Messages

 Uplifting statement from the county board, a month on from the final.

The Mayo County Board Officers earlier tonight held a very productive meeting with James Horan. The Mayo Senior Football Manager has confirmed that he will be staying on as manager and is 100% committed and looking forward to 2014.

Mayo manager James Horan is convinced his team will win an All-Ireland and described the speculation earlier this month on his future as "pure nonsense".
After guiding the county to three Connacht titles and two All-Ireland finals during his three-year term, the Ballintubber native will enter his fourth season at the helm intent on ending Mayo's 63-year wait for Sam Maguire.
"Nothing has changed, the ambition of this squad is to win an All-Ireland and that is an ambition that drives us all," he said.

Both the management team and players already have their heads down and really relishing the challenge ahead and next year cannot come quick enough. The Management Team, Players and County Board will strive to make 2014 every bit as good as 2013 was.

James Horan has confirmed that James Nallen will not be part of next year's back room team. The Crossmolina man, who has been part every Mayo squad since 1995, has had to step back due to family and work commitments.
"It'll be a real shame not to have James with us next year, he's been an inspirational figure to the players and, having played 132 competitive games for Mayo, his experience was something we could always turn to. Replacing a real legend in Mayo football won't be easy. I've met a few people but it's too early to announce anything."

The Mayo County Board at this stage would like to sincerely thank James Nallen for his commitment over the last 2 years in the management setup, and we look forward to seeing him in the future.



All the best to Jimmy Nallen in the future. Hes given an unbelievable service to Mayo football over the years and owes the county nothing.

Now roll on championship 2014!

[talk]

There's talk of a few players going traveling next year, not sure if Caff is one. Can't blame them really. The last three years of their lives have been dictated by football. They deserve a break. That's why I really thought this was the year for us.
Caff is going to be a massive loss. Read a very good article about him before the final, seems to be so down to earth and dedicated to football.

Jesus lad. You start by saying there's talk about a few players going travelling (which there is in every county every year), then say you have no idea whether Ger is one of them, and finish with the statement that he's going to be a massive loss.
That's how BS rumours start. I'm sure that's not your intention but everything spoke about at this time of year should be taken with a healthy pinch of salt.

First off, there was no 'talk' in Mayo last year of players going traveling that I can remember. All 'talk' last year was about the start of something special.
Secondly, I said I wasn't sure if Ger was one if those. I did not state that I had no idea if Ger was one of them. If you want the solid facts of what the plans of some of the players plans in the panel are I can send you on one of their numbers as I'm sure they have nothing better to be doing right now than tell everyone the goss in the squad. 
Christ maybe I should have put in the word IF to make is clear, I accept that sentence is misleading. But yes he will be a massive loss IF he does go.
Finally, Lar asked a question about Ger going traveling I answered the question based on the knowledge I had. Nobody here is trying to start any kind of a rumor.
Why in the name of God would I go and put up rumor about lads who have put their lives on hold for the past nine months for the sake of Mayo football? What do I gain out of it?
There's a lot more absolute bullshit rumors going around at the moment about some players personal lives that I could post up here but I know they are exactly that, bullshit rumors. I have more respect for the player and management.
Yes, everything at this time and indeed most of the year needs to be taken with a pinch if salt

[If Caff. goes( I appreciate he s not everybody's cup of tea but....) it leaves a hole and filling it might not be easy. The 2 most likely replacements were not trusted to come on yesterday.]

Most years I am gutted for weeks after the final but today I feel a sense of determination we will be back in the final next year and will win it. I hope the lads on the team and those surrounding them feel the same or soon will.

Funny you say that, I've the same feeling! Strange, but good!

I predicted about this time last year that we would lose 3 AIs in a row

Chances are that if we do get back to a final next year we will be playing the Dubs again. A semi final would be Munster and a 1/4 could be a Cork or a Kerry! That s the harsh reality but another final is attainable but winning it would be a different matter altogether - especially if it is Dublin again. And the reality is that any opposition would be empowered playing us in a final.

I hope Horan does stay on but the same again will not be good enough again. A few new players need to be found.

Disappointing we had nobody on the bench that could be trusted to mark O Gara. If Caff. goes( I appreciate he s not everybody's cup of tea but....)   it leaves a hole and filling it might not be easy. The 2 most likely replacements were not trusted to come on yesterday.

