When a friendly rivalry goes toxic

Why has the rivalry between Mayo and Donegal soured so much?

You can track it back to a challenge match in Swinford last year. Mayo v Donegal on May 6. That was the day relations between the counties went to Cold War levels.

An interview had appeared in a national newspaper days before the game with a Mayo player who spoke about the tough edge his side had developed.

In the challenge game an experimental Mayo side edged comfortably clear of Donegal by half time. But during the break the Tír Chonaill men challenged themselves to turn it around and live up to the standards they set.

They did it by imposing themselves physically and won 1-14 to 3-7. Some in Mayo camp say the physical side of Donegal’s game went too far that day and the sledging about that article went very personal for a mere challenge.

It escalated the week of the All-Ireland final. Mayo went into the game annoyed with comments made by Joe Brolly about their tactics and approach. The feeling out west was that Brolly’s statements hadn’t come about by accident.

“The timing of it… I know we’re on about strategic this, that and the other but who’s to say the timing of those articles weren’t strategic?” asked Mayo manager James Horan back in January.

Donegal think Mayo retaliated by getting to the grounds early and stealing their dressing room. Following the game text messages between both squads got bitter.

It made this year’s league encounter a feisty encounter. The Mayo supporters fired abuse from the stands at Donegal throughout while on the field things were equally nasty.

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Then there was last Saturday evening.

“I would be fearful that our players are going to end up on the receiving end of something that’s going to cause everybody a lot of pain, and it’s just not worth it, if it goes to that point,” Donegal boss Jim McGuinness said after the fourth round qualifier win over Laois.

Sunday Game analyst Ciarán Whelan picked it up as a barbed comment but before the show was aired Horan was quizzed at the Mayo press conference about why the body language between McGuinness and himself looked cold. His reply?

“Show me a team that has good body language towards Mr McGuinness!”

Did everything above happen exactly like that? Maybe, maybe not. But the certainty is that both teams believe they have been wronged by one another and their relationship has become one of the most poisonous in the GAA.

Donegal assistant manager Rory Gallagher added fuel to fire this week, claiming Mayo not only tipped Monaghan off on how to beat his county ahead of the Ulster final but inferred they told them to target Mark McHugh illegally.

“Maybe we suspect there was a bit of collusion between Monaghan and Mayo,” Gallagher told The Irish News before discussing the tackle involving McHugh and Monaghan’s Stephen Gollogly.

“Bear in mind Lee Keegan’s tackle on Mark McHugh at the start of last year’s All-Ireland final [between Mayo and us]. When Lee Keegan got booked, he came out and winked at a team-mate as if to say ‘job done’.

“I don’t believe for one minute that Gollogly went out to do the harm he did. He went out to hit him hard, but our player came out of it badly. I know Gollogly hurt himself as well. I don’t believe Malachy O’Rourke sent any player out to ‘do’ anyone. That is not in his nature. But ask some of the top referees to view the incident. Was it a dangerous tackle? It was reckless and dangerous. At the end of the day, that deserves a red card.”

In this era of social media, it has all led to a heightening tension between both sets of supporters. Donegal County Board’s official Twitter account got in on the act on Monday: “So @MayoGAA think they can do 3 in a row in knocking out all Ireland champs. We’ll send them back to the west next Sun. #Jimmyswinningmatches.”

Mayo’s account retweeted messages damning McGuinness’ statement.

Banter, as James Horan mentioned in his press conference, is definitely not something that goes on between the counties anymore.

Former Mayo player and current Sligo IT manager Michael Moyles took to Twitter. He had lived with Rory Gallagher when they won a Sigerson together but he could see this was now affecting ordinary supporters’ relationships with each other.

“Mayo & Donegal GAA always had a mutual respect over the years,” he tweeted. “Sad to see that dissolve over the space of 18 months. I remember when football was about players. 15 v 15. Not paranoid managers and selectors talking tripe about conspiracies.”

Highland Radio’s Charlie Collins, the recognised voice of Donegal GAA, has noticed attitude towards Mayo change drastically on the streets of the county. A die-hard Donegal fan, Collins believes paranoia spread through his county after attacks in the media on Jim McGuinness’ style over the past three years while a win-at-all-costs attitude within two counties traditionally devoid of All-Ireland glory has soured things further.

“It was as if Jim had done something wrong that couldn’t be accepted and that he needed to be pulled into place,” he said.

“It made the Donegal team and supporters a bit paranoid because they were still giving out about them after they had been beaten in 2011. It was as if people were wishing Donegal would be beaten.

‘There was no credence given to the depths he took Donegal from or the fact that Donegal people, starved of success, didn’t care how they got it. The ironic thing now is that all successful teams are using that system now.

“By the time it came to the final (last year) people in national media didn’t want us to win it and there was all this talk about the jinx on Mayo. It all got blown out of all proportion.

“I’m not sure why the bad relations have developed between Jim McGuinness and James Horan but one thing is for sure, the sport is the worse for it. The GAA was an amateur game but not anymore. Now this win at all costs attitude has seeped into it and when that happens you’re bound to bring negative things into play.”

It’s something former Mayo All Star and current MWR radio analyst John Casey agrees with. He saw a darkening of attitudes building for the first time during the league game in Elverys MacHale Park when Donegal goalkeeper Paul Durcan engaged in a shouting match with Mayo fans. The last time he saw such emotions was in the aftermath of 1996 Meath’s All-Ireland final win following the infamous punch up.

“Some of the Mayo supporters felt the whole thing was rubbed in their faces (last year). But if we won some of our supporters could have done the same to them.

“There’s always a small proportion like that and there’s nothing worse than getting it rubbed in your face after a final.

“Jim McGuinness is doing his Alex Ferguson impression trying to get referees on side and that annoys Mayo people. I’m enjoying it though. Some people can’t see it’s all mind games. They let it get under their skins. They need to understand that anyone will do what it takes to win.”

Keyboard warriors have also had their impact on the rivalry. Though this is only Mayo and Donegal’s third championship meeting, Twitter and Facebook mean fans are interacting like never before.

“I’ve a lot of Donegal friends on Facebook and saw stuff on it that I didn’t want to read,” said Casey who’s married to a Donegal woman. “The whole world sees everyone’s thoughts now.

“It leaves so many people open for criticism or slagging. You could say something in the pub once and it’s left there but social media puts it up everywhere. People are a lot more sensitive now too.”

But he can see why it has grown to these levels. The day before the Connacht final he met Mayo full back Ger Cafferkey strolling Enniscrone beach. They had a quick chat then Ger looked at his watch and said he had to go; he had to be home by a certain time. The players have put some amount of work into it. “It’s at professional soccer standard. They have all these things now like diets, nutritionists that were never there in our day,” said Cafferkey.

“I’ve heard of players going to Mayo training camps on a Saturday morning at 10am and not getting out till 6pm. It’s like another full-time job. I’d be amazed to know if any Premier League teams were doing more than Mayo this year. We trained really hard in our day but we partied hard too. These days these guys might have a pint after winning a Connacht final.

“This is three years in the build-up for both teams. There’s so much at stake. They’ll have no respect for each other on the pitch but after all that has gone on I think it’s important they shake hands afterwards. It’s important for the communities too. My wife is a Donegal woman and there are a lot of Mayo people married to Donegal people and living in each other’s counties. Some people like to burn bridges but I wouldn’t be one of them.”