The man with master plan
Leading a side away ahead of its time, he travelled to London to watch Arsenal with goalkeeper Sean Wynne and a few choice defenders. They spent their time focusing on how the Gunners goalkeeper organised his defence and set up their attacks from deep.
It didn’t stop there though. Flanagan visited cricket clubs for advice and, along with mentors Gerald Purcell and Jackie Carney, devised a training camp schedule.
For up to a week before a big game, they would station themselves in Gaughan’s Hotel in Ballina and train like a professional team. Every night, they would analyse the opposition at team meetings. Brian Cody became famous for it but, back in the 50s, Mayo players openly challenged each other on what they were going to do to stop their markers from getting on top.
Among them was a young full-back who would join the rest of that team in folklore. Ballintubber’s Paddy Prendergast was a garda stationed in Dungloe and playing with Donegal when he received a telegram from Mayo County Board secretary Finn Mongey — be in Ballina for a match at the weekend.
The trip to the game took almost two days. A bus to Sligo where he stayed the night. From there to Charlestown and went to the local garda barracks. Realising his predicament his colleagues called a hackney and he arrived at Carney’s house where he stayed the night.
Despite the experience, and failure by the board to cover his expenses, he never played for Donegal again though. A bond was made and he won two Celtic crosses.
“We virtually lived together and were probably closer than any group of players in the country,” said Paddy of those days. “We were like a family.”
Tomorrow his nephew Tom Prendergast will be the quiet man standing beside James Horan whispering advice into his ear. Some hail him as Mayo’s secret weapon but he shuns the limelight. Reared on tales of 1950 and 1951 he was therefore unafraid to challenge Mayo football’s traditional beliefs.
“I think it’s interesting about those guys from ’50 and ’51. It is one thing that has struck me that they were highly intelligent and motivated bunch of guys who achieved a lot in life.
“It hasn’t always been associated with Mayo I suppose but there are signs of it in this team.”
He met James Horan in school in St Gerald’s and had been friendly but “never best friends”. They won an intermediate title on the field together but life and work took Tom to Dublin and they only met once a year for a Christmas pint. When he got a job in Galway he returned to the club and within a few years James asked him to join him on his mission to take over the club’s senior side.
An intermediate club again, they had never won a senior title but the duo turned Mayo club football on its head. When John O’Mahony stepped down in 2010, Tom hoped Horan would get the job.
“James has a great level of self possession, confidence and belief and calmness that hasn’t always been typical in Mayo football. He’s a very good communicator too so I was delighted to see him go for it and get it. Then I was surprised when he asked me to get involved.”
The link to ’51 restored but it wasn’t the first time Mayo tried that formula. Dermot Flanagan, son of the late Sean, famously played and lost three All-Irelands. But, under Prendergast and Horan, this Mayo side is the first to challenge Mayo football’s weaknesses. It’s a team-led approach, willing to sacrifice everything for victory.
“That’s part of it,” said Tom. “If you accept your place in the world, that’s where you’ll be. There are so many parts you have to get right to achieve success. There might be 10, 20, 50 different inputs and you get as many of those right as you can.
“If you’re willing to accept your slot, you’re not going to drive on. There has to be ambition underpinning it and an ability to persist and work hard.”
His exact job remains somewhat of a mystery. Initially a statistician, it has evolved into video analysis, player development and, as he puts it himself, “whatever James asks me to do”. He’s also one of three men who communicates with players about their roles in the week of a game along with Cian O’Neill and Horan.
And in the relaying those message, he’s taken on board some lessons from his uncle. Keep it simple and play to your strengths.
“The messages we were imparting before the first FBD game in January won’t be a million miles away from what we’re doing in the build up to Donegal,” he said.
Those words will please Paddy. His advice to his nephew: “Everyone should know their job and if that happens, they’ll be fine.”
With the spirit of 1950s Mayo coursing through his veins, Tom will be hoping a team wearing green and red can again be called the best in the land.
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