James Horan Appointed Mayo Manager 2011

[Zapatista]

Five star post, Lar.

By the way, forget about expecting Johnno to go. Irish politicians don't resign.

True but he could jumo ship to Wexford and improve on his expences.

[irunthev]

Five star post, Lar.

By the way, forget about expecting Johnno to go. Irish politicians don't resign.

You might manage to get a tribunal out of it though.

The "Where did the Mayo team go Tribunal?"

Halfway through the Tribunal, JOM will of course lose his memory and get excused.

He will then miraculously find his memory again when the dust has settled and finally take over as Dublin's first outside manager, and then, if he is really cute, and if he has been paying any attention at all to his buddies in Leinster House, he should be able to claim mileage to and from work from Ballaghderrean and then mileage to and from training from Ballaghderrean as well.

I'm a neutral and never been a massive Mayo fan, but having read the Keith Duggan book "House of Pain" I have developed a bit of  a soft spot for them in recent times and I was hoping that JOM would turn things around. It's looking decidedly unlikely at this point, but Mayo do deserve a break.

[Tatler Jack]

It's looking decidedly unlikely at this point, but Mayo do deserve a break.

Looks like they will have one soon!!!

Unlikely that Johnno will step down before qualifiers but he should. Unfortunately for Mayo he has nothing left to offer and I think he knows that but politics dictate that he has to stay in. Last year a good friend of mine  an ex-Mayo player (and a Blueshirt!!!) told me that there was a lot uf disquiet in the camp over the way his political prioriites took precedence over football e.g. having to take phone calls during training sessions, etc. Yesterday Liam Horan and today Ray Silke have both written about this - its just impossible to do the two jobs.

Asise from politics I have found it impossible to see what O'Mahony has been trying to do over the past 4 seasons. No particular style has evolved, no new leaders and or tactics. In short he has brought nothing new to the table except false optimism for a lot of Mayo follower. Mayo have a good panel players but they need leadership and passion and Im afraid Johnno can no longer provide this. He came back to Mayo for the wrong reasons, undermined 2 managers (Maughan and M&M) and heshould now do the decent thing and go.

[Catch and Kick]

The shame for Mayo is the rush to rid the county of Moran and Morrisson after bringing them to the All Ireland Final. By all accounts players loved the training and sure hell Mayo seemed to know what they were about.
Maybe they should bring them back.

[parkoncrokie]

while it is probably time for johnno to go that doesnt gaurantee the next man in will make any difference either as I feel its deeper than just the manager. the whole thing stinks of politics and who knows who and yes men all over the place.I feel P forde took no crap from them when approched before Moran & Morrison and thats why he never got in as Manager . I might be wrong

[From the Bunker]

It's looking decidedly unlikely at this point, but Mayo do deserve a break.

Looks like they will have one soon!!!

Unlikely that Johnno will step down before qualifiers but he should. Unfortunately for Mayo he has nothing left to offer and I think he knows that but politics dictate that he has to stay in. Last year a good friend of mine  an ex-Mayo player (and a Blueshirt!!!) told me that there was a lot uf disquiet in the camp over the way his political prioriites took precedence over football e.g. having to take phone calls during training sessions, etc. Yesterday Liam Horan and today Ray Silke have both written about this - its just impossible to do the two jobs.

Asise from politics I have found it impossible to see what O'Mahony has been trying to do over the past 4 seasons. No particular style has evolved, no new leaders and or tactics. In short he has brought nothing new to the table except false optimism for a lot of Mayo follower. Mayo have a good panel players but they need leadership and passion and Im afraid Johnno can no longer provide this. He came back to Mayo for the wrong reasons, undermined 2 managers (Maughan and M&M) and heshould now do the decent thing and go.

Yeah, big man full forward lines have been tried and abandoned, and tried and abandoned and this has been in one half of a game. No consistency. Volitile players have been picked for captaincy. There has been no Plan B.

Anyway, had a excellent evolving group of players from 96-06. This has dried up a little (as can be expected). Are we expecting to much from our present county players?

[LeppinMick]

[imtommygunn]

What year was it Mayo won the U21?

