Rochford can’t allow Castlebar collapse to ramp up Mayo doubts
THE collapse of Castlebar Mitchels was another Mayo tale of woe on the big day in Croke Park. Ballyboden St Enda’s were very impressive. It was the perfect performance in many ways by them, a perfect implementation of a tactical plan and players standing up for them. But the worst thing for the losers was that their big guns – the players they expected to deliver – were peripheral.
The likes of Barry Moran, Tom Cunniffe and the Feeney brothers were the players Castlebar hoped would influence the game, but they were very quiet. And it will lead to more question marks about Mayo teams on the big occasion and why they fall short so often.
Castlebar manager Declan O’Reilly even referred to that after the match when he said his team didn’t want to come to Croke Park and be another Mayo statistic. He also said that they didn’t talk about that. I believe that was a mistake.
It is important for teams to confront these demons. By ignoring the problem, you don’t tackle it and there does seem to be an issue with Mayo teams when they reach the final. I remember when Ballina Stephanites won the 2005 All-Ireland, six years after they had lost to Crossmaglen. They made sure their players were aware of how big the occasion can be.
Finals are different animals to any other game that a player will play in. There are so many things associated with a final, not least nerves. When Ballyboden scored the first goal, you could see the belief drain from the Castlebar players. You could see it in the faces of experienced players like Moran and Cunniffe. They were shell-shocked.
It can be put down to a bad day at the office but how many more of them can Mayo teams have at Croke Park? I don’t know what Stephen Rochford was thinking as he was watching on. Will it have an effect on Mayo if they get back to Croke Park later on this year? It might be in the back of the minds of the Castlebar players, but I don’t know how much of an impact it will have on the rest of the squad. However, it will add to the fears of those who truly believe that Mayo teams have some sort of hoodoo when it comes to finals at Croke Park and the only ones who can change that are Rochford and his team.