CILLIAN O’CONNOR HAS hailed “three unbelievable servants to Mayo football” after the off-season retirements of Jason Doherty, Brendan Harrison and Kevin McLoughlin.
The 2024 Green and Red panel is “fresh and exciting” ahead of this weekend’s Allianz Football League opener away to Galway, but the trio are notable absentees. That void is felt on and off the pitch.
All-Star forward O’Connor is now one of just two survivors from the 2012 All-Ireland final team alongside Aidan O’Shea.
“Three unbelievable servants to Mayo football. Owed the team and the county absolutely nothing,” O’Connor says of Doherty, Harrison and McLoughlin.
“Brendan and me would have came through the same underage teams and would have been fairly close. An absolute nightmare to mark in training for years and years.
“What he would have done away from the lights and away from matchday and the media, in terms of getting his body right, particularly for the last few seasons, is superhuman stuff that nobody will probably ever know.
“Kevin and Jason, their footballing quality as well speaks for itself. They’ll be sorely missed, but that’s just the nature of sport. Obviously wish the lads all the best for the next phase. It opens up opportunities for other players, and there’s already loads of fellas scrapping it out for positions.”
The 31-year-old continues: “It’s fresh and it’s exciting. I think every team is always in transition. There’s very rarely two panels that stay the same 36 from one year to the next. Every year I’ve played, there’s always been a little bit of turnover, maybe more so in the last couple of years.
“It’s brilliant, you’re seeing lads joining the panel who you would have seen at U14 and U16 as prospects and now they’re inter-county seniors. It brings a great energy.”
O’Connor himself is back firing on all cylinders after a frustrating few seasons. Last year, a hamstring issue dragged on and kept him out of action, but he has started 2024 on the right footing. So far, so good.
“Really happy with how I’ve been. I’ve been able to train fully since we came back and I’m enjoying it.
“Being injury-free is crucial. You want to be available to train, help your team-mates during the week and push things on, and at the weekend, you want to be there for your team when you’re needed. It is hard to watch on. For 99.9% of sportspeople, injury is going to be part of it. Thankfully, completely clean bill of health at the moment and touch wood, I can keep it that way and help the team.”
Mayo’s surprise defeat to London in the FBD League was one striking pre-season result but O’Connor won’t read too much into it. “If we lose a training game, we’re pissed off!”
Onto the next one, with consistency the aim for Kevin McStay’s side through the year ahead, having won Division 1 of the league, exited Connacht at the first hurdle and limped out of the championship after a heavy quarter-final defeat to Dublin.
“[Consistency is] one of the most important things and it’s a hard thing to nail down,” O’Connor, who is based in Dublin predominantly but can spend stints in Mayo, says.
“You think you’re on top of it, and a couple of moments can quickly take away your momentum and flip your season. Our approach to trying to get consistency is trying to do it every time we tog out, take it in short, small steps. That’s how we feel we can become more consistent.
“As cliché as it is, that’s trying to be consistent throughout the session tonight and then again at the weekend, without getting distracted by things down the line and getting caught.”
Mayo’s Cillian O’Connor was speaking at the launch of the 2024 Allianz Football League.