There should be a few good players coming through. I would have to say though - Higgins and Gardiner aside I don't know any of your defenders. I don't know them because none of them stand out at all - they all seem quite average. Players like Kilcoyne, Higgins (though I think he would be a cracking half back rather than corner back), that young FF, O'shea(probably x 2) and Parsons can be developed. Not with current setup.

From the outside looking in it is very hard to see what good O'Mahoney has done for Mayo. They have gone very far backwards.

If you had no players that would be bad however the lack of heart shown was unforgiveable. The players have to take some responsibility for that too though.

The Mayo support put too much pressure on the players though...

[muppet]

What year was it Mayo won the U21?

There should be a few good players coming through. I would have to say though - Higgins and Gardiner aside I don't know any of your defenders. I don't know them because none of them stand out at all - they all seem quite average. Players like Kilcoyne, Higgins (though I think he would be a cracking half back rather than corner back), that young FF, O'shea(probably x 2) and Parsons can be developed. Not with current setup.

From the outside looking in it is very hard to see what good O'Mahoney has done for Mayo. They have gone very far backwards.

If you had no players that would be bad however the lack of heart shown was unforgiveable. The players have to take some responsibility for that too though.

The Mayo support put too much pressure on the players though...

2006.

Many felt there were only 2 maybe 3 forwards with IC potential on that team. Kilcoyne and Ronaldson (who probably wasn't one of those tipped for the future) are the only ones still around. As for the backs on that team 5 of the 6 are still on the panel and I think the other one played last year.

Midfield was Barry Moran and SOS.

Morale, game plan and the middle 8 players are most of our problems in that order.

These were the teams that started that day:

CORK: K O'Halloran; R Carey, C Murphy, S O'Donoghue; D Limerick, M Shields, E Cadogan; A O'Connor, P Kelly; F Gould, C Keane, P Kerrigan (capt); D Goulding, P O'Flynn, J Hayes.

Subs used: G O'Shea for Hayes (44 mins), F Lynch for Kelly (52)

MAYO: K O'Malley; T Howley, G Cafferkey, K Higgins (capt); C Barrett, T Cunniffe, C Boyle; S O'Shea, B Moran; A Campbell, J Dillon, A Kilcoyne; M Ronaldson, M Hannick, M Conroy

If they played now I would bet my life that Cork would hammer us.

[imtommygunn]

Gees that just shows you - look at how some of those cork guys have developed.

The first two problems you state are problems a manager has control over which pretty much sums it up I think...

Your middle 8 wasn't good at the weekend. You have some players who could help that though.

[Cosmo Kramer]

What year was it Mayo won the U21?

There should be a few good players coming through. I would have to say though - Higgins and Gardiner aside I don't know any of your defenders. I don't know them because none of them stand out at all - they all seem quite average. Players like Kilcoyne, Higgins (though I think he would be a cracking half back rather than corner back), that young FF, O'shea(probably x 2) and Parsons can be developed. Not with current setup.

From the outside looking in it is very hard to see what good O'Mahoney has done for Mayo. They have gone very far backwards.

If you had no players that would be bad however the lack of heart shown was unforgiveable. The players have to take some responsibility for that too though.

The Mayo support put too much pressure on the players though...

2006.

Many felt there were only 2 maybe 3 forwards with IC potential on that team. Kilcoyne and Ronaldson (who probably wasn't one of those tipped for the future) are the only ones still around. As for the backs on that team 5 of the 6 are still on the panel and I think the other one played last year.

Midfield was Barry Moran and SOS.

Morale, game plan and the middle 8 players are most of our problems in that order.

These were the teams that started that day:

CORK: K O'Halloran; R Carey, C Murphy, S O'Donoghue; D Limerick, M Shields, E Cadogan; A O'Connor, P Kelly; F Gould, C Keane, P Kerrigan (capt); D Goulding, P O'Flynn, J Hayes.

Subs used: G O'Shea for Hayes (44 mins), F Lynch for Kelly (52)

MAYO: K O'Malley; T Howley, G Cafferkey, K Higgins (capt); C Barrett, T Cunniffe, C Boyle; S O'Shea, B Moran; A Campbell, J Dillon, A Kilcoyne; M Ronaldson, M Hannick, M Conroy

If they played now I would bet my life that Cork would hammer us.