We need genuine 13 corner forward. I still think it was a mistake to discard Regan, but he s barely 20 and another year will see him more mature. But he s the type of player we need imo. Has the quality and wont be fazed by a big occasion. Likes scoring goals and plenty of them.

But apart from that we re not too badly off. There s going to be 5 or 6 All Stars in that squad. What are they going to do? Fishing? Gardening?

Is there talk of Caff going?
If he is, it's the first I've heard of it and I hope t God it's not true. Okay, he took a few wrong options on Sunday but, overall, he had a fine game. The corner backs had their hands full and Caff was left one on one with Brogan far too many times. I think he coped as well as any other FB in the land could.
I don't think anyone on the bench could have done a better job. I guess O'Carroll will beat him to an All-Star this year but, going by his form all year, I'd not be surprised if Caff gets the award.

There's talk of a few players going traveling next year, not sure if Caff is one. Can't blame them really. The last three years of their lives have been dictated by football. They deserve a break. That's why I really thought this was the year for us.
Caff is going to be a massive loss. Read a very good article about him before the final, seems to be so down to earth and dedicated to football.

[Horan set to stay for another crack at Sam]

Finally a bit of good news (besides from the minors). Slowly but surely beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel again.
Although I would lay a decent proportion of the blame with Horan for the last day, I truely believe he and his current backroom team are the only ones to keep steering the ship in the right direction.


Horan set to stay for another crack at Sam

Tuesday, September 24, 2013

James Horan is expected to take charge of the Mayo team for a fourth season.

Horan set to stay for another crack at Sam

Tuesday, September 24, 2013

James Horan is expected to take charge of the Mayo team for a fourth season.

     

By Terry Reilly
Deputy Sports Editor
Horan met with the board chiefs in October entering the last of his initial three-year term to clarify his position and extended the role until the end of the 2014 campaign.

However, he was expected to step down after Sunday's All-Ireland final due to work and family commitments.

Quizzed by media as the team was leaving the CityWest Hotel on their way to a homecoming reception at MacHale Park yesterday he remained coy on his future.

"No, it's too nice a day to think about that stuff," he said.

But the Irish Examiner understands he underwent a change of mind following Sunday's one-point loss to Dublin.

It is unknown if key members of his backroom team will be in a position to commit with him.

Horan accepted Mayo's inability to disrupt Stephen Cluxton's kick-outs and a failure to convert early chances cost them the All-Ireland title.

"I thought we dealt with him very well initially," he said. "It would have been different if some of the kick-outs were a result of some scores we got as opposed to wides.

"He's very good at that and you can try to counteract it as much as you can but they probably got stronger throughout the game.

"We made a lot of basic mistakes. We dominated in the first 20 minutes and didn't get the scores we should have. Then Dublin went down and got a soft goal.

"That kept them in it and they only finished a point down at half-time, so that was a killer. We gave away a lot of our turnover ball throughout the game. We had it, gave it away and Dublin counter-attacked.

"That was very hard to deal with and we used a lot of energy defending when we should have been the guys attacking. We didn't get the return [of scores] we should have. Some of the easy chances we missed... you don't win All-Irelands missing those ones."

What he will do is return to the drawing board in an attempt to plot an All-Ireland win for Mayo following seven successive final losses even though this one hurt more than last year's defeat to Donegal.

"It probably feels a bit worse," he said. "I don't know why but it was harder to take. We had enough possession in the first half to do more damage, we didn't do it and it eventually caught us out.

"We could have done better but we just didn't, and that's disappointing. We prepared very well for the game and used a lot of learnings from last year but still came up a bit short. We have to go back and go at it again, that's all we can do."

© Irish Examiner Ltd. All rights reserved

Rumours are rife that Horan had a war of words with Feeney before the game at some stage.

Another player to add to the emerging list of 'Horan had a bust up with x player before the game' It's s long list at this stage if I was to believe everything I heard.

Think it's under 23 to be eligible for YPOTY. O Connor would have another 2 years. He will probably make it 3 in a row this year.

Frightening how good he's going to be in a few years. He's taking frees off the ground with his left now in training. Expect him to be using right and left off the ground next year.

Didn't he take them from the left in the final? But yeah he should be well able for them next year.
If he can improve a few percentages over the next few years from open play he's going to be something else for us.

Sure you re agreeing with me on the Freeman call!  Maybe the issue is starting him at all. What doctor told him not to play? Team doctor or GP? If it was GP it put Sean  Moffatt in some position! A lad with a sore throat and temperature should not be playing football.

