Rewarding Cross to bear

Connacht Club FC Focus on CrossmolinaKeith Duggan talks to Crossmolina manager Hugh Lynn about his club's Connacht semi-final clash against Salthill

The ripples of the International Rules series reach all shores. In Crossmolina, the Mayo county champions have been preparing for tomorrow's mouth-watering Connacht club semi-final during a week that sees five of their players at the other end of the world. Ciarán McDonald was the only Crossmolina man directly involved with the Irish team but Joe Keane and Hugh McLoughlin are part of the Army team that is touring in conjunction with the Rules series while Stephen Rochford is away with an Allied Irish Banks selection.

"I suppose if we hadn't won the county championship, it wouldn't have been an issue," said Crossmolina manager Hugh Lynn, "but it does make it very difficult for the team to prepare. We sought a deferral but to no avail. From the point of view of the players, these are great trips to be involved in but the timing is just very unfortunate."

Lynn kept a close eye on both games against Australia, less concerned with the sinking fortunes of the visitors than with the wellbeing of McDonald, who has come in for some heavy treatment in recent exhibition games.

Like many GAA people, Lynn was disappointed by the overall spectacle and was simply relieved McDonald came through unscathed. The gifted forward was due to arrive back in Mayo on Thursday night and Lynn was optimistic that he will have fully recovered in time for tomorrow's game in Salthill.

"Ah, Ciarán should be grand. It's funny, he is one of four of our players involved in the county team and in a sense, you get used to not having them around," he says, extending the theme of club and wider causes.

"They are all exceptionally committed to Crossmolina and manage to make a huge contribution to the club but there are periods when it is impossible for them to be there. And in a way, it suits us because we have a wide panel and it gives us the opportunity to see all our players. But there are downsides. Shrule-Glencorrib, who we scraped through against in the county final are involved in a relegation scrap in Division One of the league. That wouldn't have been the case if they had their county players available to them for all games. In the present system, though, that is impossible."

Lynn anticipated that Shrule, the tiny club flush on the Galway border, would have a big year in Mayo and there were several times in the county final that he regretted his own prescience.

Down 1-2 to no score in the opening period, Crossmolina enjoyed a brief, telling period of supremacy after half-time and ended up hanging on through eight long - and unexpected - minutes of injury time.

It was typical of the claustrophobic nature of the Mayo championship. In the semi-final, Crossmolina piled on 2-16 against Westport but still only managed a draw in a game that featured another marathon, nail-biting injury-time sequence. They dominated the replay but it underlined the tiny room for error in the Mayo club scene. In 2004, Crossmolina were beaten in the county final by Ballina Stephenites and, as Lynn says wryly "we all know what they did".

Ballina emulated Crossmolina's historic All-Ireland triumph of 2001.

Lynn was not involved at senior level four years ago when Crossmolina made that famous breakthrough. He enjoyed a long club career, representing Crossmolina from 1979-'92. Although he has stepped ably into a position previously filled by Tom Jordan and John Maughan, this week has been tinged with sadness for Lynn and all members of the club. The Right Rev Monsignor Vincent Lynn, president of St Muredach's in Ballina and a faithful attendant at all Crossmolina games, passed away during the week.

"It will be strange not having him there, he enjoyed the games tremendously and I travelled to many games with him over the years."

The Monsignor was, like all Crossmolina folk, overjoyed to see the team become dominant again. Although Lynn maintains that he felt no pressure taking charge of such a high-profile team, his task was considerable. He estimates around eight of the panel that formed Crossmolina's 2001 team are no longer playing and this year's vintage has a number of very young prospects on it. It has meant adapting from game to game.

Enda Lavelle, an attacking wing back four years ago, underwent two knee operations in recent years but made a dramatic return to the team for the replay against Westport, where he gave an accomplished display at full back. He has since succumbed to a fresh injury which leaves him in doubt for the weekend. "Some of our guys have a fair few miles clocked up. The club scene takes its toll as well."

Tomorrow's game pitches two of Connacht's iconic sons - McDonald of Mayo and Michael Donnellan of Galway - in direct confrontation. Salthill, as Lynn points out are "star- studded". As well as emerging players like Finian Hanley and Seán Armstrong, their cause has been deepened by high-calibre Mayo old stock like Maurice Sheridan, one of the county's most highly regarded forwards of the last decade. Given that Crossmolina boast an equally luminous cast, it promises to be a vintage west of Ireland encounter.

"Salthill are clearly a good side," reasons Lynn. "They were impressive in the county final even though the weather affected the game badly. Very balanced, strong throughout the field. Hopefully we can play the way we are capable of and then we should be in for a very good game."