Costello key to victory

ALAN COSTELLO is no stranger to Mayo’s darker days.

Back in September of 2004 he sat on the bench in Croke Park as Dara O Cinnéide and Kerry demolished one All-Ireland dream while he was part of the county’s U21 side that lost the championships decider to Armagh by two points a week later.

Last Saturday was different.

A Sligo resident since he was a teenager, Costello was happy to accept Kevin Walsh’s invitation onto the Yeats senior panel last year and he was implicit in his old side’s downfall.

His catch, run and kicked point after 59 minutes was one of the game’s best scores and he followed it up five minutes later with a second. Heaven knows what his family, up for the day from Balla, made of it all.

“Mayo man or not, I was in a Sligo jersey there giving it 100% and I think that showed. It’s a massive win.

“We will take it all in and start preparing for the Galway game, which is another huge match. That was only a stepping stone. I know everyone had us tipped as one of the teams to pull off a shock in the championship but Mayo are a top-class side.”

Mayo, in truth, were poor but their tradition and their 42 provincial titles still qualifies them as a significant scalp and one worth celebrating for a Sligo team that was never spooked by all the pre-match ‘ambush’ prattle.

Sligo could have beaten Galway on home soil last summer. They should have done for Kerry in the All-Ireland qualifiers in Tralee but there was an acceptance that similar near-misses wouldn’t be enough in 2010.

“We have been building ourselves to become a serious team and it was great last year to nearly beat Kerry and nearly beat Galway but, at the end of the day we’re not looking for moral victories anymore.

“We are a good team and we had a good league this year and last year but championship football is championship football and we are looking forward to the next game now.”

This win was all the more remarkable for the manner in which it is achieved. The accepted wisdom is that underdogs need a blistering start at best – a solid one at worst – to hold out hopes of creating an upset.

Sligo did neither.

And yet, two hours or so later, John O’Mahony found himself surrounded by microphones and dictaphones coming to terms with a qualifier route which Mayo have more often than not thumbed their noses at.

The former Galway manager wasn’t interested in history lessons however.

“The tradition of championship up to a few years ago was that it is winner takes all and it took 12 months to come around again,” he said of the back door route.

“Kerry were in exactly this situation last year and went on to win an All-Ireland.

“I was in a similar situation in 2001 with Galway – after getting to a league final as well – and went on to win the All-Ireland so you never know. There are a few twists and turns in this championship season yet.”

Though the feeling is that this will be his last campaign as manager, O’Mahony was adamant that he would, at least, be at the helm for the rest of the summer regardless of where the road takes them. “I have a job to do. The championship season isn’t over for Mayo yet. I have never run away from anything and I am not going to run away from that.”