How the hell did we manage to beat that Cork team? I mean, I was at the game so I know that it definitely happened, but it seems unbelievable now when you look at who they had on that day.

[Pangurban]

Sad to see a great Co. like Mayo, with such a wealth of potential, at such a low ebb. There is certainly something seriously lacking in a management , who put that team out against Sligo so ill prepared. From the start they lacked committment, belief, or any sense of cohesion. Morale appeared very low, and they were certainly not up for it. Players must accept some responsibility for defeat, but ultimately in this case, the real failure was weak management

[Lar Naparka]

As I prepared to leave the grounds last Saturday, a thought struck me -as did as couple of belts from a very drunk Sligo head who had come down with me for the game and got carried away in the pre-match warm up but no matter, retribution would come in it's own good time.
I looked around for St Patrick; I needed to talk to that fella fast. So I told me buddy he was undoubtedly the offspring of unmarried parents or something like that and advised him to go and empty the tank before he did so in my car and I set off on my mission.
Cometh the hour, cometh the man.
Mayo football was definitely in a state of chassis, as Sean O'Casey might have put it, but I was looking for the one man who had all the necessary qualifications to step up to the mark and lead us up the Holy Mountain and into the light once more.
Well, at worst, he was no more detached from reality than the individual who was supposed to be doing do that for the last four years or thereabouts.
"Paddy," sez I, "are you by any chance interested in a career change?"
I was met by a blank stare and I'd swear a look of terror crossed his face. I wasn't touching base with him and that was for sure. I decided to try a different approach.
So I put a friendly hand on his shoulder and helped him turn sideways to look down the field. For some reason he stumbled and almost lost his balance. A bit flatfooted, I thought but that shouldn't be any problem as the shagger I wanted him to replace is just as bad.
"See that laitcheko out there? He has to go and I think you are the only one in Mayo mad enough to take over. At least, you couldn't do a worse job than he does."
I stabbed a finger a few times in the direction of the individual I had in mind.
I definitely had his total attention at this stage as he attempted to lift his rolled up banner and began to shake from head to toe- and back again by all appearances. 
"Stall the wheeze a bit," I told him. "You can proclaim yer message later. Tell me, do you want to be the effin' manager of the effin' Mayo effin' football team?"
Madness has its limitations.
The venerable saint managed to break away with a look of absolute horror on his dial. He looked down the field at O'Mahony and back at me a couple of times. He then shook his head slowly from side to side. After that he swung around and actually ran away!
"Shag it," I thought as I watched him make distance between us. "I could find a use for that banner if only he dropped it."
I'm told suppositories come in all shapes and sizes.

[highorlow]

Is it just me or is our timing always wrong with players coming through and managers to manage them....

i.e. If we had a team in 2010 with a spine of Nallen, Brady, McDonald and K.O'Neill then we would probably have a chance of winning this years AI, particularly based on the standards set so far.

I don't think the AI will take much winning this year and with no disrespect intended one of the following teams will probably win it;

Down
Dublin
Monaghan

with the likely winner the Dubs.

If only Johnno had players to select from today that we had in 96, 97 and 06.

A new manager won't make a bit of difference. We have only 3 or 4 natural footballers in the panel.

[brokencrossbar1]

I think it is a bit cheap to take pot shots at the manager without looking at the whole picture.  Since I can remember Mayo football teams have always been lacking in bottle when things were put up to them.  They may talk that they have it but in the last 20 years I have seen so many different Mayo team capitulate at different times.  They are there or thereabouts until a certain point and then they seem to disappear, nearly like they are afraid to win because if they won then they would have nothing to complain about!  I recall an incident I was involved in where there was a bit of "trash talking" going on betwene myself, a team mate and a prominent Mayo footballer at the time.  This man physically shrank as we kept reminding him how Mayo teams always lose big games, it was a strange sight but the same man didin't go for the next few balls.  This seems like an ingrained inferiority complex that has been fed by the media and players have become used to hearing "Will Mayo ever make the breakthrough?"  and they cannot get away from it.  I cannot see an answer for this apart from banning media in Mayo for 10 years, and that may be a flippant comment but the reality is that I believe that deep down there is a sense of failure and a willingness to find a scapegoat before a ball has been kicked.