Is Liam McHale right to suggest Mayo's All-Ireland final failings comes down to the last 10 minutes?
MAYO CURSE: Mayo dejected after their All Ireland final loss to Dublin in 2017. Pic Credit ©INPHO/Tommy Dickson
Well, is Liam McHale right? Does Mayo’s failings in All-Ireland finals come down to the final 10 minutes?
“I think in all the tight games we lose them in the last 10 minutes,” he told Ballina Community Radio earlier this week as he explained his decision to step away as a selector.
“That goes back to my time. We have been losing All-Ireland finals since ’89 the same way. In the last 10 minutes, we are not able to score and the opposition will score two or three points to get over the line.”
He continued: “In the last 10 minutes it is game management and a lot of that has to come from the sideline as well. To put these guys in the position to get two points to win the game, to fall over the line instead of drawing or losing by one.”
Analysis of the 11 close or relatively close finals Mayo have either lost or drawn going back to 1989 would suggest he is largely correct about their fadeouts.
Take Darren McCurry’s 59th minute goal out of it and Mayo were still unable to outscore their opponents in the closing stages of a game they were so fancied to win having ended Dublin’s long reign as champions.
They created no score from the 65th minute to the final whistle in the 77th.
The one-point margin at the second half water break grew to four by the end as Mayo wilted physically.
Dublin hit them with the first three points of the final quarter, exposing frailties in their opponents’ restarts and keeping the ball in their own hands.
A paltry one point from the 56th minute to the end.
As Jason Doherty and Kevin McLoughlin reflect on their recently-ended inter-county careers, this one will probably sting the most.
Mayo were two points ahead up to the 64th minute but scored just one of the remaining five points. Dublin’s bench, namely Diarmuid Connolly, made a huge impact.
Given Lee Keegan’s attempt to intimidate him, Dean Rock’s winning free in additional time was almost as famous as Stephen Cluxton’s six years earlier.
Mayo were ahead early in the second half but after Connolly’s 42nd minute penalty goal trailed for the remainder of the game as much as they were within a point on four occasions including additional time when Cillian O’Connor pulled his free to equalise.
Notwithstanding the freakish own goals they conceded, there was nothing wrong about Mayo’s finish here as they devoured Dublin’s three-point advantage in the 68th minute.
Seven minutes of additional time was ample time for Donie Vaughan and O’Connor to find scores and a replay was secured.
For the final 13 minutes, Dublin played with walking wounded – Rory O’Carroll (concussion) and Eoghan O’Gara (hamstring) – and yet they were able to keep Mayo at bay.
Mayo managed just one score from play in the second half – Andy Moran’s goal – and O’Connor’s free-taking was keeping them in it, cutting the gap to one in injury time, before he ran out of time.
From Michael Murphy’s early goal, Mayo were playing catch-up against a Roadrunner-like Donegal who in those days refused to be caught.
The gap was five before Jason Gibbons’ 69th minute point.
Their finish left plenty to be desired here as did their first half when they managed to post just three points.
A flurry of 1-4 in the third quarter brought them into the game but their last score came in the 52nd minute, which brought them to within a point.
Kerry only widened the gap to three with Maurice Fitzgerald’s free, the penultimate act of the game.
After McHale and Colm Coyle were dismissed for the part in the first-half brawl, Mayo had recovered well from Tommy Dowd’s second half goal to square matters only for Brendan Reilly to score the winning point in the final minute of normal time.
There were still opportunities for Mayo to force extra-time but they escaped them.
Twenty years before the own goals, there was Coyle’s bizarre equalising point for Meath in the 70th minute, which bounced on the ground before going over.
Six points up after Ray Dempsey’s 45th minute goal, Mayo were in the driving seat but didn’t score from the 59th minute onwards.
Finishing line fever seemed to upset Mayo here as they led Cork by a point up to the 52nd minute but didn’t trouble the scoreboard for the remainder of the game.
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