James Horan Appointed Mayo Manager 2011

[RedandGreenSniper]

The two O'Neill interviews were excellent reading. He talks more cogently on Mayo football than anyone I've ever heard. He's been on about these things since he was manager but have we ever looked at them? No. County Board meeting was on tonight where the review was due to be discussed. Any word?

Moysider is right, O'Neill would be great to have in as director of football.

[stephenite]

The two O'Neill interviews were excellent reading. He talks more cogently on Mayo football than anyone I've ever heard. He's been on about these things since he was manager but have we ever looked at them? No. County Board meeting was on tonight where the review was due to be discussed. Any word?

Moysider is right, O'Neill would be great to have in as director of football.

I'd be happy enough if someone like Kevin was in charge of it. Intelligent, articulate and has the ability to lead - whilst he's the complete antithesis of a Knockmore man ( ) he could certainly get things done.

[moysider]

Eh?

[spuds]

good stuff indeed but one thing talkin sense and another having ability to carry it out
what does he do in states ? is it related to what he says here ?
if so he would be a real front runner
know we re short on common sense in mayo but can t be shouting for the 1st logical sounding buck that sticks his head above the parapet

[moysider]

good stuff indeed but one thing talkin sense and another having ability to carry it out
what does he do in states ? is it related to what he says here ?
if so he would be a real front runner
know we re short on common sense in mayo but can t be shouting for the 1st logical sounding buck that sticks his head above the parapet

Are you happy with that post Spuds?

[mayogodhelpus@gmail.com]

Next Mayo manager?

[spuds]

good stuff indeed but one thing talkin sense and another having ability to carry it out
what does he do in states ? is it related to what he says here ?
if so he would be a real front runner
know we re short on common sense in mayo but can t be shouting for the 1st logical sounding buck that sticks his head above the parapet

Are you happy with that post Spuds?

well i am the lack of common sense remark biteen too strong

[RedandGreenSniper]

good stuff indeed but one thing talkin sense and another having ability to carry it out
what does he do in states ? is it related to what he says here ?
if so he would be a real front runner
know we re short on common sense in mayo but can t be shouting for the 1st logical sounding buck that sticks his head above the parapet

It's more than him being the first logical sounding buck. Plenty of people have made logical comments. O'Neill is the first person I've seen discuss a cogent plan and speak passionately about implementing it. He was always highly regarded but he was before my time so I never really could make up my own mind on him. After reading those two pieces, I can see why he's so regarded. Regarding what he does in the States, I dunno. But he does say he doesn't want the job of director of football!!

Stephenites suggestion that Kevin O'Neill could do it isn't a bad one but I'd say he's making far too much money elsewhere to come down to Mayo!

[JMohan]

Liam O Neill in this weeks Mayo News. Such a change from the watery shite we're usually subjected to. Any chance we could coax him back. Find out what he makes and offer him double.


"Passion and heart" needed


Liam O'Neill says the next Mayo manager's first step should be to interview players

Daniel Carey

ASKED what advice he would give to the next Mayo manager, Liam O'Neill says it's good to talk. Whoever succeeds John O'Mahony in the hot seat should, he says, "interview every single person who has aspirations of coming into a Mayo panel", outline the commitment required, and ask: "What have you done for yourself?"
The Galwayman met ex-Mayo players 15 or 20 years after he gave them the opportunity to wear the green and red in the 1980s. Some admitted they were happy enough to play for their clubs; it was never their ambition to bring back the Sam Maguire Cup. It would, he hints, have been rather useful to know that back in the 1980s.
"Not everybody is prepared to put in the hard work, and it isn't their top priority to win an All-Ireland ... when they know what's entailed," he notes. "You and I might think 'Jesus, I'd do anything to win an All-Ireland', but you want to find that out [off every player], and find out very, very fast. And one of the ways you find it out [is to ask] 'Well, what have you done in the past?' That's a fair indicator. And then you've got to monitor that, and see is he improving."

The coach's checklist
O'NEILL says a manager needs to demand goals of his players, build-up self-esteem, establish good habits, and be a good communicator and delegator. He prefers the word 'coach', and advocates a structure similar to that used by athletic directors in American universities, who oversee and co-ordinate the work of various specialists. After all, "he can't do everything himself".
Quoting former Dublin manager Kevin Heffernan, O'Neill adds that it's crucial to establish if players have the capacity to listen and learn, and be willing to change if necessary. That could, he believes, lead to major changes in personnel – "Because I believe some of these guys that I see on the Mayo team at the moment ... they may have the capacity to listen and learn, but they haven't the capacity to change in their attitude. And you can see it in their body language."

Memory lane
PART of O'Neill's answer to the low self-esteem he encountered as Mayo manager was to implement a weight training programme. He took a group of players to the National Institute of Higher Education (now the University of Limerick) for a fitness evaluation and got some bad news. It was, he was told, too late for a lot of the players. They should have been doing strength, flexibility and endurance tests while still in their teens, not when they were in their mid-20s. More shockingly, one individual "couldn't bench-press 35 pounds" when the average man in good physical condition could manage 195 pounds.
Yet he met with some resistance – "When you brought that back to certain individuals, they said: 'I have been successful up to now, why do I need to do weight training'?" he recalls. One player cited his All-Ireland minor title as proof that he didn't need to bulk up. Sometimes, he notes, wryly, major success at underage level "can be the ruination of a player" who "feels he has arrived" when "he's only starting" out. Furthermore, he notes a pattern where "we're looking for these young guys to be the saviours if Mayo", and are expected to carry the weight of the county on their shoulders, rather than find their feet at senior level.

