This Mayo team have finally shouted 'stop'

THE CELEBRATED Mayo writer and journalist John Healy's series, originally published in this newspaper in 1968, about the decline of his home town, Charlestown, was entitled No One Shouted Stop.

Speaking to The Irish Times yesterday, former Mayo manager John Maughan echoed this famous account of rural economic neglect when paying tribute to the county's footballers, who beat Dublin at the weekend to reach a fifth All-Ireland final in 17 years.

"They shouted 'stop'," he said of the team that defied the odds to eliminate the 2011 All-Ireland champions. Unlike on the three most recent occasions, Mayo won't be facing Kerry but in a novel final will take on Donegal at the end of the month.

The Ulster champions are hot favourites but Maughan, who led his county to All-Ireland finals in 1996, '97 and 2004, believes Mayo are well placed to halt a sequence that has seen the county lose five deciders since their last success, in 1951.

"It wasn't the complete performance by any means," he says, "the last 20 minutes were absolutely dire. David Clarke kept us in it and but for that save (when Dublin's Bernard Brogan was clear on goal with only three points in the match) I think it could have ended in an absolute disaster for us.

"But in the end it was very encouraging, the perfect position for Mayo, really. Donegal are hot favourites in what's been an underdogs' year so all the pressure will be on them. And they've had an extra week of that.

"I think Donegal might have preferred to see Dublin coming through because Mayo are more of a mystery. Donegal have played fantastic, champagne football and it's hard to improve on that. Mayo were poor for 20 minutes so there's plenty to work on."

There are similarities between the counties, with both appointing new managers in 2010 after humiliating qualifier defeats - Mayo had 11 players from the defeat by Longford two years ago playing in Sunday's semi-final, just as Donegal had nine the previous week who had featured in the nine-point demolition by Armagh the same year.

Jim McGuinness's work with Donegal has attracted more attention but James Horan has also led his team to two provincial titles and also this year's league final, which was lost against Cork.

Horan was a member of Maughan's teams in the 1990s and averaged more than three points from play in each of his All-Ireland final appearances but his manager was slow to spot the potential in one of his successors.

"Did it stand out that James was management material? Being honest, no. But his ability in management and his ambition were obvious when he took on his club Ballintubber and in his desire to step up to the county."

Maughan also believes this team, which plays a more structured defensive game, is substantively different from the other sides that reached finals and refers to the fact the team was missing its captain, current All Star and most influential forward, Andy Moran.

"Definitely. There is a difference - different players and more importantly, a different mentality and attitude, even around the county. People are more level-headed and the atmosphere is more balanced, as we've been damaged so many times in finals.

"Mayo have scored 7-69 in four games. Without Andy we got 0-19 at the weekend and he was an immense loss. If in the past we had lost CiaráMcDonald or Liam McHale before a big match it would have been very hard to recover. Kieran Shannon, the sports psychologist, has done great work, as has Cian O'Neill, who's proved a winner.

"They've banished the ghosts of the past and there's a hardness and steel I haven't seen before. They're not upset by anything and they want to win and this is a glorious opportunity. They came up against Dublin, who were champions and respected them but weren't overawed."

Ultimately Mayo are only in another final and still have a lot to do if they're to overturn Donegal but they are back in Croke Park just one match from bridging the 51-year gap.