McEntee rejects Fitzmaurice gamesmanship claims

Former Mayo selector Tony McEntee has rejected Éamonn Fitzmaurice’s claims that their so-called gamesmanship is “on a different level to most teams”.

Speaking on the Irish Examiner GAA Championship Podcast, McEntee said that while Mayo “might look to buy a free or do something like that occasionally”, Fitzmaurice’s comments weren’t fair on the Mayo team.

For the Armagh game, for example, there were a lot of reports at the time about head injuries, and Mayo had eight or nine head injuries in the second half trying to kill the game and trying to get over the line. I certainly don’t think that is something that was purposefully done from the outset.

Responding to Fitzmaurice’s article from this paper in June, in which the former Kerry manager cited “checking off the ball, their game management late in games, the claustrophobic marking of key opposition players, the tactical use of the Maor Foirne and the cynical exploitation of the head injury rule”, McEntee was unequivocal in his response.

“I don’t see it and I don’t think that’s a fair comment on that group of players,” he told the podcast.

Former Kildare manager Cian O’Neill believed Fitzmaurice, knowing him as he does, was paying Mayo a back-handed compliment, saying a team is not going to win an All-Ireland on football alone, that a squad and management needs “all these different tools”.

“I know how it may have read but to my mind, he was probably saying you’re going to need every bit of this if you’re going to get to and win an All-Ireland. Mayo are going to need everything to get over the line so I would actually take that as a banc-handed compliment,” said O’Neill.

Quirke's Football Podcast: Mayo's rock-solid bunch of people. Dubs demystified. Kerry need dogs. With Tony McEntee and Cian O'Neill.