James Horan Appointed Mayo Manager 2011

[moysider]

There must have been all hell breaking loose at the county board convention on Thursday night according to the Western People. Needless to say, there was no sign of any plan to put a review in place, or what they were reviewing. It's good to clear the air all the same, but something must be done soon regarding the 'review'. Nominations must be in from clubs before September the 3rd for the manager's post.

There was some ruptions alright. The mayo news have the Gossip


Nominations sought for manager's job

MAYO COUNTY BOARD MEETING
Daniel Carey
Castlebar

ANYONE interested in becoming the next Mayo senior football manager must apply before August 20, Chairman James Waldron told last Thursday's meeting of Mayo GAA Board.
Announcing the closing date for nominations, The Neale clubman said all proposals from clubs "must be accompanied by a letter" from the person interested in the job. A committee to appoint the next manager will then be set up in accordance with criteria suggested by GAA Headquarters.
Waldron agreed with a Ballaghaderreen delegate who suggested that prospective managers "should outline their vision" for Mayo football. Secretary Seán Feeney added that members of the Board "may also nominate" candidates provided their application includes such a vision. Mick Higgins (Kiltimagh) suggested that the next manager should come "from within the county".
Responding to a question from John Farragher (Garrymore), the Chairman said that rumours of payments to Mickey Moran and John Morrison at the time of their departures in 2006 were "pure melodeon". JP Lambe added that there were "no underhand payments to anyone" during his time as Treasurer.

Review goes back to clubs
CLUBS have been told to discuss the state of football in Mayo and bring proposals to a meeting of their local divisional board to be held by September 6. That was the outcome of a lengthy and sometimes meandering discussion at last week's County Board meeting on the review of Mayo football.
The review, proposed after the senior inter-county team's shock defeat by Longford, will "go back to the clubs" and be discussed at divisional board level before a "strategy to go forward" is compiled, Chairman James Waldron told the meeting. "Go back, talk to your clubs, make submissions, and we'll get committees in place," advised The Neale clubman.
The Executive, County Board, Bord na nÓg, the club structure, divisional boards and the progression from minor to under-21 to senior level should all be examined, said Waldron, who noted: "We have to look at everything".
The early part of the debate centred on underage football before one delegate focused on the adult scene, saying: "2010 was a disgrace from a senior football point of view ... There were lads wearing Mayo jerseys who didn't want to be there ... There's no point asking us to sell County Board tickets next February if we don't have answers."
Richard Cosgrove (Kiltane) said that after the 2006 All-Ireland final, the "lack of physicality" among Mayo players had been noted at a County Board meeting. "What did we do since then to rectify that?" he asked. James Waldron replied that all Mayo panel members were given gym programmes, and Coaching Officer Hugh Rudden said a strength and conditioning programme had been introduced for under-17s.
Aidan Brennan (Claremorris) said the County Board has become "totally ineffectual" and meetings were a "waste of time". Most delegates "would tell you they have no say at all," said the former County Board PRO, who added that the divisional board had become "totally irrelevant". "The main committees of this county are not working, because they're not there," said Brennan, who suggested that the Executive "doesn't want meetings"'. Chairman James Waldron said he totally resented Brennan's comments, and said the workload undertaken by members of the Executive was "unbelievable".
"Nice guys will not win Sam Maguires," said South Board Chairman Mattie Joe Connolly, who called for a change in Mayo's "whole policy from underage level" and approvingly cited Roscommon's "courage and fight".
Pat McManamon (Burrishoole) said that Mayo were "not within shooting distance of Sam Maguire", and that the tone of the meeting suggested that "reality has finally dawned". Mayo were not in the top eight or top 12, he said, but were "a little better than the bottom five".
Amanda Doherty (Kilmaine) commented on the "huge division" in the County Board and said she hadn't "a notion" of being able to sell 60 or 70 Development Draw tickets next year. That point was echoed by Mattie Murphy (Shrule/Glencorrib), who mentioned the fine imposed on his club for not playing the O'Mara Cup final and mused: "If I went to sell County Board tickets in Shrule, I'd be shot going in the gate!"
Mick Higgins (Kiltimagh) said that he had "never heard such an air of negativity" at a County Board meeting before. "We're not Kilkenny footballers," he said. "We're a proud football county."

