ON TUESDAY NIGHT, the Mayo cavalcade made its way to the home of the captain, as per time-honoured tradition.
The county have never witnessed scenes like this. Knock is only 10k away from Ballyhaunis and yet the last few days have been a modern miracle as they welcomed their captain, Jack Coyne, back home.
Before there was Jack, there was Keith Higgins from the same club. One of the finest ball-playing defenders of his generation and only the second Mayo man to win an interprovincial title with Connacht in hurling.
Ties bind Higgins and Coyne.
“To be honest with you, when I looked up there, when Jack was lifting the cup and making that speech, the crowd in the background of the Hogan Stand, it was phenomenal,” said Higgins.
“I’ve known him for the last…since he was a kid. That made it even more special knowing the journey he went on. But when you see those scenes, I looked around at one stage and the stadium was still nearly full. A lot of people still sit around.
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“But look, there’s always been that story of Mayo, always a bridesmaid for 75 years and all that hurt coming at us. As I said to the boys out there, they just have to enjoy these moments and take as much in as they can.”
Keith Higgins. Tom O’Hanlon / INPHO
Tom O’Hanlon / INPHO / INPHO
Higgins had been in charge of the county U20 team this year, with ties to Andy Moran’s backroom team. As soon as the U20 campaign ended, he was in with the seniors.
Having first-hand experience of Darragh Beirne, Eoin McGreal and Kobe McDonald this year, Higgins said they arrived into senior football without the baggage that his own generation carried.
“It’s easy to say it. It’s easy to say those guys who are 20 years of age, they haven’t experienced all that. You don’t know what’s going on inside a certain guy’s head,” he explained.
“Everyone’s different. Some guys it might be a bit of a burden, they’ll look back and go, ‘I just did something wrong.’ Some guys are just a bit more carefree. You can say all the things you want to say and you can say there’s pressure, some guys take it differently. That’s my thing.
“You’re dealing with a panel of 41 players and there’s no two people the same.
“Everyone takes this individual attitude and they can tell you one thing, the way they’re feeling. They can try and give you advice, but you’re not really sure what’s going on inside their head. You just have to open it up and give them all the advice and all the structures and all the plans. You just have to hope they deal with it the right way.”
This was a different Mayo. Unburdened and unshackled. Higgins has his own thoughts on that.
“I’ve seen Diarmaid Byrnes after the Limerick game last Monday. Someone mentioned to him about the fear of losing or the desire to win,” Higgins says.
“He gave a great answer to it. Sometimes the fear can hold you back, and you’re thinking of the outcome as he said, and it stops you from doing what you do. But you look at those guys out there, they never stopped doing their job.
“They never stopped taking the shots. I don’t know how many wides in that second half. There was 3, 4, 5. It could have been more. We dropped one or two short. But they never stopped doing the whole thing and we got the scores. We could have won it by more. Maybe we should have won it by more.
“You can’t see inside a guy’s head, but you see it out there. It didn’t seem to affect them one bit. Might have been a few nerves in the first 10 or 15 minutes. But I think once we got a few tackles, a few turnovers, the crowd got behind us and we grew into the game at the end of the first half. Really good start to the second half. I think that was the platform for us.”
"STICK YER CHEST OUT AND BE PROUD TO BE FROM MAYO."
Jack Coyne caps off one of the greatest captain's speeches of all time.
When Coyne was on the podium accepting Sam Maguire, he name-checked Higgins as a role model when he was growing up.
As soon as it is mentioned however, Higgins turns the credit away from himself.
“My whole thing was looking at Jack and looking at the way he spoke during the week…you’re obviously jealous in a way when you see him up there, but at the same time it’s not about Andy or me or Boyler, or the last 75 years.
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“It’s about these guys. They’ve made their own history. Seeing Jack up there, again I was thinking back to that during the week. I can remember picking him up to go training back in 2020 when he first joined the panel and driving him to training and having the chats.
“Obviously he got dropped then for a year. I particularly remember that year he got dropped; we won the intermediate title in Mayo the same year, but he transformed himself that year.
