James Horan Appointed Mayo Manager 2011

[Blue and Navy]

Longford were never nobodies, people should have more respect, even as a Mayo fan tonight we have to realise that Longford are a fine side who deserved their win. Mayo's problems are Mayo's problems, credit where its due to a proud football county.

[mannix]

billyboots,
sorry, a little annoyed that Mayo lost to a team that managed to lose to carlow and co. I worked with a longford player he was a great man to tell me all about the training and how much he loved football and how its loved in longford, congrats on the win and I hope you get a few more big nights out after Longford wins this summer.

[Billys Boots]

It's the nights out in Killala I'm really looking forward to ... 

[The Forfeit Point]

lets not have jom and co bullshit us any more, losing to a nobody like longford is the lowest of the low.
i will not ever listen to any more mayo talk as long as jom is in charge

Classy guy, I'm so happy for the likes of you.

you can't blame him for feeling like that considering our recent results to be fair

[Billys Boots]

lets not have jom and co bullshit us any more, losing to a nobody like longford is the lowest of the low.
i will not ever listen to any more mayo talk as long as jom is in charge

Classy guy, I'm so happy for the likes of you.

you can't blame him for feeling like that considering our recent results to be fair

I would never call anyone a nobody, no matter how bad I felt.

[Chimley]

O'Mahoney is gone.

[The Forfeit Point]

lets not have jom and co bullshit us any more, losing to a nobody like longford is the lowest of the low.
i will not ever listen to any more mayo talk as long as jom is in charge

Classy guy, I'm so happy for the likes of you.

you can't blame him for feeling like that considering our recent results to be fair

I would never call anyone a nobody, no matter how bad I felt.

yeah true that was unnecessary

[muppet]

I am hearing he has resigned.

[ballinaman]

I am hearing he has resigned.

The bullshit is over so. Listened to the game for my sins. Nice win for Longford, fair play.

You'd think that the distance would make things easier to take. Don't know how to explain what i'm feeling, let me get back to ye.

[redhandluke]

Guys,

With the state of Mayo finances at the minute, I think the last think you want the County Board to be considering is hiring a couple of rouges like Paudi or Micko - if you catch my drift

[Barney]

The project we knew was going nowhere has now come to an end. 4 Connacht u21 Titles, an All Ireland u21 Title, and two Minor teams getting to All Ireland Finals in the past 5 years means that everything is not all bad. There is something there for a new man to work with.

Just read a very depressing but accurate article here - http://mayosports.wordpress.com/2010/06/27/mayo-live-by-the-sword-die-by-the-sword/ - and I have pasted it below. We don't need a Micko or a Paidi. We need a committed bunch of Mayo GAA men who will put definitive plans in place and surround themseles with the proper people in terms of team preparation, tactics etc. There is no reason why things cannot be a lot brighter in 12 months if the right appointment is made. But can we trust the County Board to make that appointment - it won't be quick (they will dilly dally and will want to delay any commencement of work on any new project to keep costs at a minimum); and there personal clashes and general involvement will probably keep people away.

LIVE by the sword, die by the sword.

John O'Mahony and his  band of Merrymen on Mayo County Board who masterminded one of the most impressive electoral triumphs of all time when delivering the 'Prodigal Son' to Dáil Éireann as a Fine Gael TD in 2007, are today, June 26th 2010, learning that what goes around come around.

They are hurting and hurting badly after a humiliating defeat at the hands of Longford has left Mayo GAA in despair and their best laid plans in tatters. They have been left to console each other as they lick their gaping wounds.

The same way that Mickey Moran and John Morrison were left sore and alone after the men at the top in Mayo GAA circles choose to turn their backs on the amicable Derry duo in the autumn of 2006.

Moran and Morrison both spoke of their ambition for the Mayo team in the aftermath of the ill-fated All-Ireland Final of 2006. Immediately after the game they both unequivocally announced their intention to lead their adopted county into 2007 league and championship combat. Both men re-iterated their belief in Mayo and yearning to take the team one step further in 2007 in the weeks after the final, speaking with the same infectious enthusiasm and passion that was the mark of their all too short term at the helm. Kieran Gallagher, too, indicated a strong willingness to continue as selector of Moran and Morrison.