Review of Coaching and Games
BILLY McNicholas said the future of Mayo Coaching and Games should involve the immediate establishment of "an independent and meaningful" Review Group to review "all coaching and games structures, systems, policies and achievements".
The group should, the Mayo GAA Games Manager said, include representatives of Mayo County Board, Mayo Coaching and Games Development Committee, past and present club managers, coaches, players and administrators, media and other invited interested parties.
Such a review would, McNicholas predicted, "enhance" the "fantastic work" going on at underage level in the county. He made the comments after giving a short presentation on the work of Mayo Coaching and Games at the beginning of last Thursday's County Board meeting.
Mick Higgins (Kiltimagh) said the Mayo minor players of the last two years should be monitored now that many have gone off to college, beginning with the group who reached the 2008 All-Ireland final.
"Do we identify players at under-14 level as possible future county minors?" asked Games Promotion Officer Eugene Lavin. "That doesn't go on enough." But, he added, since 1993, 90 per cent of under-14s brought into the programme make it to minor.
Having elicited that only 15 per cent of under-14s entering the programme are able to use both feet and both hands, Mayo Bord na nÓg Chairman Mike Connelly said a "win at all costs" attitude was "a huge problem", since young players were not being taught the skills of the game.
Eugene Lavin said the "real issue" was what happened after minor level. "I don't think lack of skill was the reason we lost games this year," he added.

Over-40s competition
MAYO GAA Board will contact Croke Park "to seek restoration" of the Masters Football competition, James Waldron told last week's meeting.
A Ballaghaderreen delegate said that Mayo Over-40s captain John Pat Sheridan was "the last man I heard speak with passion" about Mayo football. Mattie Murphy (Shrule/Glencorrib) and John Farragher (Garrymore) both expressed support for reinstating the competition.

ABP decision put back
MAYO GAA Board are "still waiting" for An Bord Pleanála's decision on the controversial aspects of the McHale Park development, Chairman James Waldron told last week's meeting. A decision was due on July 28, but is not now expected until early September.

Mayo All Whites?
MAYO should change the colour of their jersey, one supporter has suggested in a letter to Seán Feeney. Enda Coyne noted that the county had enjoyed All-Ireland success in an all-white jersey, and that with the 60th anniversary of those events now upon us, Mayo should adopt "a white design with green and red trim".

PICK A NUMBER
500,000
THE amount (in euro) which one pending GAA-related claim within Mayo could amount to, according to Paddy Muldoon.

QUOTE OF THE NIGHT
"I haven't seen a good fight in a match"
Swinford delegate (and referee) Peter Geraghty bemoans the lack of passion in Mayo football

Kind of reminds of the line in the WHO song "meet the new boss same as the old boss"

Some of the characters quoted in the above piece are part of the problem not the solution, makes you want to laugh and then cry.

Nail on the head. Anybody remember Ballymagash on Hall's Pictorial Weekly?

[An Gaeilgoir]

There must have been all hell breaking loose at the county board convention on Thursday night according to the Western People. Needless to say, there was no sign of any plan to put a review in place, or what they were reviewing. It's good to clear the air all the same, but something must be done soon regarding the 'review'. Nominations must be in from clubs before September the 3rd for the manager's post.

There was some ruptions alright. The mayo news have the Gossip


Nominations sought for manager's job

MAYO COUNTY BOARD MEETING
Daniel Carey
Castlebar

ANYONE interested in becoming the next Mayo senior football manager must apply before August 20, Chairman James Waldron told last Thursday's meeting of Mayo GAA Board.
Announcing the closing date for nominations, The Neale clubman said all proposals from clubs "must be accompanied by a letter" from the person interested in the job. A committee to appoint the next manager will then be set up in accordance with criteria suggested by GAA Headquarters.
Waldron agreed with a Ballaghaderreen delegate who suggested that prospective managers "should outline their vision" for Mayo football. Secretary Seán Feeney added that members of the Board "may also nominate" candidates provided their application includes such a vision. Mick Higgins (Kiltimagh) suggested that the next manager should come "from within the county".
Responding to a question from John Farragher (Garrymore), the Chairman said that rumours of payments to Mickey Moran and John Morrison at the time of their departures in 2006 were "pure melodeon". JP Lambe added that there were "no underhand payments to anyone" during his time as Treasurer.

