very seriously and have done for the couple of seasons I have been involved. But, the stark reality is that we haven’t been good enough to qualify for the semi-finals. I can’t sit here and say we’re guaranteed to qualify from the division we are in, but I’d like to think that we would be in a position going into the last two games to get something out of it. That’s the challenge for us.”

Pat O’Shea and Eamonn McEnaney admitted to facing challenges of different sorts.

For the Crokes manager it will involve getting a settled team, with Seamus Moynihan retired and Mike McCarthy also out of loop — at least for the present.

“I have spoken to Mike. He doesn’t owe the game a whole pile and while he has been around for a lot of years, he’s still relatively young in age. If he has a change of heart we’d welcome him back with open arms and if not we’ll respect his decision,” he commented.

For Louth, it will be all about proving themselves after having won the second division title. “We’re stepping up a division, so it’s going to take a big effort for everybody to up the intensity and face up to Division One football.

“We know that we are going to have to perform to make sure that we’re not one of the two teams to be relegated. That would be a setback but we have a season ahead to prove that we shouldn’t be.

“If we end up there it will be because we deserve to be there.”

One way or another, he believes that the season ‘will bring them on an awful lot.’

Saying that it was a bit soon to be thinking of Kerry (they meet in the concluding round), Caffrey said that the threat posed by Kieran Donaghy was going to be ‘a huge question’ for every team that comes up against this type of full-forward.

“He showed a whole new side to what Gaelic football can be,” he commented.

“And at the moment there’s only one of him around!”