As his side made the longer than normal trek back to the dressing room from the pitch in Dangan after subsiding to a five point defeat at the hands of NUIG, John O’Mahony faced the first of his interrogations at the hands of the hungry press core on the 50m line of the college pitch. After getting his first competitive view of his side for 2009 and how the new rules regarding yellow cards would play out, he held court over what he had just seen for the previous 60 minutes. Over the course of the game five players, two from Mayo and three from NUIG, were shown the line for picking up yellow cards, one as early as the eighth minute when Greg Begley was sent to the line for a clumsy challenge on Billy Joe Padden. “I believe the GAA are not going to change them because managers are saying they want them changed, but we have a meeting in the middle of January and I'll do my talking there. There will need to be some tweaking on them, the first lad to get sent off for NUIG my reading of it initially is it's a yellow card if you pull down a player, and will that lead to people appearing to be pulled down or fall and get a lad sent off. We'll give them a chance and see, if it adds to free flowing football then it's always a positive, but we'll have to hold our fire and see,” said O’Mahony.
When questioned about the effect that the new rules had on his thinking before the game, O’Mahony admitted that it would cause management teams to be thinking ahead all the time and be ready for every possibility. “The most effect it had on me was to make sure I had six subs today, because you need to be interchanging and I'd say it's a huge burden on the referee as well. They have a lot of things to be thinking about there. I know a lot of work has gone into them and I don't want to downgrade them. Peadar Gardiner was put off for us today and normally in the old rules, it wouldn't be a ticking never mind a yellow card.”
Wait and see on the new rules
While the FBD league is a proving ground for new players, rather than a competition where everything is put on the line, O’Mahony is waiting to see how it will pan out, and can see some major issues arising later on in the year if the rules are put into practice exactly to the letter of the law without some tweaking. “Fast forward to an All Ireland final, with 10 minutes to go and the game level and the man of the match for some reason gets caught with a tackle and sent off and the massive influence that will have. You always have new rules in league and FBD games, but as the year goes on, particularly in the latter stages of the championship, it will be referreed completely differently. If it was to be done to the letter of the law we have to wait and see how it pans out.”
New faces given a run out
Apart from the national talking points over the rules for the year, the housekeeping on the home front had to be addressed also. For the third year in a row, Mayo started the FBD with a loss, but it’s still a long season and O’Mahony isn’t panicking but still would like to have all his players available. “It's the FBD, we all know about the FBD, it was a game and a chance to look at a few people in a competitive setting. From our point of view it's frustrating that looking at Ger Cafferkey there at full back for NUIG we'd have liked to have had a look at him in our team. We are going to have a lot of new faces in for the league coming in without playing with us during the FBD.” While defeat is never the desired result, O’Mahony did give youth its chance, with Kevin Keane and Aidan O’Shea both fresh out of the minor class of 2008 being given the lynchpin positions at full back and full forward for the game. Others to get a run out included Ballintubber’s Jason Gibbons and Claremorris defender Sean Prendergast. O’Mahony called upon the younger players in the squad to fight for their place for later in the season and for those who may have been part of the panel for a number of years to start showing some more leadership. “We had a game A v B, and I said to the younger lads what we’re looking for is guys symbolically putting up their hands on the field to say they want to wear the Mayo jersey on the field in the league. The jersey will always remain the same colour, it's the guys passing through that change. The guys who were the younger lads in the last few years will have to mature and it's great to see the people who have been here many years wanting to do it still, so roll on league and championship.”
Another third level challenge this Sunday
Next up for Mayo is another third level challenge in the shape of Sligo IT in Ballinode, Sligo, on Sunday at 2pm. O’Mahony will be expected to pick from more or less the same deck as last weekend, with the exception of Ballaghaderreen sharpshooter Barry Regan, who although named at full forward for last weekend’s opening fixture missed out through sickness. Sligo IT themselves got off to a poor start and were hammered 3-13 to 0-5 by Roscommon in Fergal O’Donnell’s debut in charge of the side. As last week there will be Mayo interest on the college side with Tom Parsons lining out at midfield and Alan Costello also in their side.
Ballina to host league opener
It has also been confirmed this week that Mayo’s National Football League Division 1 opener at home to Derry on February 1 has been switched from McHale Park, Castlebar, to James Stephens Park, Ballina. The reason for the switch is due to the construction work going on at the moment in the Castlebar ground as the new stand is being constructed. It is expected that Mayo will return to McHale Park for the visit of Westmeath on March 8.