Review goes back to clubs
CLUBS have been told to discuss the state of football in Mayo and bring proposals to a meeting of their local divisional board to be held by September 6. That was the outcome of a lengthy and sometimes meandering discussion at last week's County Board meeting on the review of Mayo football.
The review, proposed after the senior inter-county team's shock defeat by Longford, will "go back to the clubs" and be discussed at divisional board level before a "strategy to go forward" is compiled, Chairman James Waldron told the meeting. "Go back, talk to your clubs, make submissions, and we'll get committees in place," advised The Neale clubman.
The Executive, County Board, Bord na nÓg, the club structure, divisional boards and the progression from minor to under-21 to senior level should all be examined, said Waldron, who noted: "We have to look at everything".
The early part of the debate centred on underage football before one delegate focused on the adult scene, saying: "2010 was a disgrace from a senior football point of view ... There were lads wearing Mayo jerseys who didn't want to be there ... There's no point asking us to sell County Board tickets next February if we don't have answers."
Richard Cosgrove (Kiltane) said that after the 2006 All-Ireland final, the "lack of physicality" among Mayo players had been noted at a County Board meeting. "What did we do since then to rectify that?" he asked. James Waldron replied that all Mayo panel members were given gym programmes, and Coaching Officer Hugh Rudden said a strength and conditioning programme had been introduced for under-17s.
Aidan Brennan (Claremorris) said the County Board has become "totally ineffectual" and meetings were a "waste of time". Most delegates "would tell you they have no say at all," said the former County Board PRO, who added that the divisional board had become "totally irrelevant". "The main committees of this county are not working, because they're not there," said Brennan, who suggested that the Executive "doesn't want meetings"'. Chairman James Waldron said he totally resented Brennan's comments, and said the workload undertaken by members of the Executive was "unbelievable".
"Nice guys will not win Sam Maguires," said South Board Chairman Mattie Joe Connolly, who called for a change in Mayo's "whole policy from underage level" and approvingly cited Roscommon's "courage and fight".
Pat McManamon (Burrishoole) said that Mayo were "not within shooting distance of Sam Maguire", and that the tone of the meeting suggested that "reality has finally dawned". Mayo were not in the top eight or top 12, he said, but were "a little better than the bottom five".
Amanda Doherty (Kilmaine) commented on the "huge division" in the County Board and said she hadn't "a notion" of being able to sell 60 or 70 Development Draw tickets next year. That point was echoed by Mattie Murphy (Shrule/Glencorrib), who mentioned the fine imposed on his club for not playing the O'Mara Cup final and mused: "If I went to sell County Board tickets in Shrule, I'd be shot going in the gate!"
Mick Higgins (Kiltimagh) said that he had "never heard such an air of negativity" at a County Board meeting before. "We're not Kilkenny footballers," he said. "We're a proud football county."

Review of Coaching and Games
BILLY McNicholas said the future of Mayo Coaching and Games should involve the immediate establishment of "an independent and meaningful" Review Group to review "all coaching and games structures, systems, policies and achievements".
The group should, the Mayo GAA Games Manager said, include representatives of Mayo County Board, Mayo Coaching and Games Development Committee, past and present club managers, coaches, players and administrators, media and other invited interested parties.
Such a review would, McNicholas predicted, "enhance" the "fantastic work" going on at underage level in the county. He made the comments after giving a short presentation on the work of Mayo Coaching and Games at the beginning of last Thursday's County Board meeting.
Mick Higgins (Kiltimagh) said the Mayo minor players of the last two years should be monitored now that many have gone off to college, beginning with the group who reached the 2008 All-Ireland final.
"Do we identify players at under-14 level as possible future county minors?" asked Games Promotion Officer Eugene Lavin. "That doesn't go on enough." But, he added, since 1993, 90 per cent of under-14s brought into the programme make it to minor.
Having elicited that only 15 per cent of under-14s entering the programme are able to use both feet and both hands, Mayo Bord na nÓg Chairman Mike Connelly said a "win at all costs" attitude was "a huge problem", since young players were not being taught the skills of the game.
Eugene Lavin said the "real issue" was what happened after minor level. "I don't think lack of skill was the reason we lost games this year," he added.

Over-40s competition
MAYO GAA Board will contact Croke Park "to seek restoration" of the Masters Football competition, James Waldron told last week's meeting.
A Ballaghaderreen delegate said that Mayo Over-40s captain John Pat Sheridan was "the last man I heard speak with passion" about Mayo football. Mattie Murphy (Shrule/Glencorrib) and John Farragher (Garrymore) both expressed support for reinstating the competition.

ABP decision put back
MAYO GAA Board are "still waiting" for An Bord Pleanála's decision on the controversial aspects of the McHale Park development, Chairman James Waldron told last week's meeting. A decision was due on July 28, but is not now expected until early September.

Mayo All Whites?
MAYO should change the colour of their jersey, one supporter has suggested in a letter to Seán Feeney. Enda Coyne noted that the county had enjoyed All-Ireland success in an all-white jersey, and that with the 60th anniversary of those events now upon us, Mayo should adopt "a white design with green and red trim".

PICK A NUMBER
500,000
THE amount (in euro) which one pending GAA-related claim within Mayo could amount to, according to Paddy Muldoon.

QUOTE OF THE NIGHT
"I haven't seen a good fight in a match"
Swinford delegate (and referee) Peter Geraghty bemoans the lack of passion in Mayo football

Kind of reminds of the line in the WHO song "meet the new boss same as the old boss"

Some of the characters quoted in the above piece are part of the problem not the solution, makes you want to laugh and then cry.

Nail on the head. Anybody remember Ballymagash on Hall's Pictorial Weekly?

