Morrison senses Mayo confidence

John Morrison knows the perception of him.

“Colourful,” he smiles. “That’s good — that means I have an imagination.”

Several of those who take the field at Croke Park have experienced his unique approach to the game: the Mayo veterans in receipt of “from Sam with love” Valentine cards and those of a certain vintage in the Donegal set-up offered Brazil nuts to get them to buy into the idea of playing as expressively as that country’s soccer team.

Having coached Donegal alongside Mickey Moran when they reached a 2002 All-Ireland quarter-final replay before the pair guided Mayo to the final four years later, the Armagh man has an educated take on the competing counties.

He doesn’t lean towards any team — he claims he has fashioned a flag for the final with green in the middle with red on one side and yellow on the other.

He argues Mayo are well-equipped to put in a final performance, even if he knows from experience there is a deep-rooted hang-up about the occasion in the county.

“I do believe for the first time since we were in Mayo that there is a confidence there. I felt in 2006 that as the year went on the players and us were the only ones who felt they could go all the way. Then, when it came to the final, it was only Mickey and myself.

“There’s talk of curses [the priest in 1951] and all this but I don’t believe in curses. Somebody can only put a curse on you if it comes to fruition in your own head.

“You look at the amount of millionaires from Mayo. We were at the Mayo Person of the Year award ceremony and as a community Mayo have been hugely successful. But they weren’t able to manage playing in finals.

“Forget about me and Mickey, Mayo’s record has been fantastic to get to as many finals as they have.

“It’s totally unfair the way they have been castigated because of their results in finals. There’s a thin line between success and failure yet if one team win an All-Ireland by a point their methods are copied. Mayo should be commended for getting to that stage on so many occasions.”

Eyebrows rose when Donegal keeper Paul Durcan suggested before their semi-final win over Cork that his side was attack orientated.

Morrison wholeheartedly agrees with him as well as Mayo being offensive outfits. “Both defences were put in last year. It’s like building a house — the defence is the foundations and then you hope to add the highly creative forward lines.

“I was misquoted when I said I wanted Mayo playing like Brazil. The finish of my statement was ignored. Brazil’s attitude at the time was if you score 20 we’ll get 21 and that’s still their attitude.

“Both teams are attacking sides. Donegal’s is a counter-attacking style and Mayo’s is a follow-on attacking process with match-up man-to-man marking.”

Morrison gives Mayo much more of a chance than most people are giving them. Although he is worried about their strength in depth, he thinks they’re more likely to score a goal.

But more than that, he is impressed with how they defend.

“What I like about Mayo is they’re doing something we tried to do in 2006 and that’s tight, man-to-man match-up marking.

“They play the man they’ve been matched up with and it’s less cumbersome and not as loose as pulling men back to defend. Not matter how well you put the blanket down, it’s like a blanket on a bed — it’s going to be still. It can be exploited by a team that will run at it and run at it.

“The player running straight hand-passes to another player who takes the ball at an angle.

“Donegal have been rarely caught out but at times they can be vulnerable on the wings and if there’s one team that can kick at goal from long range and at angles it’s Mayo.

“There are a lot of things going Mayo’s way but the one thing Donegal have is intensity. They have this ability to steamroll teams and press the ball high up the field, which is very effective.”

He has also admired how both teams have absorbed potential knock-out blows in terms of personnel losses over the last 10 years.

“Both teams have good self-esteem. The players all know their roles and are applying in them. There’s no rancour. The Kevin Cassidy and Conor Mortimer incidents were bruises not breakages. They showed they had healed from them against Dublin and Cork.

“Andy Moran’s injury was massive for Mayo but they overcame it in spectacular fashion and I believe they’ll want to go out and win it for him because he is such an inspirational captain.”