Mayo county secretary lashes team.

[southsidejohnny]

Sean Feeney lashed the county team in todays Independent. Describing them as leaderless and lacking in strenght after the defeat to Meath he warned of changes in the size of the panel and the issue of challenge matches. This is not the same guy whose board recently extended the present managers term in office by a further year? Seems as different folk see things different ways in Mayo. Come to think about it, didnt the fitness coach describe Mayo as the fittest team in the country this year. I know, one thing being fit, another being good enough at the football.

[Lar Naparka]

Sean Feeney lashed the county team in todays Independent. Describing them as leaderless and lacking in strenght after the defeat to Meath he warned of changes in the size of the panel and the issue of challenge matches. This is not the same guy whose board recently extended the present managers term in office by a further year? Seems as different folk see things different ways in Mayo. Come to think about it, didnt the fitness coach describe Mayo as the fittest team in the country this year. I know, one thing being fit, another being good enough at the football.

I have a lot of respect for Sean Feeney.
I don't alway agree with him but that's beside the point; to me, he is a straight talker and is never reluctant to spell out what he has to say.
If Sean sees something wrong with the attitude of the county team and by implication, with the county setup in general, I think he is saying it as he sees it
Furthermore, he is not the first to come to this conclusion; far from it.
Two reasonable and objective analysists, our own Moysider and Kevin McStay, give a fairly damning reaction to that Meath game. I recall Moysider stating that many of the players hadn't got the basic skills necessary at this level and McStay went further and accused many of the established figures of failing to take on responsibility and show leadership when it was sorely needed.
I would go further than either of them.
With the benefit of hindsight and after a few looks at a DVD of the game, I feel there is no use in talking about trying to teach senior players the basic skills of the game. Maybe the trauma of losing in 04 and 06 has taken its toll and many of the veterans just can't lift their game any more.
I think Sean Feeney was stating the obvious when he suggests that John O'Mahony and his backroom staff "have a lot of work to do."
I do have a fair degree of sympathy for Johnno on this one. The fact is that you can't teach an old dog new tricks and I'm certain O'Mahony has come to realise this and knows he won't get anywhere until he can field a team of his own choosing. In fairness to him, he did a lot better this year than in the previous two, which are best forgotten.
For my money, he plans to be still around for the championships in 2011 at least and he has hopes of going all the way then- he'd hardly hang on otherwise.

[Tatler Jack]

For my money, he plans to be still around for the championships in 2011 at least and he has hopes of going all the way then- he'd hardly hang on otherwise.

How long he will hang around will be dictated by political considerations rather than how he asseses Mayo's chances. Fine Gael have has much say at the moment in who manages Mayo as the CB have. 

[Zapatista]

Furthermore, he is not the first to come to this conclusion; far from it.

I was about to say that this is a healthy aspect to Mayo football untill Tatler Jack posted.

Is the title taken from the Indo or your own southsideJ? Sounds like contructive criticism more than anything.

[spectator]

The fact is that you can't teach an old dog new tricks and I'm certain O'Mahony has come to realise this and knows he won't get anywhere until he can field a team of his own choosing.

In fairness to him, I think he realised that as far back as 1991 Lar!