Eagerly awaiting next steps forward

Seán Morantalks to underage mentors Steven Joyce and John Tobin about their hopes for the emerging talent in the Connacht champions' side

WHEN GALWAY met Kerry in the millennium senior football final it was just six years after the counties had contested a minor All-Ireland, won by Kerry. Curiously although Galway started seven of that 1994 side. Kerry, allowing that Barry O'Shea was injured, had none in their line-up either for the draw or replay. Galway lost again eight years ago but all seven of their minor graduates won senior All-Irelands, in some cases two.

This afternoon the counties face each other in the All-Ireland football quarter-finals but Galway's back story has changed considerably. The county has won three underage All-Irelands this decade - under-21 in 2002 and 2005 plus last year's minor - and members of all three teams start today.

Yet despite this apparently improved production line the county has all but disappeared as senior contenders. This year's under-21 manager Steven Joyce was a selector with John O'Mahony in the heady days of 1998 and 2001 when the Sam Maguire crossed the Shannon for the first time in decades.

The same management team, with selector Pete Warren, also took the county to the under-21 All-Ireland in 2002 with a team some in the county believe was the management's most accomplished project.

"There's no clearcut reason," says Joyce when asked about the failure to translate that success to senior level. "A lot of teams win under-21 but relatively few have progressed. We're not winning senior All-Irelands any more and we're not even in the final shake-up and that's disappointing but I think Tyrone are the only county in recent times to have managed that progression. It's a big step-up."

Mickey Harte's teams won All-Ireland under-21s in 2000 and '01 and added the county's first senior title two years later. Naturally it wasn't a straight graduation and older players - led by Peter Canavan - were crucially important.

Yet it's impressive that the 2003 team not alone featured 12 of those under-21s at some stage of the campaign but that half of the team (more than that if you factor in Gavin Devlin's suspension-enforced absence for most of the summer) not alone came from underage but were regular members (playing in at least six of the eight championship matches).

The Tyrone experience was a very hard act to follow and Galway are a long way behind, Whereas nearly all of the starting 15s in 2002 and '05 have played senior championship at some stage very few have progressed to become fixtures on the senior team even though four (Kieran Fitzgerald and Joe Bergin as starters and Kieran Comer and Matthew Clancy as playing panellists) of the '02 team had been involved in the previous year's senior success.

Joyce believes that underage success can be a mixed blessing. "There's a lot of pressure on them and possibly the hunger and appetite isn't there to the same extent. It's hard to keep everything going when they're expected to play so much football between the ages of 18 and 21."

John Tobin is the Connacht Council's coaching and games development manager and a former Galway player and manager. He says that the bridge between under-21 and senior can get crowded. "A successful county team, which Galway was at the time, is very hard to break into. When you're producing under-21s every year, how many are going to make it? There's a funnel effect.

"Players are no longer prepared to wait around as subs for more than two seasons. Serious application is needed. Only exceptional players make the breakthrough straight away.

"Is there a formula for bringing on talent? I can't say. There are distractions with going away to college and I think emigration will start hitting us again soon. Then again I've seen technically limited players in All-Ireland finals with no great background at underage but a serious attitude. What's more important: ability, persistence, character?"

The question of exceptional players is an interesting one. Although disappointed for the team, a friend in Kerry was quite happy with the county's replayed 2006 All-Ireland minor defeat by Roscommon because the campaign had uncovered a couple of outstanding talents, one of whom Tommy Walsh lines out this afternoon.

At this point the impressive team performances that brought Galway success at under-21 haven't stimulated similar growth at senior level. Two sectors illustrate this point: centrefield and the full forwards.

In his debut season of 2000 the 19-year-old Joe Bergin began to learn about life in the engine room of a senior intercounty team. Kevin Walsh was the role model at centrefield. Revisionism can be contrived but Walsh's influence on the senior All-Ireland successes is probably more highly rated now than even at the time.

In 2002 Bergin was immense in driving Galway to the under-21 All-Ireland and the expectation was that he would become the team anchor in the area.

"He was fantastic throughout that championship," according to Joyce. "We expected that he would be a dominant figure for us in the years to come. That hasn't happened. He has suffered from a lot of injuries and again he's effectively missed the season so it won't happen this year either."

In Bergin's absence Galway have struggled at centrefield, In attack there has also been a lack of impact. Veteran Pádraic Joyce has been the leading forward. Michael Meehan was the star performer for both under-21 sides despite being only 17 in 2002.

Of all those players he was the one most assured of senior status, which he duly attained in 2003 but his impact to date hasn't been commensurate with earlier years.

Meehan achieved so much at the start of his career: All-Ireland colleges with St Jarlath's after a fabled semi-final replay against Declan O'Sullivan's Coláiste na Sceilge, the under-21 medals and a club All-Ireland with Caltra after a memorable tussle with Marc Ó Sé. At senior level though, he has been solid - eight goals and a championship average of 3.35 - without being spectacular.

There have been dazzling episodes - the cobra strike for goal against Donegal on his first senior trip to Croke Park in 2003, 2-2 against Cork two years later and 0-11 against Sligo the next summer - but he is judged by extraordinary standards.

His partnership with Seán Armstrong illuminated the 2005 under-21 series in a magnesium flash. Between them they scored 9-35 in four matches - Meehan with 5-20 and Armstrong with 4-15 - but although the former's career stretches out over 20 championship matches (just one as replacement) since his 2003 debut, his partner has been beset by injuries, making just six championship starts since his debut three years ago.

"He hasn't been as successful at senior level," says Joyce, "that's true. But he's carrying a major burden at senior level. In a stronger team he would deliver more. He would have been judged ahead of Declan O'Sullivan when they were at school but Declan O'Sullivan has a better team around him now."

That comparison will be made again this afternoon. Kerry, with their layered talents and three-in-a-row ambitions, and Galway, trying to translate their youthful pre-eminence into becoming at least contenders once again, will decide who fills one of this year's All-Ireland semi-final places.

Since the qualifier system was introduced in 2001 Kerry have won a quarter-final every season. Galway haven't won a match in Croke Park since that year's All-Ireland final.

"There's a special dynamic about winning teams," says Tobin, "but it's not a formula. There's a synergy about them that develops and evolves. You need great collective qualities and you need leaders. In '98 and 2001 Galway had Kevin Walsh and Tomás Mannion, players who had won a minor All-Ireland (back in 1986 when Tobin was manager)."

He believes that it's too early to pass judgment on the current Galway team. "They are still in the formation stages and it will be interesting to see how they play at Croke Park, where most of them haven't played before. That can be an advantage - no inhibitions."