So what happened between late September and early November 2006?

Well i think we can assume that high profile, high secret talks took place, not just between potential General Election candidate John O'Mahony (who just 12 months previously said he would not manage the county) and the County Board, but also between members of the Board and high-powered officials of Fine Gael.

Remember, in 1992 when O'Mahony was involved in his high-profile divorce from Mayo, many of the same men that he was about to jump into bed with, were the very ones that he claimed he could not work with.

The net result of those top-secret discussions was that Moran and Morrison were out on their ear. If O'Mahony was to be elected and Fine Gael to take three seats  in the Mayo constituency he would need to be manager of the Mayo senior football team – the exposure that would come with the territory would compensate for his political inexperience.

In return for promoting O'Mahony (which they did (a) by appointing him manager and (b) by using GAA databases to text every member in the county on the eve of polling day) the County Board would have access to a Mayo Taoiseach. And of course, we can assume that the Mayo Taoiseach would look favourably upon their application for funding for the proposed refurbishment of  McHale Park wouldn't he?

At the first County Board meeting after the All-Ireland defeat to Kerry, the Chairman stated that he had yet to receive any indication from Moran and Morrison that they were willing to wait on. That was quite clearly untrue as per M&M's statements at the Final Function at The City West Hotel and subsequent press interviews.

However, the notion that our adopted management team should have doubts about staying with us opened up the can of worms. The mood in the room changed as soon as James Waldron muttered the words. Delegates became incensed that there should be doubts and all of a sudden it was criticism after criticism as delegate after delegate had their say – many of the same delegates that were pictured holding O'Mahony aloft in the Count Centre after his successful election seven months later! Most of them had also walked the highways and the byways on the canvass in the weeks and months prior to polling day and they cannot deny that.

Today though, June 26th, the web of deceit has come home to roost. Mayo have won a meagre five championship matches against such illustrious opposition as Cavan, Sligo, Roscommon, Galway and New York in four years. O'Mahony has been forced to step down. There is no Mayo Taoiseach (yet it must be said) and the Mayo County Board are straddled with enormous debts as a result of a €10 million revamp of McHale Park – a venue that has played host to just one full house (Galway, Connacht Final, 2008) in the four years of O'Mahony's regime.

You see O'Mahony simply did not give the Mayo senior football manager's job the time and ultimately the respect that it deserves.

John O'Mahony is a two-times All-Ireland winner and is quite rightly regarded as one of the best Gaelic Football managers of the last 20 years but during his second coming as Mayo manager some of his decisions were baffling and many outright ridiculous.

From 2007 to 2010 his team selections and tactics lacked clarity and consistency. He continually spoke about rebuilding and it being a young team. Not so Johno, not so.

Perhaps had he began rebuilding with genuine enthusiasm and energy, he could have gotten away with the mantra, but he didn't. Instead Mayo drifted from game to game and year to year without any real solid signs of a new team being constructed.

Take for example the four years of his regime.

2007:

•James Kilcullen started 8 league games at full-back, yet made zero championship appearances with David Heaney playing at number 3 for the championship opener against Galway.
•Heaney went on to move from full-back to midfield v Cavan and to wing-back v Derry with Liam O'Malley at full-back for both Qualifiers. O'Malley did not play in this position again under O'Mahony.
•Billy Joe Padden played 9 league games at centre-back, started wing-back v Galway in the championship before moving to wing-forward for the Cavan and Derry matches.
•Ballaghaderreen clubman David Kilcullen came in at centre-back v Cavan and Derry with Trevor Mortimer now switched to wing-back. Kilcullen did not appear in 2008, 2009 or 2010 and Mortimer went back to being a half-forward.
2008:

