Green (and red) shoots of recovery the Mayo way

When Mickey Harte told his minor team to fold the county jersey carefully and gently place it on a table in the centre of the dressing-room after a match, he set a precedent. Tyrone’s players needed to realise the jersey they were wearing embodied a tradition.

Those minors went on to win All-Irelands at every grade as that lesson helped develop a county of also-rans into one of the giants.

It also developed a new style of thinking in the GAA. Pride in the jersey became more than a cliché, it showed creating a positive ethos at underage level could permeate through the county at all levels.

Mayo’s coaching officers are trying a similar trick.

The four divisional teams’ players at U14 level are not allowed to keep their jerseys. They are told they will earn them over time.

From the initial trials at U14 level, four squads of 70 are whittled down to 20. From there they are tested again for U15s where only two divisional sides are picked and onto U16 level where they take part in up to 20 sessions. By U17 the final preparations for the strength and conditioning challenges that face every county footballer are put in place.

“We’re trying to arm them with the proper tools to get the best out of them,” said Mayo Games manager and head of coaching Billy McNicholas.

“The coaching games committee’s plan for this year is to try and get all management teams to sit down and use cross referencing from minor, U21 and senior. What players are there and how we can maximise their potential.”

An U20 academy was formed earlier this month and called the rookie squad. With the experienced management team of Noel Connelly, who captained Mayo and managed the U21s to an All-Ireland, Kieran Gallagher, who was a selector with John O’Mahony, Stephen Rochford, an All-Ireland club winner with Crossmolina and Michael Gavin they will monitor the players just out of minor level and not involved with the U21s or seniors.

“Once they finish minor there is always a void. The top minors will be picked up but the others are in no man’s land,” said McNicholas.

“The management team will have eight or nine direct contacts with the players who will be continually assessed. We will be in contact with the GAA officer in each college they are going to, to see are they going to the gym and are they playing. This year’s minor team will be the first to go through that.”

The move is timely too. Mayo U21 manager, Ray Dempsey was extremely critical of his players in the aftermath of Mayo’s third successive defeat to Roscommon, citing a “lack of desire and ambition” facing the next generation of Mayo senior footballers.

Criticism lands at McNicholas’s feet at times like this but he believes in the plan.

Tomorrow every player on the panel except for Donal Vaughan and Patrick Harte will have come through that scheme. Whether the plans ultimate aims of an All-Ireland are realised remains to be seen, but the project has clearly laid the foundations for Mayo’s senior teams for years to come.