Messages

For the record, I actually have good time for Cora.
Always enjoyed her interviews (well, up until recently).
Heard her doing co-commentary on the radio for the mens Connacht final and thought she was very good.
That doesn't change the fact that I think she's in the wrong here.
We've probably all known plenty of lads who've thrown their toys out of the pram and walked away from teams down through the years.
The main difference here is the language that has been used and the associated implications.
Once everyone signed those non-disclosure agreements in mediation, that should have been the end of any discussion of the issue in the media by either side.
I understand Cora has a book coming out, but she should have told interviewers that she wasn't going to talk about the ongoing matter.
Instead, she poured petrol on a fire that may otherwise have been controlled and eventually extinguished.

You've probably seen this doing the rounds today.

https://twitter.com/TomasORuanaidh/status/1042347180474949633

I feel awful bad for yer man!
He was just running after the kick-out, he wasn't running to hit the physio. 
He'll never live it down...

Horan has serious leverage here.
He knows that his appointment turns a bad news story into a good news story for the county board.
Everyone would be happy.
If he meets the board and comes out saying he doesn't feel they are willing to give him what he needs to bring Sam to Mayo, they are banjoed.
Plus, a management team including Horan would be more attractive to the higher-level outside coaches.

Just saw the clip of Cora taking the free-kick in the Connacht final, which she ballooned up in the air after ignoring the protests of the designated free-taker, Sarah Rowe.
If that's not indicative of an unhealthy 'We Know Best' dynamic in the squad, I don't know what is.
Lancing this boil may turn out to have been a necessary evil.

Horan is the Michael D. Higgins of Mayo football.
If he wants the job, it's his.
The rest is all window dressing.

If there was a more diverse spread of clubs that the unhappy players were drawn from, I would be looking at this slightly different.
That the majority are from a single club, makes me wonder how many actually 100% wanted to leave and how many felt they had no choice but to leave.
If Cora & Fiona say they're going, and you as a Carnacon player say you want to stay, how would that go down?

[Those select few players are unmanageable, unless they are allowed to exert control themselves.]

It's actually incredible that this has to be answered.

Because half the panel won't play for him and because Mayo women's football will be hopelessly and bitterly divided going forward. How will that benefit women's football in Mayo?

A new manager would at least give the team the chance to move forward. As it is, Leahys' position is untenable.

Leahy is in the exactly same position as Mickey Moran, Gerald McCarthy, Teddy Holland, Justin McCarthy, Noel Connelly and Pat Holmes and Anthony Cunningham were.

Most of those at least saw sense and stepped down sooner or later. Mickey Moran and Justin McCarthy didn't and tried to brazen it out. In neither case did things work out well.

So Peter Leahy resigns and this problem magically evaporates?

More than two thirds of the squad who backed him and "believe that no player welfare issues exist or have ever existed under the current management and categorically disagree with the statement issued in July by the individuals that departed the Mayo senior ladies panel regarding the welfare issues raised". He should just abandon those 26 players who called out the "failed coup" and backed him instead? I'm sure they'd appreciate being left in the lurch like that.

So say Leahy does resign and the best manager in the country is brought in, does he sit there with the threat of a coup hanging over him if he dares to drop certain players? Would those players be happy being benched by a new manager with excellent communication skills?

Look at the history of pervious Mayo managers and how they got on with that group. They had to bring in a priest to train them at one stage as nobody else would touch it. Those select few players are unmanageable, unless they are allowed to exert control themselves.

The evidence of 2017, when they reached the All-Ireland final, would suggest that that's utter balderdash.

The evidence of 2017 would suggest that those players were allowed to exert control. Did you watch the final? It was a joke how their star player carried on.

You have no evidence for that.

In fact throughout this thread there has been unsubstantiated statements, drunken pub level stuff used to try and vilify the players involved. Hearsay and conjecture, in other words.

The evidence is there that the players who walked out know what it takes to compete at the highest level, because they have done - within the last year.

The players that walked out made up the minority of the team that got to the final in 2017. Those who didn't walk out also know how to compete at that same level.

Do you know any ladies footballers from Mayo? I do, as I was in college with a number of them. The culture there has been toxic for the best part of a decade, if not longer. Numerous quality players have walked away from it. Numerous managers have quit after short tenure's. This is not a new development.

Again, more hearsay and conjecture.

Short management tenures are the default all over the GAA.

Can you tell me how Leahy's performance in the job has been in any way competent and why he should remain in the job?

It's not hearsay. As far back as 2010 Pat Costello resigned as manager only weeks before the championship began.

The statement read: ""At a meeting with the executive committee of the Mayo Ladies County Board on April 19, Pat Costello tendered his resignation as manager of the Mayo Ladies senior football team, stating that his position was no longer tenable due to him being constantly undermined by certain players within the panel."

Take your head out of the sand.

Give up Sid, you're being schooled

If indeed the setup has been toxic and star player lead, maybe this is Mayo ladies football 'rock bottom' and IF all sides can work through this (in private), this could be a real watershed moment.

Do Carnacon manage themselves? (half joking btw)

Can you tell me how on earth Mayo reached the 2017 final if the team was so unmanageable?

Do you consider the Mayo men's football team unmanageable too, given that they went on strike over what seemed like pretty tenuous issues?

Or is it just women who get tarred as "unmanageable"?

Just women? Behave Sid

And who's to say if Mayo had had a strong manager at the helm they wouldn't have won the final?