As regards the second point. I think maybe you are reading too much into it. These lads are seriously conditioned and quality footballers in their pomp. Yeah they ve lost another AI final but the training they do is a huge part of their lives and a normal part of their lives. Very few can get to that level and those that do usually want to stay there as long as they can.

Yeah, we ve lost 2 AIs in a row and it is hard for everybody to deal with. The players will be hurting for a long time but they will come back stronger.
[/quote]

Nah, if it was a player welfare call he would have never started him. I don't know what doctor told him not to play but I presume it wasn't Sean.

I really hope your right about the lads coming back stronger. At the moment I'm really finding it hard to see any positives in this defeat.

Think i said on here with 15mins to go that A O`Shea should have went to full forward with Barry Moran coming into the middle along side S O`Shea, as Mayo were playing alot of long high balls at that stage, The biggest mystery for Mayo is why Seamus O`Shea was took off, he was the best of the 4 midfielders on show yesterday

Aidan was thrown in full forward for the last 10mins in last years final and we got no return out of it. So that argument is utterly pointless. At that stage in the game Dublin had men behind the ball and were hauling all Mayo men down around them.

[player wellfare call]

Jaysus, how I envied Dublin fans after the final whistle. First of all I think Dublin deserved their win. Although we put in a brave and desperate end game it felt a bit like a 1point trimming such was Dublin s superiority in the 3 quarter. If we had managed to grab a draw I m not sure I d have had the courage for a replay.

I m not sure these defeats are getting easier or harder to stomach. I didn t enjoy any of the build-up or match itself of course. I was just miserable all week because I could not imagine a favourable outcome. The missus is busy doing her own stuff or she d have told me to f**k off many s a time, with plenty of justification.

I was more choked with emotion during the minor match but once the senior began, a strange calm descended over me and not even Andy s gaol got me outa the seat as Mayo fans leaped around me. I just felt that Andy s goal was against the run of play rather than a turning point, and the game would peter out to an inevitable conclusion.

Today though I m absolutely gutted. Depressed rather than the annoyance/bitterness/ anger I used to feel back in 89/96/97.
When I think of the buzz and craic that there could be about the place tonight but instead having to come to terms with this raw emptiness again is not easy.

I know likes of Iolar and Farr were worried before this one too. It s not that I dont think we have a good manager and players. But I did not buy into this 'Mayo are different this year' theory that was going about - in fairness more outside than inside the county. Yesterday showed that we were not different. Yet again, 7 times in 7 finals, the opposition did a number on us tactically while we mostly huffed and puffed with our own game. Once again the opposition neutralised our strengths (e.g hb line attacking, Aidan O Shea, Alan Dillon) while their strength scores 2-3 or 2-4 from play! I m if Bernard was playing in green and red yesterday he would not have been allowed to score 2-3 from play. We dont have a so called marque forward but if we had the opposition would have a plan for him rather than a brave lad left minding him as best he could.

We don t seem to use the month between semis and finals very effectively. We simply had no answer to Cluxton's kick out strategy once he went long and picked out runners in space. Did nobody anticipate this happening over last few weeks?

This game was a one point game and has to go in the 'should/ could have been won column'. Unfortunately we were partly the architects of our own downfall. One thing that worried me about James Horan s interviews all year has been this talk about learning and eliminating mistakes. Yet he blamed losing yesterday on mistakes! The same mistakes that have been around all year. Harsh but quality players on the ball like McLoughlin and Dillon made enough mistakes yesterday to lose several games, never mind one. Turning the ball over by not moving it quicker and lazy kick passing. But they ve been doing this all year and yet by AI final day it is still happening. Now before people lay into me and start defending the 2 boys - dont bother. They re 2 players I ve the height of time for but errors that cost us dearly yesterday have been endemic in our game for some time. McStay called it lack of respect for possession. Its some thing that can be got rid of. But it was allowed to continue.

I ve no problem with the time keeping. O Connor always takes time with frees. Didn t a ref throw up a ball for delaying a free v Roscommon? a couple of years ago. If Cillian had been quicker with those 2 last frees then maybe we would have had another play. But he cant be expected to rush his tecnique either. The other thing is that Dublin won the last kick out and won them all day long. There was as good a chance them scoring on the last play as us.

I felt we lost it in the period after half time and before Andy's goal. We were so off the pace then it was alarming. We were flat for some reason and only the efforts of Keith and the backs and Seamus kept us in it at all.

