It has already been a year to remember for Stephen Coen - and it will get a lot better if he lifts the Tom Markham Cup on Sunday. Mike Finnerty talks to the Mayo captain...
STEPHEN Coen describes 2013 as "the best summer of my life, the best year of my life." And if things go according to plan at Croke Park on Sunday, it's about to get even better. Coen operated at centre half-forward in the Mayo minor team that reached the All-Ireland semi-final in 2012. This year, the team captain has been redeployed at centre half-back. "If they told me to play in goal, I'd play in goal," he said at the team's recent press night in Breaffy House Hotel. "So long as I'm on the field and playing football, I don't really care where I play." The Hollymount/Carramore clubman, a first cousin of Mayo senior panellist Darren, admits last year's controversial defeat to Meath was "a massive disappointment" - and remains so to this day. "But," he says, "we learned from that game and I feel if you don't learn from a game, there's no point playing football. "It was a big incentive to push on this year. We got the taste of Croke Park and we wanted to get back there again. "There's excellent players all over this team, and even if you look at the subs' bench, there's some serious players all over the place. So I knew at the start of the year that we'd a great team. "We've done nothing yet, but hopefully we can finish the job the next day." Coen has made great pals - "friends for life" - this summer, and leading the team out on All-Ireland final day is "a big honour for my family [and] my club, and it's something I've dreamed of since I was a young boy." The teenager has just started his Leaving Cert year at St Colman's College, Claremorris. He watched a bit of the All-Ireland semi-final between Tyrone and Roscommon, but admits that, as a Liverpool fan, he was "switching back and forth" between the Reds' victory over Manchester United and the action from Croker.
However, Mayo have done their homework on the Ulster finalists and Coen is under no illusions about the challenge they face on Sunday.
He added: "They're an excellent team. We expect them to be tough, real high intensity. But we can't really focus on them, we have to focus on ourselves. "We can't plan out what they're going to do but we can plan what we're going to do." Mayo's semi-final victory over Monaghan was their fifth of this summer's adventure, and their unbeaten record still stands after wins over Leitrim, Galway, Roscommon and Westmeath en route to the last four.
However, their performance against the Farneymen last time out was easily the most impressive of them all, and showed that Croke Park seems to suit the Connacht champions' style of play. "Since we were young lads, we've been dreaming about playing in Croke Park, and when you get there, I suppose you have to take every opportunity that comes," says Coen. "What we took from the Monaghan game is that we're now used to Croke Park. We're trying to improve on things we did wrong the last day. We're trying to improve all the time, and we know that if we play the way we did the last day, it mightn't be good enough."
MAYO'S goalscoring record has also been a feature of their run to the final, with 14 majors scored so far in their five outings.
Their manager, Enda Gilvarry, has made no secret of the fact that he encourages his team to go for the jugular when the opportunity presents itself and, in the likes of Liam Irwin, Tommy Conroy and Darragh Doherty, he has proven finishers.
"We're always trying to create opportunities, whether they be goals or points," continues Coen. "It's about making the right decision at the right time. Thankfully the lads have been doing that, and we're trying to improve that all the time." On Sunday the skipper will be hoping to become the first Mayo minor since Michael Fitzmaurice (now the team's free-taking coach) in 1985 to lift the Tom Markham Cup. The fact that the Mayo senior side are also preparing for an All-Ireland final has shielded the county's teenagers from much of the fanfare that goes with weeks like these.
However, Coen is adamant that his approach, and that of the team, wouldn't have changed anyway. Their eyes are fixed firmly on the prize. "We never really focused on the hype, whether it was there or not. We just focus on trying to get better. If the hype is there, it's there, but we don't really take any of it in. "As captain, I don't need to tell the lads what to do. I'm the same as all the other lads, we're all doing it together."