There are 68 minutes on the clock. Mayo are three points down.
Roscommon lead the Connacht Junior Football Championship game going down the Castlebar home stretch.
At 1-17 to 1-14, it’s going to take something special from Mayo. Even when they raise another white flag and bring the gap to two, there’s a feeling sweeping over MacHale Park that they’re running out of time.
But they’re not going to stand idly by, they’re going to see what happens and they’re not going to shrug their shoulders at the end of it and just conclude that the clock beat them.
Amidst all the raised eyebrows that Stephen Rochford drew last year with his tactical variations, his courage and flexibility generally paid off and it was him who said, ‘we don’t want to die wondering’.
Well, the Mayo junior management team went even further on Wednesday evening with a move that could genuinely change football in the country.
More and more this season, we’re seeing goalkeepers being used in open play. They’re a spare player in defence if you need them and, if you’re audacious enough, there’s no reason why they can’t do damage further up the field considering no-one can pick them up.
Crazy carry-on in Derry https://t.co/kVLeeg3f3f
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) April 30, 2018
So, with the clock running down, Mayo reasoned that you might as well lose by six points than lose by three – it’s the same outcome. Except, this way, they could give themselves a better shot of getting back into the game.
Gaelic football, say hello to the fly ‘keeper.
Mayo Junior footballers adopted a ‘last man back’ approach as they brought on Mattie Flanagan to play outfield and leave the nets empty.
What a ballsy move – mayo bring on Mattie Flanagan he plays outfield with no keeper creates an overlap for an injury time goal to beat Ross in Junior champ #mayogaa pic.twitter.com/UQ02AnckMW
— Colm Gannon (@ColmGannon) May 2, 2018
As reported by Colm Gannon of the Mayo Advertiser, the fly goalie is then the one who pushes on – it immediately creates an extra man – and he sets up the injury time goal for Ciaran Boylan that dragged Mayo in front in a game that Roscommon looked to be closing out late on with their numbers back just to see it through.
The introduction of Flanagan and the abandonment of a goalkeeper gave Mayo unprecedented attacking emphasis.
Incredible scenes in Castlebar! Ciaran Boylan (son of former Meath manager Sean) has just scored a goal five minutes into added time to give @MayoGAA Junior footballers a 2-15 to 1-17 win over Roscommon! Mayo played last few mins with a fly-goalie! #mayogaa #GAA pic.twitter.com/MlBWeixGWc
— Mayo News – Sport (@mayonewssport) May 2, 2018
That picture shows how bloody dodgy in can be leaving no-one there in the goals, but it was a risk worth taking because, otherwise, Mayo were being beaten anyway.
And, this time, it paid off unbelievably.
Well done to our Brendan and the lads today @MayoGAA on their win over @RoscommonGAA ❤️💚 pic.twitter.com/cF9Mk0Mkfe
— Ardagh GAA (@Ardagh_GAA) May 2, 2018
