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Heard on Mad West this morning that Moyles was appointed Sligo minor manager last night after he didn't get the Mayo job

Interview with O'Mahony in the Mayo Advertiser today




Just a little over a day after weeks of speculation were ended when John O'Mahony was unveiled as the new Mayo manager the Ballaghadereen native invited the Mayo Advertiser into his home to discuss the past, present, and the future. For a man who has been there and done it all before in football, O'Mahony still has a passion for the game and it shines through when he speaks about the future and the new journey he is about to embark on with the Mayo senior football side, a challenge to which he has taken a second swing.

CG: How have the first few days back in charge of the side been, are you enjoying them?

JOM: There has been a good bit happening already I spent yesterday (Tuesday), meeting with someone I want to get involved with my back room team so I'm already at it. I will be looking to bring in more people into the back room team like the medical team, a fitness trainer who would oversee all fitness programmes for the side, like strength work, speed work and agility, all that side of the game. The mental side of it as well will be looked at, whatever needs to be done will be done.

CG: On the strength side of it people would have been saying for the last few years that Mayo weren't strong enough. Would you have seen it that way?

JOM: That is one of the observations people have made, but I'll have to wait till I get in on site with the players to see for myself. That judgement can be subjective also, there was no problem with strength in the Dublin game whereas there was in the Kerry game and the result was dramatically different. I think it is particularly relevant now especially because you will have lads coming through from u21 teams who will need to built up their strength.

CG: With the u21 side having such a good run to the All Ireland title last year there must be at least a few lads that you would have in mind for a run in the league to see if they are up to it?

JOM: The thing about that, and I saw this in Galway as well, is that a lot of that u21 team are in there already the likes of Aidan Kilcoyne, Barry Moran, Keith Higgins, and what we'll be looking for is to see is there more there that have the ambition and the commitment and discipline to make that step up. I hope certainly that there will be a number of other ones who will continue on this path. The key for them at the minute is that they have continue on, they have got the reward of an All Ireland medal for the hard work they put in and the hopefully will be looking out for every avenue that can help them to expand and improve their football, be it through colleges or whatever.

We'll certainly be keeping an eye on them. But there are also other players who we'll be looking at, it's not going to be confined to the u21 side or minor sides from the past, because there are other players out there that up to now didn't really have that ambition, or whatever, or have been on the panel in the last two or three years that disappeared for whatever reason, and we have to see if they still want it, the door will be open for them. That is the big message that we want to put out, that the door is open for whoever has that ambition and commitment to the cause.

CG: Will you carry out the same procedure and have open trials for clubs to send players forward to give everyone a go?

JOM: I'll be meeting with Kieran and Tommy in the near future and we will be plotting our campaign forward for the future and set out the route we want to take. There will be lots of opportunities for everyone, be that through trials or from watching lads at club football when that starts up again, it is not going to be a closed panel on the first of February when the league starts up again, there will be players given an opportunity in the FBD also, there are lots of avenues for players. It is as simple as this, if the players are good enough, want it enough, and are committed enough over the next couple of months there will be enough opportunities for them.

CG: The team you have picked to work with you have seen a lot of club football in Mayo over the last number of years, do you see that as an advantage for yourself as you look to the future?

JOM: We have, Kieran and Tommy are my selectors and Martin has another sort of role, but has a great knowledge of Mayo football and he also knows what it takes to get to the top. I'm very pleased with the back room team I have got and its a great help to me the knowledge that they have so we won't leave anybody out. They'll also help make sure we leave no stone unturned, another thing we will be looking at is the fact that last year we had a number of players based in Dublin and we have to make sure we have a structure there that brings the best out of that group.

CG: Everyone in your selection team has a winning mentality and tasted success, all of you know what it takes to win?

JOM: That's the whole idea, it's about success, pushing and raising the bar all the time and that'll be a challenge everyone will have to do individually as well as a group. For my own part this is the first time that I've come back on ground I've been on already and I'll be challenging myself as will everyone else, because the day you stop doing that is the day you stop making progress.

CG: You said at the press conference you came back this year because you thought it was right for Mayo football to come back, what was different this year compared to last year?

JOM: Retiring from work was a major factor, that's the reason we are able to sit here right now, there is more flexibility in what I'm doing now. When I was managing before I was effectively working two jobs, that is the major circumstance that has changed, as well I've had few years out from management and I've done the media stuff now for a few years and I feel I can go back to it again if I want to. There is never a perfect time for it but I feel that I can give it the time it warrants now.

CG: You have a three year term, was having that time frame something you insisted to have if you were going to take the job?

JOM: I felt it was to sent out the signal that there is a long road ahead. There is a two fold objective here, the first is obviously to be up and running and competitive as soon as possible, and then to look forward and say this is the way it is going to be for the next few years and set Mayo football up for the future. I am determined that this will be a long term plan, not just a short term one to attain a certain goal.

CG: You took a few weeks to make your choice, you obviously had a lot to weigh up in those weeks?