Horan is taking a lot of flak in the county today with the Feeman substitution. At the time I thought it was tactical and thought it was a bad call. But Horan says the player is unwell and that is fair enough. It was a player wellfare call, and the manager should not be taking criticism for that.

Was putting Higgins back the right call. Did his removal from the middle third contribute to our 'collapse' at begining of second half. It appears McHale or Keane were not trusted to come in. Fair enough, but I d have brought in Richie Feeney to try and disrupt the Cluxton kick out strategy and put AOS in on Brennan and try to get him on go forward ball. I also thought all year that Dillon should be in the corner where his runs are so effective, rather than hf where an athletic marker puts him on the back foot. McLoughlin never hid yesterday and got on a power of ball but unfortunately he came into this game off-colour. Pity because he s been so good and so consistent since coming into the team. The Conroy substitution did not work because there was no support runners. Carolan made little impact but I m not sure what his role was. Maybe Carolan, Feeney or Gibbons should have been used to add mobility in midfield. The Barry Moran substitution made no sense where we needed a runner rather than a big fielder. I m sorry but the substitutions looked like subs by numbers/ pecking order rather than what is needed. Like why Varley before Doherty? Why Varley at all.

Fair play to Cluxton. I thought his kick outs were what decided the game. Never saw anything like it. Clearly Dublin management saw one of our strengths (the O Shea boys in the air and doing general heavy lifting), as a potential weakness and cruelly exposed our lack of mobility around the middle. However Flynn, McCarty and Brennan also hoovered up a lot of Cluxton kickouts so it was a system failure on our part - not just the O Sheas. Not easy to deal with that of course if it is executed so well. O Sullivan, McAuley, McCarty etc. are ideal for that tactic and I dont think I ve ever seen anybody able to kick a dead-ball O'Neills better than Cluxton. Respect.

Alright, I was pessimistic before this gig but looking ahead I d be more optimistic than most I d say. Not sure we got the most out of the squad this year. I d like to have seen us set up a bit different and the Keith Higgins experiment shows that we don t have to be as rigid as lot of people like to think we must be. Still management deserve respect for the job they ve done and it was their team to pick as they saw it. They obviously have had a regular team in mind the last 2 years. Here s the team from Kerry semi 2011.

Robert Hennelly, Tom Cunniffe, Ger Cafferkey, Keith Higgins, Richie Feeney, Donal Vaughan, Trevor Mortimer, Aidan O'Shea, Seamus O'Shea, Kevin McLoughlin, Alan Dillon, Andy Moran, Enda Varley, Alan Freeman, Cillian O'Connor.

That team was dismissed without much fuss that day but we have made incremental improvements since and I see no reason why we can t go to another level.  Barrett, Keegan, Boyle have added to us but the lot has improved and are young enough to improve further. We need a bit of new blood to keep thing fresh and keep the drive and enthusiasm going. This is a seriously conditioned team right now and we ll be there or there abouts again next year.

Management's judgement was proved correct starting O Connor and Andy. Suggestions otherwise were just silly.

Also expected Dublin to start Ger Brennan. Crazy not too and he had a fine game. Overall Dublin did little wrong and we were within a point - on the scoreboard. We had at least 4 players well short of full fitness - Andy, Dillon, COC, Cunniffe and probably AOS - going into the game. Throw in the Freeman Flu and its no wonder people believe in curses.

RE. The first point in bold, I'm not too sure about that. Freeman was told by the doctor that under no circumstances was he too play on Sunday.

RE. The second point in bold I really don't know. The effort the lads put in this year was unbelievable. Very hard on the lads to go through that again. There was great resilience among the players and management last year with talk about next years training programs and the start of a journey immediately after the final, none of that this year.
If we won I really believed it could have been the start of a new era in Mayo football. Instead it feels like the end of an era.

f**k it, maybe I'm reading into things too much. Today was a very long day.

Massive well done to our minors. There are some real stars of the future in that team.
It's such a pity that the win is being overshadowed by the seniors loss.
Despite the doom and gloom around the future is still bright in Mayo GAA.

