WHEN PADDY TALLY committed to join Andy Moran’s Mayo management team, he did so with one reason in mind.
“I never said (it), but I just knew in my head, ‘There’s only one reason I’m coming down here’, and that was to win the All-Ireland.”
Now that they have reached the promised land, what’s the motivation but to get back there again?
Responding to a question about Darragh Beirne’s brilliance, Tally began by praising the unflappable teenager before casting his eye forward.
“He’s got a great future ahead of him,” said Tally. “He’s only 19, Kobe (McDonald) is 18, (Eoin) McGreal is 19. Those young lads, the average age is 24 in that team. So now they’ve got a win under their belt.
“The key for them now is to learn and stick together and to develop because this can happen. A team can win one and then the key is what they do next in the future. There’s no reason why this team can’t compete for the next number of years at the highest level.
“But in saying that, we know that now it changes. For years you’re hunting and hunting and hunting. Now you’ve achieved it. Have they hunger and the bite and the attitude?
“Even if you think of Kerry winning the All-Ireland last year, can’t come back and win it this year. So it’s very, very difficult nowadays to go back and do it again.
“These fellas (should) just enjoy this one and see where it takes them.”
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Mayo's Darragh Beirne and Kobe McDonald celebrate. Ryan Byrne / INPHO
Ryan Byrne / INPHO / INPHO
Tactically, Mayo stood apart from all other contenders for their aggressive pressing game plan. More coaches could do with taking note.
“There’s a reward for it. That’s the difference: Mayo are brave enough to go and do it. Lots of teams don’t,” said Tally.
“Ryan (O’Donoghue) is fantastic, but he is backed up by Jordan Flynn and Enda Hession and Sam Callinan and Jack Carney and they all put their shoulder to the wheel.
“There was a massive turnover in the first half on Paul Murphy coming out and we got the ball moving forward. Psychologically, that does two things.
“Number one, it gives your team a great lift, but it also makes the Kerry players think coming out, ‘Jesus, I need to move this ball a bit quicker’ or that these boys are really on it today.
“Some of those statement tackles in the first half laid the foundation for the performance. It wasn’t the prettiest performance in the world, but it was effective and it got the job done.”
For Tally, only one event from his coaching career could possibly begin to compare.
“The last time I experienced that (noise) was in 2003 when we won it for the first time with Tyrone. We had never won an All-Ireland. We didn’t know what it was about.
“That’s probably similar to the Mayo people, but the thing was, they have lost 11 finals. The pain and the hurt of losing 11 finals, we never had that in Tyrone. We lost two in 1986 and 1995.
“So we never experienced the pain of these lads. There’s an outpouring of emotion there – it was special and I’m just so privileged to be a part of it.”
Reflecting on the year, Tally’s belief wasn’t shaken by their late defeat to his home county, which put Mayo on the brink of early elimination.
“No, I was actually more convinced. That was the first day that Mayo showed their teeth. There was so many positives coming out of that performance, I thought, right, ‘If that’s the starting point now, and if they can keep building on that…
Mayo coach Paddy Tally. James Crombie / INPHO
James Crombie / INPHO / INPHO
“We knew the team was coming at the right time. The form was on the right lines from the Tyrone game. You could see Mayo getting better and, no, I expected that performance. I had no doubt that if the game was going down the stretch, we’d be able to hold it out.”
Tally felt they could have won that game. He felt they could’ve won on Sunday more convincingly.
“We could have won the game by more. We had the better chances,” said Tally.
“It was a real battle. The game was built on hard work. It was built on our intensity in the tackle, our turnovers of the Kerry players coming out. We never let them get comfortable on the ball, which Kerry need to play that type of game.
“There was a great intensity in Mayo and I’m just delighted, delighted for everyone involved.”
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Mayo coach Paddy Tally: 'A team can win one and then the key is what they do next'
WHEN PADDY TALLY committed to join Andy Moran’s Mayo management team, he did so with one reason in mind.
“I never said (it), but I just knew in my head, ‘There’s only one reason I’m coming down here’, and that was to win the All-Ireland.”
Now that they have reached the promised land, what’s the motivation but to get back there again?
Responding to a question about Darragh Beirne’s brilliance, Tally began by praising the unflappable teenager before casting his eye forward.
“He’s got a great future ahead of him,” said Tally. “He’s only 19, Kobe (McDonald) is 18, (Eoin) McGreal is 19. Those young lads, the average age is 24 in that team. So now they’ve got a win under their belt.
“The key for them now is to learn and stick together and to develop because this can happen. A team can win one and then the key is what they do next in the future. There’s no reason why this team can’t compete for the next number of years at the highest level.
“Even if you think of Kerry winning the All-Ireland last year, can’t come back and win it this year. So it’s very, very difficult nowadays to go back and do it again.
“These fellas (should) just enjoy this one and see where it takes them.”
Tactically, Mayo stood apart from all other contenders for their aggressive pressing game plan. More coaches could do with taking note.
“There’s a reward for it. That’s the difference: Mayo are brave enough to go and do it. Lots of teams don’t,” said Tally.
“Ryan (O’Donoghue) is fantastic, but he is backed up by Jordan Flynn and Enda Hession and Sam Callinan and Jack Carney and they all put their shoulder to the wheel.
“There was a massive turnover in the first half on Paul Murphy coming out and we got the ball moving forward. Psychologically, that does two things.
“Number one, it gives your team a great lift, but it also makes the Kerry players think coming out, ‘Jesus, I need to move this ball a bit quicker’ or that these boys are really on it today.
“Some of those statement tackles in the first half laid the foundation for the performance. It wasn’t the prettiest performance in the world, but it was effective and it got the job done.”
For Tally, only one event from his coaching career could possibly begin to compare.
“The last time I experienced that (noise) was in 2003 when we won it for the first time with Tyrone. We had never won an All-Ireland. We didn’t know what it was about.
“So we never experienced the pain of these lads. There’s an outpouring of emotion there – it was special and I’m just so privileged to be a part of it.”
Reflecting on the year, Tally’s belief wasn’t shaken by their late defeat to his home county, which put Mayo on the brink of early elimination.
“No, I was actually more convinced. That was the first day that Mayo showed their teeth. There was so many positives coming out of that performance, I thought, right, ‘If that’s the starting point now, and if they can keep building on that…
“We knew the team was coming at the right time. The form was on the right lines from the Tyrone game. You could see Mayo getting better and, no, I expected that performance. I had no doubt that if the game was going down the stretch, we’d be able to hold it out.”
Tally felt they could have won that game. He felt they could’ve won on Sunday more convincingly.
“We could have won the game by more. We had the better chances,” said Tally.
“It was a real battle. The game was built on hard work. It was built on our intensity in the tackle, our turnovers of the Kerry players coming out. We never let them get comfortable on the ball, which Kerry need to play that type of game.
“There was a great intensity in Mayo and I’m just delighted, delighted for everyone involved.”
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