Articles And Blog Getting to Connacht final by a thread
| Getting to Connacht final by a thread |
| Friday, 27 June 2003 00:00 | |||
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Article first appeared June 2003 Slipping fan belts and near misses By Terry Reilly (c) 2003
Mayo were on the crest of a wave. A cracking great minor team of the previous year had produced Seamus O'Dowd and he was popped into the attack to freshen things up. And a young lion, Willie Loftus, who was later in the year to captain Mayo Under 21s to an All-Ireland tirtle, was added to midfield to provide thrust and combatativeness. They were joining a team well seasoned with Carey, Prender, Morley, O' Connor, Earley, Loftus (PJ), Langan, Corcoran, Farragher, Ruane et al. Galway, tired after three years of glory, fell before the incessant Mayo battering ram, O'Dowd produicing a scintillating goal in the 3-13 to 1-8 victory. The homeward journey took an age. We sat in traffic for what seemed like hours without moving, inching our way through Galway as tar squelched under rubber, producing that pungent smell of bitumen and oil and heat. Tuam had to be negotiated. Then Milltown. Then Claremorris. Those were the days before bypasses. The only pass we knew about was the Kyber Pass. Was the new road through Tuam built then? Maybe, but if it was Tuam had to be entered and the Imperial Hotel visited for the latest news and echange of opinion. Certainly, Claremorris and Knock bypasses were undreamed of, light years away from a funding demand on the Exchequer. Ditto the new bridge over the Corrib. In the final at Tuam Mayo rolled over Leitrim, 4-15 to 0-7: we were heading back to Croke Park for the first time since 1955. Meath beat us in the semi-final. Those at home watching the game on tv got up to make a cup of tea when the transmission failed, andvby the normal service was resumed Meath had stuck in two goals in a 3-14 to 1-14 result. Galway came out of Connacht the following year to give Mattie McDonagh his 10th Connacht sdenmiuor medal, but 1969 saw Mayo back in Perarse Stadium agaisn the old enemy. It was nip and tuck all the way, a Joe Corcoran point from a free earning Mayo at replay at Castlebar. More backed-up traffic to negotiate on the way home, but it was comforting to know that Galway had never beaten Mayo in a replay, and this was to prove no exception, Mayo winning 1-1 to 1-8. In the All-Ireland semi-final, regrettably (in the sense that we did not have sufficient time to enjoy our hard-won victory) just a week later we met Kerry: unfortunately, did not take our chances, losing by a point in what could have been Mayo's year. But Pearse Stadium has been good to Mayo. Great goals have been scored there by Mayo; goalbound balls have been miraculously stood on by Galway in answer to Mayo's collective prayer. Summer sun has shined there on our efforts. Memories come gushing back of pl;ayers and exploits, many of them never told in print and all the safer for that. Next Sunday? Well, that's another day. It will produce more stories for folklore. Both sides will want to avoid defeat like the plague. Mayo will need the rub of the green, but in Pearse Stadium stranger things have happened. PS: Good luck with the traffic, and as you muse en route, note that the tar does not boil through anymore!
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| Last Updated on Thursday, 03 December 2009 00:47 |