Absolutely shattered after that. Really believed that this was finally our year. There was such belief around this team. Gutted for the players and management. Don't know where we are going from this defeat. If James stays (highly unlikely) I'll back them to have another go but if he and his back room team depart, I will be seriously concerned about where we are heading.
Too many ifs, buts and maybes to talk about just yet.
Out of the 7 finals (including the 96 replay) this one is definitely the hardest one to take. It will probably be next year before the wounds fully heal and I watch the game back.
RE. The substitutions,  I heard on Saturday that Freeman was at the doctor that morning with a sore throat and had a dose of the flu. I also seen Sean Moffett going over to him shortly before he went off. Cunniffe was injured and O'Gara was winning most ball that was going in that direction. As for Seamie going off and the non appearance of Feeney I really have no clue.
Congratulations to Dublin, overall the better team. Enjoy the celebrations.
Heart wrenching stuff, but we're Mayo so we'll be back.

Who in the name of sweet baby Jesus would drop Caffreky for O'Carroll and Keegan and Boyle for O'Sullivian and McCarthy? I don't think many even believe those would even be positions of contention on a combined team.

Crazy stuff alright. Cafferkey, Boyle and Keegan are proven All-Ireland-winning players while O'Carroll, O'Sullivan and McCarthy are...oh wait, I may have got that the wrong way around.

Ger Brennan is a 'proven All-Ireland-winning' player but you don't seem to give him the benefit of that argument.

Also, Boyle has an All-Ireland.

There is a very interesting article in the Mayo News about Keegan, Boyle and Vaughan.
Keegan didn't make the panel at minor level.
Vaughan couldn't make the South Mayo panel at minor level (but did eventually manage it).
Boyle got taken off at half time in the U 21 All Ireland and was roasted in a championship game against Galway in 2008, which ultimately ended his inter county career until 2012.
If that does not illustrate serious mental strength and attitude, I don't know what does.
Often, studying peoples mental state tells you more than glamorous medals and awards.

Personally Mayo not winning Sam since 1951 or Dublin not beating Mayo in Championship football since 1985 will have zero influence on Sunday's senior A.I. final.

Don't know about that, all those boys on the Mayo team have been brought up with that long wait for Sam and will know very well what it means to the county. Doesn't have to be a negative though, it can also be a motivation if it's used properly. Wishful thinking though I'd suggest to say it will have "zero influence". The Dublin side of things I don't see as being a factor, Dublin not beating Mayo in the championship since 1985 is hardly comparable to Mayo's long wait for Sam.

I know the Mayo people on here are sick and tired of this kind of talk but I would have doubts still about the mental toughness of this team. They had Dublin well beaten last year and stopped playing and were lucky to win. I know some Mayo posters here say there were injuries taking their toll there but the fact was that Mayo lost the head in the closing stages of that game. They then made a very poor start to the Final and never really looked like they were going to turn it around, even when they got closer to Donegal later in the game.

Hasn't been an issue this year until the semi when Tyrone started well and Mayo promptly lost the head, kicking possession away, making poor decisions and missing easy frees. It wasn't just a case of Mayo being outplayed for a spell - they were very obviously having a wobble there on probably the first occasion this summer that any real questions were asked of them. Now you can argue that they dug their way back from that to win well, but the fact was that Tyrone had them on the ropes but didn't have the firepower to really pull away (losing key men down the spine of the team didn't help either). Dublin have significantly better forwards than Tyrone and should they get Mayo into that kind of position they will put up a much better score than the 0-7 Tyrone managed in that first half. Any Mayo wobble will be properly punished.

As such I reckon there are still major questions to be answered by this Mayo team when they are put under pressure - questions they can only answer really by winning the AI. Have my doubts, but I wish them all the best.

Bit of a selective memory?
No mention of the man who scored two hatricks in one and a half games *que cliche line ''sure that was only against London and a hungover Donegal" *
You continue to ignore the fact that our two tails men up front are both injured and off form. If your going to mention the Tyrone ones its only fair you mention Mayos ones also.
In addition you fail to mention that we have a better defense than Dublin, so much so that even some 'experts' say we have the best half back line in the country.
We have come back in many games under James Horan after being four points down at half time. This mentality label on Mayo teams is really beginning to bore now.

Hearing on the grapevine that there are going to be a few surprises. One in the Full forward line and One in half forward line for the final. O'Connor is hoped to start if fit enough (and that's not one of the surprises). Hearing the group are going away for the week before (which is this week!). Are Mayo doing the usual meet and greet for the younger fans this time?

Yearra, say natin'!

http://www.irishexaminer.com/sport/columnists/kieran-shannon/dying-with-boots-on-a-key-lesson-for-future-champions-208834.html

Very interesting article, I posted it up here last year after the final aswel.
It encouraged me to throw €20 on Mayo to win the All Ireland at 11/1.
You gotta' loose one to win one.