Passion
O'NEILL adds that what he did 20 years ago coaching-wise "wouldn't survive today", but says the principles are still sound: "Gaelic football is not a complicated game. You need passion and heart. If you ain't got that, you ain't going any place ... when I see some Mayo footballers, and physically they haven't improved over five years ... I would seriously question their passion to play with Mayo."
That question of desire is one O'Neill returns to more than once in the course of our conversation.
Earlier this year, he met former All-Ireland winner Paddy Prendergast (now aged over 80) in San Diego. "By just talking to that man, you come away with the amount of passion that he still has to this day ... the love of Mayo ... and how much he'd give to see Mayo win an All-Ireland," he says.

BEFORE he looks forward, former Mayo senior football manager Liam O'Neill wants to look back. He recalls meeting double All-Ireland winner Fr Peter Quinn, who spent a lot of time in America and researched stateside training and coaching methods before presenting the information he had collated to Mayo GAA Board. What happened next?
"The Mayo County Board at that time took a look at it and it was never heard from since – which to me was a pure insult to the man," O'Neill told The Mayo News in a telephone interview from San Diego. "Here was a man who had won two All-Irelands, and he was giving Mayo an opportunity to see what the professional people were doing out here in America."
O'Neill has long been a student of sports coaching in America, where he has lived for the past 16 years, but also keeps a close eye on events at home. The Mayo GAA Board are undertaking a review of the state of football in the county. The man who managed the Mayo senior team between 1983 and 1987 wants to see a five- to seven-year plan, a Director of Football, and a particular emphasis on 15- to 18-year-olds. He's looking, in short, for "something different", rather than "the same thing over and over again".

"A pruning process"
IN O'Neill's vision, the Director of Football would put together a plan, monitor the plan, and monitor the individuals in his charge. It's not, incidentally, a post he's interested in taking himself, but he insists there are plenty of people in Mayo capable of doing the job.
"And it's a pruning process as well, to see: Is that [player] able to stand up to the rigour? What does it entail? Put down goals in front of them and hold them accountable. Because every guy thinks he wants to play county football for Mayo, but does he want to put in the time when nobody is looking? You've got to monitor that, and deal in facts and figures. How fast can you run the 40-yard dash? How bigger and stronger did you get this year? I think you need a Director of Football [to] hold those people accountable."
This would not be a shot-term project, the former All-Star emphasises. County Board officials who would back it may not still be part of the executive by the time the plan bears fruit, but the steps can be put in place now. "The old house is going to fall down if there's no foundation!" he says wryly.

Underage Apprenticeship
THE envisaged Director of Football would have "total control over football matters" in Mayo and would oversee a programme for promising underage footballers. Such a programme might, O'Neill says, turn up two or three people every year, and feedback and monitoring would establish that these players "have the passion and commitment to play for Mayo".
"It would be the Director of Football's job to do the apprenticeship with those guys, and have them ready for the senior team manager. Because it is a culling stage – there's no way that you have 100 guys ready and fit and able to play for Mayo that have that amount of passion [required]. But there are certainly plenty with a burning desire, [which] is going to show up with commitment and based on facts and figures over three or four years."

Learning from the best
O'NEILL cites the example of Jurgen Klinsmann, the US-based former German soccer manager who "wasn't afraid to bring the dynamics, the professionalism and the thinking from different sports" in his adopted country.
He says Mayo GAA has much to learn from best practice at home and abroad – from Tyrone to Kerry, who even have a five-year programme in place for hurling; and from 83-year-old Penn State football coach Joe Paterno to the late John Wooden, winner of nine back-to-back basketball championships with UCLA.
"You can learn from people that have been successful in other sports – if you have an open mind, rather than saying 'I have it all done'," says O'Neill. "The right people are not afraid to bring in somebody else's ideas, and learn from them."

The Money
GIVEN the current economic climate, and the loan on the McHale Park development, many people may recoil at the projected cost of such a strategy. But O'Neill is adamant that Mayo people the world over would row in behind it if was well thought-out and properly marketed.
There is, he says, no point in appointing a Director of Football if he can't do what's needed because of a lack of funds.
"Don't let the money be a factor," he says simply. "If you put down a plan and sell that plan to people, [be they] businesspeople or people out foreign, they will come up trumps. So get the best person, and give him the resources needed. Don't expect to do a professional job with an amateur budget ... People in Mayo are looking for a plan. They want success, and I think they would row in behind it."

Great common sense.

Based on past experience Mayo will ignore it - in full.

[AZOffaly]

Lads is that Liam O'Neill Kevin O'Neill's father? used to play in goals fadó fadó? If so, he was based in San Diego I think, and was coaching us when we played football out there... Fierce nice man.

[moysider]

Yeah. Kevin s father. Also an All Star. Wing back at county level. Marked David Hickey in 74 AI final. A driving force behind Knockmore s emergence as a force at  senior club. Arguably the best county manager we have had but not popular at the time because of where he came from. There was really nothing to the county before him - a lot like now. Mayo s senior football team in 70s and early 80s was a rabble, in spite of there being lots of players with ability about.

[macdanger2]

By all accounts Liam brought a totally new level of professionalism to the setup in Knockmore back in the '70s. We went from Intermediate in '72 to Connacht Senior champions in '73

[highorlow]

Anyone hear how Micko got on?

[INDIANA]

think the whole thing is bananas personally. The rudimentary basics of assembling a good team have not changed since 1884. Mayo will get paralysed by analysis if they take that post too seriously. At times Mayo nearly care too much. And I mean that in a good way.

[Farrandeelin]

By all accounts Liam brought a totally new level of professionalism to the setup in Knockmore back in the '70s. We went from Intermediate in '72 to Connacht Senior champions in '73

They must be great days back then.

I've heard Dempsey is interested in the job. Regarding J Mohan's point about Mayo ignoring Liam O'Neill's tuppence worth, that's my biggest fear. We will continue to go sideways/backwards if something radical isn't done.