Kelly names Oscar Traynor squad

THE new manager of Mayo’s Oscar Traynor Cup team, Joe Kelly, has named a 25-man squad for the tournament which begins at the end of September.
As is to be expected with the naming of any squad, there are a few surprise omissions and one or two surprise inclusions.
“Johnny Cocozza, Mark Cunningham, Brian Walsh, Paul Walsh (all Castlebar Celtic) Seán Kilcoyne (Ballyheane) and Rafael Cretaro (Ballina Town) were all unavailable, for different reasons,” Kelly told The Mayo News.
“The Coggins brothers, Diarmúid and Niall, from Crossmolina were also unavailable. These are all players we would like to have included.”
Kelly said that he went with a 25-man squad despite the fact that he can only name 18 players on match day.
“With holidays, travel, work and other commitments, we needed a bigger squad,” he said.
“If you look at any Super League team, they all have big squads for this reason. These are amateur players and with one thing and another, you could find yourself four or five players down very quickly.”
“All the players we have in the squad are fully committed,” he added.
“This competition was landed on leagues with fairly short notice and some of the players that we haven’t got in the squad had other plans made by the time the competition was announced. We were surprised with the enthusiasm of some of the older players, who might have mortgages and children, and the games might mean nights away from home.
“But they were well up for it, which is great.”
Kelly says that the chosen squad has a good mixture of the higher-quality Under-21 players and senior players.
“We plan to do the very best we can,” he said. “We’re starting in the Connaught section, with at least one team of the four in that group going into the last eight of the competition.
“There’s talk of having one game at home, one away and the remaining one at a neutral venue. That section of the competition is priority one.
“Our objective will be to try and win the three games in that. Obviously the Galway, Roscommon and District, and Sligo/Leitrim Leagues will be hard to beat, but that’s our target.”
Kelly who holds a UEFA B coaching licence, is also in charge of the Mayo Under-21 development squad. He says his appointment is probably a follow-on from this role.
“Presumably the Mayo League thought it was a natural-enough fit, that I would get the job,” he said. “I have done a lot with under-age football in Mayo and of the 25-man squad, there’s maybe ten of them that I’d have worked with previously. It’s a great honour to get the role.”
Mayo League chairman, Seamus Hughes, confirmed that the League didn’t look at any other options for the position.
“It can be hard enough to get someone to take on the job,” he told The Mayo News, “Joe expressed an interest in it and we went with him.”
Rokas Mikuckis from Claremorris is the only non-Super League player included, but the south-Mayo side have been just promoted and he’s likely to feature in that division by the time the national part of the Oscar Traynor comes about.
Mikuckis is listed as a midfielder in Kelly’s squad. A few seasons ago he was one of the top strikers in the league. Claremorris manager Paul Burke then played him as a centre-back and sometimes as a full back or winger.
And it is in the full-back department, that Kelly will face the biggest challenge when he scribbles out his first starting XI.
While any of the defenders named in the panel can, and have played, as a full back, none are of the highly-mobile, full-back/winger variety favoured in modern football.
Mark Cunningham of Celtic would fill this role, but he wants to concentrate on GAA while Castlebar Mitchels are involved in the championship. An early exit might see a call-up to the panel or, if Mayo progress past the Connaught section, he might be drafted in for the national part of the competition, which will be played after Christmas.
Ballyheane’s Darragh Ludden would be an automatic on the left, but he missed most of the season through injury.
Manulla’s Lorcan Conroy, seems the most natural fit as an attacking full back and it’s easy to see why Kelly brought him into the squad. The youngster has played as a full-back for Manulla but this is a bigger ask, and defensive abilities will be key to the selection.
If Kelly opts for a flat back-four, Conroy could lose out to Cillian McGlade for the number two shirt.
The Mayo News was surprised to see James Robinson selected. It’s not that he isn’t an excellent ‘keeper, but he has played very little Super League football for Castlebar Celtic this season. He was with Sligo Rovers, of course, and being around the squad will stand to him.
Seán Shaughnessy, the excellent Ballinrobe ‘keeper is unlucky to lose out, if he was available.
The S&F duo of Keenan Smyth and Eoin Rainey, along with Manulla’s Rian O’Connor, were unavailable for the Under-21 squad, and Kelly’s understandable view is that if players were unavailable for the underage set-up, it would be difficult to see them being available for the Oscar Traynor Cup squad.
The Mayo News understands that Celtic’s Dylan Edwards was also unavailable.
Others who might have made the cut on another day were Dylan McKee and Steven Melvin of Ballina Town, Ballyheane’s Jack Tuffy and Levi Barrett of Glenhest Rovers.
The latter may have commitments with Islandeady GAA.
Niall Brennan of Ballina Town, another fine player, is likely to revert to the Sligo-Leitrim league as soon as Town’s campaign is over.

The full squad is:
Gary Cunningham, Harrison Quinn, Cillian McGlade, Cillian White, Darren Browne, Adam Nugent (all Westport United); Stefan Hester, James Robinson, Ioseph O’Reilly, Oran Groarke, Jordan Loftus (all Castlebar Celtic); Owen McNamara, PJ Gilmartin (both Conn Rangers); Dan Duffy, Cormac Caulfield, Jack O’Connor (all Kiltimagh/Knock United); Andrew Shally, Jamie Cawley, Oisin Tighe, Brendan Lavelle (all Ballina Town); Cillian Redmond, Nathan Reilly Doyle, Ben Edeh (all Ballyheane); Rokas Mikuckis (Claremorris), Lorcan Conroy (Manulla).