Reeling in the Years — Galway vs Mayo in the Connacht Championship

By JIM CARNEY What happened to Roscommon in the 1945 Connacht Championship? They were knocked out by Mayo in the semi-finals, and Galway went on to defeat Mayo in the final, by 2-6 to 1-7. There was a new star on the scene for Galway: Tom Sullivan from Oughterard was one of the greatest midfielders in Ireland in that decade but especially from 1945 to 1948 (inclusive). In the All-Ireland semi-final of â€â„¢45, Cork (with dual star Jack Lynch in their team) beat Galway but Tom Sullivan gave a display of high fielding that it was said Michael Oâ€â„¢Hehir could hardly contain his excitement doing the radio commentary. In a tribute many years later, Jack Mahon wrote of two distinctive aspects of Tom Oâ€â„¢Sullivanâ€â„¢s football skills: he could catch a kickout with one hand and, having injured his right foot (his favoured kicking foot) he quickly learned to drop-kick the ball with his left foot. Back in the year 2000, I did a Herald Sport interview with the late, great Jarlath Canavan of Tuam and he recalled the controversial 1948 Connacht final drawn game between Galway and Mayo, at Roscommon. Jarlath was well able to cope with the disappointment of playing in the three All-Ireland finals in a row that Galway lost in 1940, â€â„¢41, â€â„¢42, for he was a young man then and loved all sport, but he would always have huge regret about what happened in 1948: â€Å“In the dying seconds of the drawn game and with the scores tied, I fell to the ground with the ball but I managed to handpass it over the crossbar. Legally, I was sure of that! It was the winning point but Cavan referee Simon Deignan deemed the handpass to have been a throw and he disallowed it!â€Â Mayo won the replay and went on to reach the All-Ireland final, losing by one point to a famous Cavan team, one of whose players (at left half-back) was the same Simon Deignan. In that Herald article 13 years ago, I also quoted from Jack Mahonâ€â„¢s GAA Centenary Year book Action Replay his disappointment, as a 15-year-old who had cycled the 28 miles from his home in Dunmore to St Comanâ€â„¢s Park, Roscommon town, to watch the big game: â€Å“I was one of many disgruntled Galway followers when the referee disallowed Galwayâ€â„¢s winning point by Jarlath Canavan.â€Â That day too, Galway had two very promising young Tuam players in their team, both of them 19 years old: Seán Purcell and Frank Stockwell. Mayo did a â€ËœRoscommonâ€â„¢ on it by winning back-to-back All-Ireland titles in 1950 and â€â„¢51 and powered by the likes of Paddy Prendergast, Seán Flanagan, Eamon Mongey, Pádraig Carney and Tom Langan they also gave Galway an unusually big beating at Tuam Stadium in the 1951 Connacht final, 4-13 to 2-3. From a Galway point of view, the catalyst for change in the West was Purcellâ€â„¢s dynamic display in the shock win over Mayo in the 1954 Connacht semi-final, on a wet day in Tuam. It was considered â€Å“The Masterâ€â„¢sâ€Â greatest ever performance and on that day he also displayed his remarkable versatility by lining out at full-back. Another Galway stalwart who had many great days in summer battles with Mayo was Mattie McDonagh from Ballygar, the only Connacht man to win four All-Ireland Senior Football Championship medals. Mayo went from 1955 to 1967 without winning the Connacht Championship. Roscommon won it twice, in â€â„¢61 and â€â„¢62. Leitrim (powered by the genius of Packie McGarty) and Sligo (powered by the genius of Mícheál Kearins) were unlucky in 1958 and 1965, respectively. Galway were Connacht champions in 1960, four-in-a-row â€â„¢63 to â€â„¢66, and â€â„¢68. The games against Mayo that I remember in particular include the 1963 semi-final at Castlebar (the year before the start of the All-Ireland Three-in-a-Row), and 1964 in Tuam (Galway 2-12 Mayo 1-5) in front of a record official attendance of 30,230. At least 2,000 more got in free after they got impatient queueing outside and forced the main gate open. They simply wouldnâ€â„¢t wait any longer and literally gatecrashed the Connacht final. I also have fond memories of 1966 in Castlebar, the Connacht final, as Galway pipped Mayo in a thriller, 0-12 to 1-8. Cyril Dunne pointed a late sideline kick and Liam Sammon punched a last-gasp winner from a pass by 18-year-old Jimmy Duggan who had just finished his Leaving Cert at St Jarlathâ€â„¢s, Tuam. Duggan, a â€Å“naturalâ€Â and a stylist, was from Claremorris but he played with Galway, the county of both of his parents, and in September â€Ëœ66 he helped Galway complete the All-Ireland three-in-a-row. Ironically, his father Joe, from Annaghdown, played for Galway in three successive All-Ireland finals in the early 1940s and lost all three. The Galway team which won the 1966 Connacht final was: Michael Moore (deputising for the injured Johnny Geraghty); Enda Colleran, Noel Tierney, Bosco McDermott; John