Dempsey looks to learn from lessons of last year as Mayo kick off Connacht campaign

AFTER the trauma of last year’s All-Ireland minor final replay defeat, Mayo boss Ray Dempsey sets off on the 2009 campaign trail tomorrow in the Connacht MFC semi-final against Galway.

Mayo had a golden chance to take honours in the drawn decider against Tyrone, but the Ulster men snatched a late injury-time point to level it before sweeping the westerners aside in the replay.

The marquee names of last year’s team have moved on, with Kevin Keane and Jason Doherty big figures on this season’s U21 side and Aidan O’Shea graduating to life at senior level. Midfielder Alex Corduff and full-forward Aidan Walsh are the only regular starters from last year in the team, while defenders Kieran Rogers and Ciarán Charlton were panellists in 2008. Daniel Kirby and Cillian O’Connor will be other mainstays in the Mayo setup.

Galway have the benefit of a competitive game, narrowly winning their quarter-final against Sligo last month (1-5 to 0-7). Their team is captained by midfielder Ronan Steede and they boast a strong defensive spine of full-back Jonathan Duane and centre-back Brian Flaherty, both survivors from last year’s side.

In attack the Sweeney twins, Patrick and Cathal, and full-forward Eric Monaghan will share the scoring burden, and the Tribesmen look well-placed to replicate their 2-8 to 1-8 Connacht league victory over Mayo back in April.

On a busy weekend of provincial minor football action, both semi-final clashes in Leinster are down for decision today.

Champions Meath face Kildare (Navan, 2pm), after recording victories over Offaly and Westmeath. The Royals impressed in their 0-18 to 0-9 quarter-final win over Westmeath, with Ciaran Lenehan and Bryan Menton key men in defence and Damien Carroll pivotal at midfield. Conor Devereuax and Padraig McKeever are their main attack threats.

Kildare, without a provincial minor crown since 1991, thumped Wicklow in their opening game before recording another facile victory over Wexford in the semi-finals.

Paul Cribbin, who has recently attracted interest from AFL outfit Collingwood, is their leader up front but gets good support from Tomas Moolick and Darrach Mulhall.

In the other Leinster semi-final, Offaly have home advantage against Dublin in Tullamore at 5.15pm. Offaly have manoeuvred through the backdoor to reach this stage, having lost out to Meath in round one but recovered with wins over Longford, Louth and Wicklow.

The Faithfuls have lost three Leinster minor finals in the last four years, but will have been boosted by St Mary’s Edenderry’s progress to this season’s All-Ireland colleges football final. Anton Sullivan, the star of Edenderry’s run, will spearhead their attack with Bernard Allen and Graham Guilfoyle also key to their challenge.

Dublin destroyed Louth in their first game but then needed extra-time to pip Laois by a point in the quarter-final. The capital outfit have made two changes for this match with Kevin O’Brien called up in defence in place of Mark Schutte, while Philip Ryan replaces the injured Cormac Diamond in attack. Paul Hudson of the Thomas Davis club is their primary scorer while John Kelly, Ciarán Reddin and Gary Sweeney are also key figures.

In Ulster, Donegal and Down meet in Clones this evening as the curtain-raiser to the senior semi-final between Antrim and Cavan. Donegal had a mixed performance before overcoming Antrim in their quarter-final, while Down scraped past Cavan 1-11 to 2-7 in their last-eight clash, having earlier destroyed Fermanagh in the preliminary round.

Down are coached by former senior player Mark Turley who was also at the helm when the Mourne County last won the minor All-Ireland in 2005. They boast four members of a St Malachy’s Castlewellan side that won the All-Ireland Vocational Schools crown, in corner-back Darragh O’Hanlon, centre-back Ciaran McClean and attacking duo Chris Clarke and David McKibben. Ross McGarry and Mattie Bagnall are the other dangers up front.

Donegal will look to Peter McGonagle, Michael McEniff, Luke Keaney, Christopher Barrett and Patrick McBrearty for inspiration, as they seek to return to an Ulster decider that they last contested in 2006. One positive omen for Donegal is that they won the Ulster Vocational inter-county clash between the counties earlier this year, with participants in that game set to feature for both this evening.