You seem to want to throw PL under the bus. From what I've read on hear from Mayo folk, the setup has been player lead, toxic for the best part of a decade, a big majority of the players want to keep the current management team as well as the Mayo CB. Something needs to change, and it's not the management team imo

Mayo performed to the limit of their ability last year. Dublin are a better team, they're the best team in the country by a distance.

The point as regards women is a serious one. There's a distinct tone of misogynism to a lot of the criticism, like a lot of men commenting here seem to be desperate to put a bunch of "uppity women" put back in their box.

There are clear double standards when it comes to women who won't accept being treated like shit by a dinosaur, compared to men.

And forgive me if I'm more inclined to believe players who have reached an All-Ireland final than a convicted fraudster.

I don't see how the response to this is any different than the response to the Holmes-Connelly heave, or the Cork Hurlers strike or any other player-driven revolt we have seen in the GAA to date.
These are divisive issues and people generally pick a side and fight their corner on that basis.
Look at the ongoing attention the O'Sheas, O'Connors, Andy Moran etc. get as a result of their perceived 'influence' on Mayo affairs.
Likewise Galway hurlers got plenty of flak for ousting Anthony Cunningham.
You referred to the attitude towards "uppity women", but I'd argue the phrase "uppity players" would be more accurate.
Rightly or wrongly, a significant number of GAA people adhere to the view that 'players play & managers manage'.
Could you imagine if we were talking about 'The Mayo Five' (as Jimmy Sloyan would call them) leaving the Mayo squad under the same circumstances as the ladies in question?
They would be hung, drawn and quartered in the court of public opinion.
It'd make this affair look like a tea party.

[I don't think that this statement carries any weight.]

https://www.the42.ie/mayo-ladies-football-statement-player-welfare-carnacon-4218033-Sep2018/

"We fully support our management team and as a team believe that all of their decisions and selections were made fairly after careful consideration. We had a fantastic league campaign culminating in a league final appearance in Parnell Park and while the last few months were difficult and disappointing; many new players were given an opportunity to perform at county level.

"Our manager Peter Leahy has shown integrity and honour under tremendous pressure and he has always treated us as elite athletes, has supported and stood strong for us allowing us to play football without fear or intimidation.

"The management set up has been top class with no stone left unturned to make sure we can avail of top level coaching and facilities. The management ethos is focused on teamwork and also on how we as individuals can perform to the highest standard.

I don't think that this statement carries any weight. One thing that can be seen clearly from everything that has happened is that Carnacon are not very well liked ,for whatever reason,within Mayo.

This episode has been jumped on by the other clubs in Mayo ,the county board ,other players on the panel,and even posters on here (one poster only has posts on this subject )  to put the boot in.

Carnacon made this about Carnacon.
The players who stayed in the squad didn't.
Not sure how you can dismiss their views out of hand when they significantly outnumber the players who left.

https://www.the42.ie/mayo-ladies-football-statement-player-welfare-carnacon-4218033-Sep2018/

"We fully support our management team and as a team believe that all of their decisions and selections were made fairly after careful consideration. We had a fantastic league campaign culminating in a league final appearance in Parnell Park and while the last few months were difficult and disappointing; many new players were given an opportunity to perform at county level.

"Our manager Peter Leahy has shown integrity and honour under tremendous pressure and he has always treated us as elite athletes, has supported and stood strong for us allowing us to play football without fear or intimidation.

"The management set up has been top class with no stone left unturned to make sure we can avail of top level coaching and facilities. The management ethos is focused on teamwork and also on how we as individuals can perform to the highest standard.

The GAA got a lot of flak for dropping OTB from the rights package.
Not least from them.
It's a wonder that angle didn't get a more public airing.

Why did Parkinson fall out with OTB, I saw him tweeting that they didn't credit him for his interview with the ladies Mayo manager, a bit narcissistic I thought.

He reckons a couple of the more high-profile people involved with OTB are spoofers (Joe Molloy isn't one of them).
I recall he was sticking the knife into them around the time they lost the radio rights to cover games.
Basically said they were only interested in GAA coverage when it suited them.

Did he think they should have got into a bidding war with RTE, the GAA made their choice and no surprise it was RTE, they control the narrative a lot better with RTE.

Also Newstalk weren't paying their bills to the GAA and had a significant debt built up

Really?
That's interesting.

Patience, Pricey.
Patience.
You're like a child that's just downed a bag of skittles in one go.

If I'd accidentally inflicted those injuries on an opponent, I would have gone out of my way to apologise.
Sometimes that isn't possible at the time (ambulance etc.) but I'd like to think I'd give him a ring the day after to see how he was getting on.
Sean obviously doesn't feel this was an accident.

Pace yourself, Pricey.
The secret to a good wum account is subtlety.
You need to put in the hours before you get the pay-off.

Off The Ball

@offtheball

"That's the first time we've heard this" - Mayo Ladies county secretary Kevin McDonnell confirmed to us this evening that he had not heard Sarah Tierney's statement from last night, despite the board releasing a statement on it this afternoon.

https://twitter.com/offtheball/status/1042138052817313793

This is pathetic from OTB.
I listened to the interview live and McDonnell was clearly referring to the fact that Tierney hadn't attended a previous meeting between the Co. Board & the disaffected players, and the first he heard of her specific allegations was in the players' statement, i.e. 'mental health' etc.