•Billy Joe Padden started the  first 3 league games at full-back. Shrule/Glencorrib's Kieran Conroy played there for the remaining 4 games.
•Conroy started the championship opener v Sligo and Connacht Final v Galway but was substituted after 20 minutes. He didn't play here again under O'Mahony.
•Colm Boyle also started the championship games against Sligo and Galway and he too was substituted after 20 minutes. He didn't appear for Mayo again under O'Mahony.
•Tom Cunniffe became full-back v Tyrone in All-Ireland Qualifier but did not play there in 2009.
•David Heaney started centre-back for the 2 Connacht Championship games, then moved to midfield v Tyrone.
•Peadar Gardiner wing-forward v Sligo, substitute v Galway and wing-back v Tyrone
•Padden, who had started the previous year as centre-back and 2008 as full-back made one championship appearance as a wing-forward v Tyrone
•Neither James or David Kilcullen were on the panel.
•Ciaran McDonald omitted from panel
2009:

•Andy Moran played wing-back for last 4 league games, and for championship. He was back to his regular wing-forward position for the championship.
•David Heaney was back in midfield despite Tom Parsons playing most of the league in the position. Heaney had not taken any part in the league campaign.
2010:

•Andy Moran back to forward line.
•Billy Joe Padden first sub in v Sligo, despite only being on the panel for three week, then not considered v Longford despite O'Mahony making six changes to the side defeated by Sligo.
•Mark Ronaldson, who was outstanding in the league, was on the bench for Sligo and Longford games.
•In 2009 we had adopted the Twin Towers approach with big men Barry Moran and Aidan O'Shea in the full-forward line only to revert to small men in Conor Mortimer and Enda Varley for the Connacht Championship opener v Sligo.

The above examples of ever-changing team selections and ever-changing tactics pints to a man who simply did not give the Mayo manager's job the time, energy or effort it deserved.

The net result for Mayo football followers is that we are now at our lowest ebb for many years, possibily since the 1994 Connacht Final defeat, ironically at the hands of John O'Mahony managed Leitrim. The result for Mayo County Board is that their legacy will be not be one of triumph and success as they so desire, but one of distain, distrust, debt and despair.

Live by the sword, die by sword

We all have our own views about Johnnos time in charge. There is no point in personally castigating the man. The end has come now, and the pain may be over. Whatever follows can only be better than the past 4 years.

Names that are going to be listed as possible contenders:

Noel Connelly
Pat Holmes
David Brady
Liam McHale
James Horan
Kevin McStay
John Maughan
Peter Forde

And probably some others that are just not coming to mind. There should be no reason why we cannot get the right combination of 3/4 capable men to work together so that Mayo fulfil may fulfil its potential.

[Cosmo Kramer]

To be honest Connelly is the only one of those that I would be anyways comfortable with. I'd be worried they might stick in someone like Dempsey who clearly isn't the man for the job.

There's a few inaccuracies in that article but its generally on the money. That said, our achievements in 06 have been overvalued a bit (just take out the Dublin game and we were poor the rest of the year) and I never felt we were going far with the M&Ms anyway.

[Donnellys Hollow]

Micko for Mayo! Can't see him hanging around in Wicklow for another year.

[Chimley]

Micko for Mayo! Can't see him hanging around in Wicklow for another year.

The county board know that they would be lynched if they unveil that geriatric. They should be looking over their shoulder as it is.

[stephenite]

Names that are going to be listed as possible contenders:

Noel Connelly
Pat Holmes
David Brady
Liam McHale
James Horan
Kevin McStay
John Maughan
Peter Forde

And probably some others that are just not coming to mind. There should be no reason why we cannot get the right combination of 3/4 capable men to work together so that Mayo fulfil may fulfil its potential.

To that list.

Noel Connelly - I wouldn't have a problem with this man appointed manager.
Pat Holmes - If he's to be involved, it needs to be as a selector under Connelly. The Senior job needs a manager not a team effort and I wouldn't like to see Pat being the manager.
David Brady - In a word, no. Does not yet have the experience to be an inter county manager, if a manager wants him as a selector it would be a good move.
Liam McHale - Might a goer, but I don't think he'd pass a county board as it currently stands.
James Horan - Like Brady but with a bit more managerial experience, it could be a dream move but I think it's too risky.
Kevin McStay - No. I would like to see him involved, but not as the manager.
John Maughan - No. We can't keep going back to John Maughan
Peter Forde - Would be my first choice as manager, would be ideal if he had Noel Connelly and either DB or James Horan as selectors.