Gallagher’s minors build up momentum

They may remain relatively unheralded within their own county, as the spotlight shines brightest on the seniors, but Mayo’s minor footballers must be considered major challengers for All-Ireland honours after defeating last year’s champions Tipperary.

Normally, that would not necessarily mean a lot but with 12 of their 2011 panel still available this season, the holders were widely expected to go very close to completing back to back wins. Dublin and Tyrone were tipped to challenge strongly but you won’t find too many who had tipped Mayo.

“No one else believed we could do it,” admitted Mayo captain AdamGallagher at yesterday’s press event to mark Electric Ireland’s sponsorship of the All-Ireland minor championships. “Not even people in Mayo gave us much of a chance. We could see in training that there were big performances in us. It didn’t come out against Sligo in the first round and it didn’t come out against Roscommon in the Connacht final. It was only a matter of time before it did come out and thankfully enough it was against Tipperary.