Mayo star Alan Dillon.
By Cian O'Connell
The passion still burns so the only thing Alan Dillon wanted was a chance. It has been a demanding couple of years for Dillon being cast in the role of impact substitute, but his patience was rewarded when he started Mayo's All Ireland SFC Quarter-Final victory over Tyrone.
“Yeah, in the last couple of weeks and months I have been happy enough with my performances in training,” Dillon reflects.
“For a lot of people I'm still alive, I haven't gone away. It is good to get back to Croke Park, I suppose the way we set up it gave me opportunity to get on a lot of ball. There were plenty of pockets to work in.
“With the system we deployed I fitted in nicely to it in the first half. We got some scores, I was happy enough. When you get a performance and you play a part it is always happy to look back on that. The next day we will just have to reassess where we go and actually do.
“The confidence and belief within the group has definitely improved since the Tyrone performance. I suppose there was a bit of edge in training last Tuesday night which is always good leading up to the semi-final.
“Our focus is really now on Tipperary, identifying their strengths and weaknesses and trying to implement a strategy to beat them.”
The 2015 campaign proved to be particularly frustrating for Dillon. “Yeah, for the number of training sessions to the number of minutes there was a big deficit there,” Dillon admits.
Alan Dillon impressed against Tyrone.
“It was difficult. I will make no arguments on that. I was still contributing in training, I was still asking questions of the starters. I still felt that this year I had something to offer.
“Hopefully in the next 70 minutes against Tipperary I will have something to offer. The belief hasn't changed, I'm getting older, the body isn't probably the same as it was starting out.
“Again I have my individual goals and team goals just to get back. While you are at the latter end of the Championship it is always good at this time of the year. There is a good spirit in the camp and we are really looking forward to the challenge on Sunday.”
Was there a particular moment when Dillon accepted that he wouldn’t always start for Mayo? “Probably not,” is Dillon’s honest response. “You got to keep chipping away at it. There is a quick turnaround, the year is quick.
“Once you are back into pre-season in 2016 you are trying to just park 2015. As a group we didn't get across the line in 2015, we had to reassess in 2016.
“We are where we are now. I'm not a person that looks back on past performances. I try to take as much positivity out of them as opposed to the bad days. I'm upbeat about this year and am looking forward to the next couple of weeks.
“The next day is going to be a big challenge. Tipperary are a solid outfit. They've a good manager over them in Liam Kearns, he has been around the block so they will be well schooled in terms of what Mayo will bring to the table. All we will do is focus on getting a performance ourselves.”
Dillon, who made his Mayo debut 13 years ago, has been involved in semi-final triumphs in 2004, 2006, 2012, and 2013. "If you look back some mistakes may have been made in terms of going into the Kerry game in 06 and not being prepared for what happened in 04,” Dillon recalls.
Alan Dillon during the 2004 All Ireland SFC Semi Final replay against Fermanagh.
“That was a failing on our behalf. Ultimately players will take the brunt of the blame. This is a different group of lads with a different set up from years gone by. I know you try to negate as much euphoria or hype as possible.
“The mindset now is about performance and ensuring that everyone is playing to the system. Back then there was a lot of individuals within the squad so there is a different dynamic within the squad compared to the personnel we have this year.”
Defeated by Galway in June Dillon was thrilled to make an impact in the Round 2B qualifier against Fermanagh. It confirmed Dillon’s belief that he had something to offer the team in a high stakes encounter. "Listen, it's satisfying because for those 20 minutes you put in a huge amount of work. It's satisfying that you get the opportunity to display some of your skills. That was the most pleasing thing – and to help the team as well to get across the line. We were in a position where we needed to get scores fast.
"I enjoyed it. It was definitely a change of mindset, that I still have something to contribute. I suppose the Mayo people probably respected that as well – that I can still definitely help the team to get across the line, and it's probably given me confidence this year just to take further steps, even in training."
Dillon accepts that there are certain similarities to the summer of 2004 when Mayo entered the semi-final stage against Fermanagh. "It's an ideal scenario for Tipperary, because we were raging hot favourites from the Tyrone quarter-final (in 2004). But there's a different dynamic in terms of the squad this year. This is our sixth semi-final. Back then, Mayo probably weren't in a semi-final since '97.
"Again, you really have to accept that what Tipperary have done this year to get to a semi-final has been very impressive. They're a team that we definitely can't take for granted because they've so many quality individuals and they've beaten a Division 1 team in Cork, they've kicked 2-10 on Kerry , and negating the likes of Galway - they’ve been impressive all along the way and their scoring ratio has been very impressive as well."