“Sometimes guys can go the opposite way, but he transformed himself and he got back in on merit. His leadership then was, it’s a quiet type of leadership, but the respect he has in that group is unbelievable.”
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'He transformed himself that year' - Keith Higgins on Jack Coyne's response to being dropped
ON TUESDAY NIGHT, the Mayo cavalcade made its way to the home of the captain, as per time-honoured tradition.
The county have never witnessed scenes like this. Knock is only 10k away from Ballyhaunis and yet the last few days have been a modern miracle as they welcomed their captain, Jack Coyne, back home.
Before there was Jack, there was Keith Higgins from the same club. One of the finest ball-playing defenders of his generation and only the second Mayo man to win an interprovincial title with Connacht in hurling.
Ties bind Higgins and Coyne.
“To be honest with you, when I looked up there, when Jack was lifting the cup and making that speech, the crowd in the background of the Hogan Stand, it was phenomenal,” said Higgins.
“I’ve known him for the last…since he was a kid. That made it even more special knowing the journey he went on. But when you see those scenes, I looked around at one stage and the stadium was still nearly full. A lot of people still sit around.
“But look, there’s always been that story of Mayo, always a bridesmaid for 75 years and all that hurt coming at us. As I said to the boys out there, they just have to enjoy these moments and take as much in as they can.”
Higgins had been in charge of the county U20 team this year, with ties to Andy Moran’s backroom team. As soon as the U20 campaign ended, he was in with the seniors.
Having first-hand experience of Darragh Beirne, Eoin McGreal and Kobe McDonald this year, Higgins said they arrived into senior football without the baggage that his own generation carried.
“It’s easy to say it. It’s easy to say those guys who are 20 years of age, they haven’t experienced all that. You don’t know what’s going on inside a certain guy’s head,” he explained.
“You’re dealing with a panel of 41 players and there’s no two people the same.
“Everyone takes this individual attitude and they can tell you one thing, the way they’re feeling. They can try and give you advice, but you’re not really sure what’s going on inside their head. You just have to open it up and give them all the advice and all the structures and all the plans. You just have to hope they deal with it the right way.”
This was a different Mayo. Unburdened and unshackled. Higgins has his own thoughts on that.
“I’ve seen Diarmaid Byrnes after the Limerick game last Monday. Someone mentioned to him about the fear of losing or the desire to win,” Higgins says.
“He gave a great answer to it. Sometimes the fear can hold you back, and you’re thinking of the outcome as he said, and it stops you from doing what you do. But you look at those guys out there, they never stopped doing their job.
“They never stopped taking the shots. I don’t know how many wides in that second half. There was 3, 4, 5. It could have been more. We dropped one or two short. But they never stopped doing the whole thing and we got the scores. We could have won it by more. Maybe we should have won it by more.
“You can’t see inside a guy’s head, but you see it out there. It didn’t seem to affect them one bit. Might have been a few nerves in the first 10 or 15 minutes. But I think once we got a few tackles, a few turnovers, the crowd got behind us and we grew into the game at the end of the first half. Really good start to the second half. I think that was the platform for us.”
When Coyne was on the podium accepting Sam Maguire, he name-checked Higgins as a role model when he was growing up.
As soon as it is mentioned however, Higgins turns the credit away from himself.
“My whole thing was looking at Jack and looking at the way he spoke during the week…you’re obviously jealous in a way when you see him up there, but at the same time it’s not about Andy or me or Boyler, or the last 75 years.
“It’s about these guys. They’ve made their own history. Seeing Jack up there, again I was thinking back to that during the week. I can remember picking him up to go training back in 2020 when he first joined the panel and driving him to training and having the chats.
“Obviously he got dropped then for a year. I particularly remember that year he got dropped; we won the intermediate title in Mayo the same year, but he transformed himself that year.
“Sometimes guys can go the opposite way, but he transformed himself and he got back in on merit. His leadership then was, it’s a quiet type of leadership, but the respect he has in that group is unbelievable.”
**
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All-Ireland ballyhaunis Homecoming Mayo Sam Maguire