Mortimer returns to finish job

IT is hard to believe but Mayo were long gone from the championship this time last year.

An embarrassing defeat against Sligo ended their run as Connacht champions on their first day out while a qualifier loss against Longford three weeks later sent them tumbling out of the All-Ireland race.

Their season, and John O’Mahony’s reign, was all done and dusted by June 26.

That was the day when Trevor Mortimer felt he had had enough of it all. The Mayo veteran had been dropped for the Longford game and watched things unravel from the dugout in Pearse Park.

A few months later the self-employed quarry manager packed his bags, left football, Shrule, and the recession behind and travelled to some of the farthest corners of the globe.

It was time to spread his wings. After all, he had just turned 30 and was reflecting on his 11th straight season of inter-county football. Something had to give.

Now, as he looks ahead to his eighth Connacht senior final, he smiles when asked what brought him back.

“I didn’t want to end my Mayo career on a low note,” he explained. “Personally, I was very disappointed with the way things ended.

“I decided to go travelling for a couple of months to try and straighten out my head and get a bit of hunger back for it. To be honest, I was totally finished with it at the end of last year.

“I was getting bad vibes and low blows from everybody and I just got sick of it. I just wanted a total break.

“So when I came back from travelling my main motivation to get training was because I was a few pounds heavier. And I probably trained harder before I met up with the squad this year than I had with the squad in the last few years.

“The long league run that I had, I played every league game, meant that when I got to the end of it I was burnt out. It’s hard to notice that when you’re in the middle of it. You’re just focusing on the next game, and the next game.

“Looking back now, the legs were gone when I came to the championship. Thankfully, missing the league this year has stood to me. I’m feeling fresh, feeling strong and I’m enjoying it.”

During an eventful Mayo career, Mortimer has played in two All-Ireland senior finals and won three Connacht championship medals. He was also the last Mayo captain to lift the Nestor Cup. But despite his cluttered CV, it’s obvious from the sparkle in his eye that he is counting down the hours to Sunday.

“People might think the qualifiers have taken away some of the excitement but when you’re playing, a Connacht medal is a Connacht medal,” he said.

“The week leading up to the game is great and then, on the day, as you get close to the ground you can feel the nerves and the excitement. The drive to the ground is the bit I love the most.

“When the pressure is on, and you have to perform, and you get the performance, that’s what it’s all about. That feeling of satisfaction.”

Ironically, it was that kind of pressure that Mayo were unable to cope with last summer when push came to shove against both Sligo and Longford.

There is still a lingering suspicion that, despite a new manager and some new players, that particular problem hasn’t gone away. Realistically, of course, there is only one way to find out.

““There was no real pressure (in the Galway match). Put us in a position in Hyde Park where we’re five points down, with 20 minutes to go, that’s when you’ll know the character of the team. I don’t know what the reaction of the team will be until we’re in that situation.

“But that’s what we’re here for. We want to get ourselves into that situation and we’ll see what this team is made of.”