O’Connors cool as showtime looms

It should help, living in the same house as a two-time young footballer of the year in the weeks leading up to an All-Ireland MFC semi-final. But for Cillian O’Connor’s younger brother Diarmuid, talking about football in the house has become something both brothers want to avoid.

It’s not a sibling rivalry because when they have conversations about football they usually count, it’s just something they rarely go into.

“No, not really,” he said. “He’d be able to give me one or two tips along the way but he’s in a different position and I’m playing midfield, so he couldn’t give me many.”

That house will be a hive of activity this morning. Two All-Ireland semi-finals on the same weekend for the brothers means they will be looking for the exit door as soon as possible.

“There’s calmness now. I’d say the day of the match there will be excitement,” said Diarmuid.

“Dad is calm at the moment and Mam tries to be! Ah no it’s calm now but the days leading up to it there will be more excitement but it’s the same before every big match. We’ll go out as we do before every big match.”

Much like his brother, he’s a sensible character and, much like his brother, the task at hand is the big one, and with good reason. He was on last year’s team which beat a highly-fancied Tipp side in the quarter-final, only to lose to Meath in the semi-final. He’ll be out to make sure that doesn’t happen again.

“We know we’ll have to be at the top of our game or we’ll be going out. But we know if we perform to our best, we’ll have a great chance of getting into an All-Ireland final.

“I was a lot more nervous last year, it was my first year minor, my first year playing in Croke Park in front of a big crowd.

“There were a lot of nerves. This year, hopefully, I’ll be a lot calmer going into it and not get carried away with the occasion. It’s a new year, a new team, new management. Hopefully we can go further.”

MAYO (MF v Monaghan): M Mulligan (Claremorris); E Doran (Achill), S Cunniffe (Ballaghaderreen), D Kenny (Aghamore); M Hall (Breaffy), S Coen (Hollymount/Carramore), S Conlon (Castlebar Mitchels); V Roughneen (Balla), D O’Connor (Ballintubber); C Loftus (Crossmolina), M Plunkett (Ballintubber), C Hanley (Ballaghaderreen); D Doherty (Kilmaine), L Irwin (Breaffy), T Conroy (Kiltane).

MONAGHAN (MF v Mayo): C Forde; S Treanor, K Loughran (Capt), P Mc Ardle; A Kieran, A Curran, M Murnaghan; M Brown, D Mc Allister; M O’Dowd, R Mc Anespie, D Ward; C Mc Carthy, B Mc Ginn, F Mc Mahon.