Donnellan, Tommy Brennan, Tom Sands (deputising for Martin Newell); Pat Donnellan, Mick Reynolds; Cyril Dunne, John Keenan, Séamus Leydon; Liam Sammon, Mattie McDonagh, Jimmy Duggan. Sub., Seán Meade, for Tom Brennan. Mayo were probably the second-best team in Ireland in â€Ëœ66 and they showed what they could do by shattering Galwayâ€â„¢s four-in-a-row hopes in â€â„¢67, at Pearse Stadium. It was surprisingly one-sided, 3-13 to 1-8, with heroic displays for the Green and Red by centre half-back John Morley, midfielders Willie Loftus and P. J. Loftus (unrelated) and Nos. 10, 11 and 12, Séamus Oâ€â„¢Dowd, Joe Langan and Joe Corcoran. Mayo (vs Galway, 1967): M. Gallagher; J. Carey, R. Prendergast, S. Oâ€â„¢Connor; J. Earley, J. Morley (0-1, a 50), M. Flatley; W. Loftus, P. J. Loftus; S. Oâ€â„¢Dowd (1-3), J. Langan (0-1), J. Corcoran (0-4, one free); J. Nealon (0-1), M. J. Ruddy, J. Farragher (1-2). Sub., M. Ruane (1-1), for Ruddy. In the â€Ëœ70s, Galway lost three All-Ireland senior finals in four years and later in that decade Dermot Earley and Roscommon won the West four years in a row, 1977, â€Ëœ78, â€â„¢79 and â€â„¢80. This year marks the 40th anniversary of Galwayâ€â„¢s victory over Mayo in the 1973 Connacht final, the only western â€Å“old firmâ€Â decider of the â€Ëœ70s. Galway won it, at MacHale Park, Castlebar by two points, 1-17 to 2-12. Galway: Gabriel Mitchell; Joe Waldron, Jack Cosgrove, Brendan Colleran; Liam Oâ€â„¢Neill, T. J. Gilmore, Johnny Hughes; Billy Joyce, Jimmy Duggan; Maurice Burke, Liam Sammon, Michael Rooney; Johnny Coughlan, Tom Naughton, John Tobin. The winnersâ€â„¢ goal was hit, explosively, by the brilliant young Cortoon footballer Mickey Rooney who would later emigrate to America. His amazing career had highs and lows: All-Ireland Minor and U-21 medals in 1970 and â€â„¢72, defeating star-studded Kerry teams in both finals; yet he also suffered the heartbreak of having played in three losing All-Ireland senior finals aged 19, 21 and 22. Although Galway defeated Mayo in three successive Connacht finals in the early 1980s, they lost tamely to their arch rivals in â€â„¢81, shortly after Galway had won the National League. Two years later, 1983, Galway won Connacht but nobody remembers that now â€â€ that was the year 12 Dublin men beat 14 Galway men in the All-Ireland final. Galway vs Mayo was nothing very special from that sad, bad time until 1998. In the intervening years, Galway were unlucky not to reach the 1987 All-Ireland final; Mayo lost the All-Ireland finals of 1989, â€â„¢96 (in a replay) and â€â„¢97 (to Maurice Fitzgeraldâ€â„¢s one-man show for Kerry). One Mayo man with very happy memories of Galway football in the 1990s is John Oâ€â„¢Mahony from Ballaghaderreen. Sunday, May 24th 1998, at Castlebar, with Oâ€â„¢Mahony, Steven Joyce and Peter Warren at the helm, a great Galway adventure started with a sensational goal by Derek Savage and a four-point victory in the first round of the Connacht Championship: Galway 1-13 Mayo 2-6. Two â€Å“Sams,â€Â four Connacht SFC titles and an All-Ireland U-21 crown later, Oâ€â„¢Mahony had restored huge pride to the Maroon and White but later he couldnâ€â„¢t work any magic in his native Mayo. His time in Galway will never be forgotten, Before â€â„¢98, Mayo had won the 1996 Connacht final at Castlebar, beating Galway, and they were too good for the Tribesmen again the following year, in Tuam. Then came 1998 and glory for Galway, but they handed back the JJ Nestor and Sam Maguire Cups at Tuam in â€â„¢99 when Mayo manager John Maughan had one of his greatest days: Mayo 1-14, Galway 1-10. Mayo: Peter Burke; Aidan Higgins, Kevin Cahill, Gordon Morley; Fergal Costello, David Heaney, Alan Roche; James Nallen, David Brady; Colm McManamon, James Horan, Kenneth Mortimer; Maurice Sheridan, John Casey, David Nestor. Subs., Pat Fallon, for McManamon; Kieran McDonald, for Casey. Galway: Martin McNamara; Tomás Meehan, Damien Mitchell, Tomás Mannion; Ray Silke, John Divilly, Seán Og de Paor; Kevin Walsh, Seán Ó Domhnaill; Michael Donnellan, Jarlath Fallon, Niall Finnegan; Derek Savage, Padraic Joyce, John Donnellan. Sub., Paul Clancy, for John Donnellan. Most Galway-Mayo battles in the new century, the new millennium, have really been Padraic Joyce vs Mayo. It was a Connacht SFC with a difference in 2010: no Galway vs Mayo, after the old rivals had clashed eight years in a row up to the 2009 provincial final at Pearse Stadium. In the 2010 final, Roscommon defeated Sligo at Castlebar. Sligo had eliminated both Galway and Mayo from the provincial race, and it was the first time since 1947 that the Connacht final was played without one of the â€Ëœold firmâ€â„¢, Galway or Mayo. Galway won Connacht in 2000, â€Ëœ02, â€Ëœ03, â€Ëœ05 and â€Ëœ08, and Mayo were Connacht champions in 2004, â€â„¢06, â€â„¢09, 2011, 2012. Now for Galway vs Mayo, 2013. The summer wouldnâ€â„¢t be the same without it!