JOM: I did, It takes a lot of your time when you take on a job like this and that's why I took some time to make a decision. I have other commitments to a political campaign and I wanted to make sure that I would be able to balance the two. It is easy to say to yourself that it is possible, but I wanted to make sure that in reality it was possible. How is it possible and what sort of structures I needed to put in place to make it possible on both sides, to make sure that I would have the energy to give both sides the dedication and respect they demand.

I thought long and hard about it and I explored long and hard to see how it would work and I'm convinced now that with the good people I have around me that it is possible.

It's not easy but for example on Monday evening, I attended the County Board meeting, then the press conference and did some interviews after. I then spoke at an education forum at GMIT, then there was a Fine Gael branch meeting and I finished up the evening doing some more interviews. That's just an example of an evening where we fitted everything in that had to be done.

CG: People might see you coming back to the Mayo and think this is it, this guy will lead us to Sam Maguire?

JOM: I don't see it that way at all, I've always seen the picture like this, to call it a better word as a whole group of people working in unison. I might have the role of the manager but the role of any one of the players or the back room team is just as important. The person who is number 30 on that panel in many ways is in fact more important to Mayo's success, because it is easy for the captain or the star player to be motivated, but it's not quite as easy for the fringe guy who mightn't get to play that often.

Everybody needs to be motivated and I'll be directing the traffic towards the one goal, and making sure everyone is as motivated as needed to reach our potential. Anyone who thinks that all things are solved because I'm back is pretty naive because there are going to be setbacks along the way.

It is going to be a very tough opening run in the league initially. I hope people don't believe that is all solved because of one man coming back. It is a very tough first division. Hopefully when the league gets under way we get a good run going to set us up. That is important in a couple of contexts, firstly because its the first competitive football of the year and secondly, because of what happened in the All Ireland final and to get that out of our system. We'll be ready for whatever comes and this squad will play to their maximum and we'll see where that takes us, but the one thing I appealed to people before about this is that let's get it right now and be patient if there are any hiccups along the way' that's almost a guarantee , but hopefully the good days will be to the fore. My experience in sport is that nothing works out the way you want all the time, but the harder you work the luckier you get.

CG: If we go back to your first stint in the job, you had a relatively successful term.

JOM: I did, you could say, interestingly when I took over in 1988 we were actually relegated in the league that year losing five games on the trot. I remember losing to Kerry in a playoff and we went down to division two at the time. I can still remember being in the dressing room that day down in Ennis and getting our heads around what had happened, but we did, and from that day on we set out on an assault for the Connacht championship which we won. When we got to a semi-final we ran a great Meath team pretty close, I think we went down to them by four points in the end and had a goal disallowed. Then the next year we got to the final and that was the first time the county had won two Connacht titles back to back since 1951 and I suppose we broke a few barriers, but unfortunately not the ultimate one.

In 1990 we lost out to Galway in Tuam, I remember that day our two midfielders TJ Kilgallon and Sean Maher were both out along with Noel Durkan and there was no backdoor in those days, then the final year we lost out to Roscommon after a replay.

CG: You had four years and then as it seems to be common knowledge things ended acrimoniously, has much changed since then?

JOM: Time has moved on. A lot has been made of what happened and fair enough I was very hurt at the time. But I was hurt by particular individuals not with Mayo as such, because all of us are just cogs in a wheel. Despite that over the years I would have always had a hand involved in various guises with Mayo football, despite whatever acrimony there was with one or two individuals. It's a long time ago now, I could have whinged at the time and bore grudges but that would have only restricted my own progression as a manager, and I'm the kind of person who wants to be positive in what he does and that's why I'm back here once again.

Life is about to get very hectic once again for the retired 53-year-old schoolteacher, with two campaigns to plot out for next summer both political and sporting, but i the passion and willingness to work that O'Mahony has brought to every other facet of his life is anything to go by it will come as no surprise to anybody if next summer marks a new high water in his life.

I'd have to say the Mayo News is probably the best  around here, The Western is also pretty good. But the Mayo on a whole looks alot better and I always enjoy McStay's column. As for the Connacht its average but when it's poor it's very poor. But I remeber being told that about twenty years ago or so the sports editor left out the picture of the Mayo team from a match report becuase they didn't deserve to be put in because they played so bad, if thats true it took some balls by him. As for the new paper the Advertiser it's pretty weak really and only gives the bear minimum of coverage

That seems to be the talk alright Stone Wall, a straight restructure with all senior clubs in Division One next year. It's a bit of farce continuing the league to its conclusion if they're going to do this. And what of the likes of Belmullett who have had a great league season and are going to get sent back to division two even after finshing very high up in the league.

There are only four clubs playing senior hurling in the county as far as I know. Westport, Ballina, Ballyhaunis and Tooreen. (I'm open to correction on that). There a a good few underage clubs after setting up in the last few years such as Ballyvary (Pake area), Adrgoole (Lahardane/Glenhest Area) and one or two others. Alot of work seems to be put in by the dedicated few.