Maurice Barry: It’s magnificent for Mayfield to be back in a county final, it has been a long journey

THREE years ago Mayfield dropped down to the junior ranks following defeat to Glanmire in the Bon Secours Hospital IAFC relegation play-off.

The last few years has been a difficult period in the proud history of the club but in typical Mayfield fashion they have picked themselves up and this Sunday they take on Canovee in the County JAFC final in Páirc Uí Rinn at 4pm.

Manager Maurice Barry, who soldiered for the team for many years, took over at the helm at the start of the 2022 season at a time when the morale was low. They have gone in only one direction since then.

“It’s magnificent for Mayfield to be back in a county final, it has been a long journey,” says the Mayfield boss.

“It’s great to see the red and white colours around the northside of the city again. There is a buzz around the club for the first time in quite some time. We got relegated from the intermediate grade in 2020, that was the lowest point of my playing career. We were intermediate for 16 years and we were proud of that so to lose that was hugely disappointing. It was a frustrating time for the club, for the football side of things there was no direction of where we were going.

“I played for a small bit in 2021 but injuries caught up with me so I retired midway through the campaign and ended up being a selector under the then manager Denis Lordan. It was a dark time, we lost the first round of the City JAFC to Nemo Rangers third team, it compounded our failures. We were on a downward spiral. It was during Covid-19 so there was no backdoor.” 

Barry decided to go for the managerial position when it came up before the start of the 2022 campaign as he takes up the story of how he took over at his beloved club.

“I met with the chairman Seán McCarthy, we had conversations and it just went from there really. I wanted to put in a better structure in place for the footballers. It was a total rebuilding job, there were a lot of really good young players so they had to be brought through to the adult ranks. We were able to navigate that. We reached the City semi-final last year, beaten by Brian Dillon’s, while it was disappointing we were on the right road.” 

While many people might be somewhat surprised by Mayfield’s rapid progression this year, it isn’t a shock for the Mayfield bainisteoir with a combination of things driving the team to new heights. The team in red and white defeated Nemo Rangers third team in the city final back in September, which was their first Seandún title in 20 years.

“Mayfield have lost two great people in 2023, Seán Lucey who was a club legend died a week before the championship started and then before we played the city final, Mary Kelly, mother of current players Nicky and Shane, passed away, so there has been huge motivation within the group to do well for them.

“I suppose the younger lads that we brought through when I took over have matured and improved and then the older figures on the team have been excellent so there has been a nice mix. A perfect storm really. Beating Nemo in the city decider was sweet. It was an incredible day to be from Mayfield. I will use this word lightly but it was embarrassing to lose two years ago to Nemo's third string so to see the transformation since then has been great. The celebrations after we won the title were amazing.” 

All roads lead to Páirc Uí Rinn on Sunday, the Mayfield faithful will head to the Boreenmanna Road venue in their droves and Barry hopes it will be a magical day for the northside club.

“We will be up against it. Canovee will be strong favourites, they are a very good side but so are we. I am really looking forward to it. I have full belief in my lads so hopefully we can do it.”