Ballymagash is right. Why will the clubs bother to nominate someone for the job when it was stated durig the meeting that the CB can also nominate their own names as well and delegates already lining up the " it must be someone from inside the county" bullshit. For once why cant it be the right man for the job and not where he is from or a nominee from the CB panel of yes men. It's a bloody joke, the set up is rotten from top to bottom. Mayo intercounty senior football is at a low ebb. The men of '51 must be proud of how their legacy is been handled. Shame on all involved.

[saffronandblue]

I have said it on here before, but the only thing required to be a Mayo manager is that you must be a Fine Gael supporter.....That leaves Noel Connelly, John Maughan etc as the type of candidates that will be considered.  There is so much politics involved in Mayo GAA that it is a joke.

You can put your house on Connelly if he wants the job which will be a disaster from what I have heard from players who have played under him at under 21 level.

[Rossfan]

Was talking to a Mwr man who claims the Tanned One is front runner 

[moysider]

Was talking to a Mwr man who claims the Tanned One is front runner 

Would that be Sir John or Lord Liam?

[Rossfan]

The one and only media star himself JM .
He couldnt do any worse than the Messiah anyway.

[bucko]

After reading the depressing article from the Mayo News about the meeting the other night, I'm even more skeptical about this so called "review" and feel we're at risk of sinking even lower than we are at the moment. One quote I remember from Mickey Harte was about the "unity of purpose" that existed in 2003, that players, management, County board and supporters groups were all pulling in the one direction, winning Sam. Here we have a County Board in denial of having anything to do with the current situation and apparantly now also butting heads with club delegates, a senior squad that are demoralised and demotivated and supporters who have become disillusioned after this years performances. It is nearly the exact opposite of what Tyrone had in 2003, and, as was stated at the meeting, they way things are at the moment we are definitely not within shooting disatnce of Sam Maguire.
                                                                                   I'm glad that they are moving on with appointing a manager now as I believed one should be in place for the knockout rounds of the club c'ship and the trip to New York for the FBD final, and the choice of manager has become even more important than it ever was. Even if he was just to get lads motivated and organised just to deliver better performances than this season gone would be a good first step. The players involved this year have and can play better than this years performances. As the quarter finals have shown, motivation/hunger, organisation, sticking to a gameplan and workrate can count for an awful lot. If those qualities could be instilled for next year, I'd be optimistic about how far we'd go. Doubtful about an All-Ireland, but confident we could have a majorly better campaign than this year.
                                                                                                                             Another thing, the 2004 player development proposals should be dusted off and implemented now. They were a good idea then and still are. In all lkelyhood this "review" would probably recommend them anyway, so why waste time? At least it might show that the county board have an interest in developing players and a style that would stand a chance of delivering the big honours down the road.     

[moysider]

The one and only media star himself JM .
He couldnt do any worse than the Messiah anyway.

He d be a popular enough choice from what I m hearing. Although he has annoyed a few people in recent years. At least you d know what you d get. Right enough he went down like a lead balloon in Roscommon but we had some of our best ever days with him. He wasn't perfect and probably a few daft decisions on selection cost him and us dearly in both his previous managements. Maybe the added years have made him a bit cuter in that respect. Questions would have to be asked. Would he be doing the training himself, for example.

[Rossfan]

Questions would have to be asked. Would he be doing the training himself, for example.

50 laps of a ploughed field every night for 6 months 

[Tubberman]

God, that Mayo News article is very depressing 
If that's the level of debate and leadership, I can't see how anything meaningful will come of this review.
Go back to the clubs, tell us what ye think and we'll form committees. Bullshit.
There is no real plan of how this review will be structured, what it's aims/purposes are, how the clubs responses will be turned into measurable targets/goals.
It looks to me like it will be a talking shop to let delgates get their frustration off their chest. Some sort of a wordy, waffly document will be put together, promises will be made to implement it, then everyone's attention will turn to the new manager and the new football year.

[IolarCoisCuain]

It's a measure of how worried people are that a friend of mine from Knockmore told me he'd like to see Maughan come back (well, he said Maughan wouldn't be the worst, which is as near as a Knockmore man could go about Maughan). It shows you though - there's blind terror out there about who'll take over next. There's serious talent coming through at minor and Under-21 - will we make the most of it or will we let it rot?

The Ballymagash meeting doesn't fill me with hope.

[saffronandblue]

It's a measure of how worried people are that a friend of mine from Knockmore told me he'd like to see Maughan come back (well, he said Maughan wouldn't be the worst, which is as near as a Knockmore man could go about Maughan). It shows you though - there's blind terror out there about who'll take over next. There's serious talent coming through at minor and Under-21 - will we make the most of it or will we let it rot?

The Ballymagash meeting doesn't fill me with hope.

I don't think there is a Knockmore man alive who would want the tanned one back after his treatment of Kevin O'Neill, Peter Butler, Kevin Staunton and Declan Sweeney when they were in their prime.  They may not have been up to Tom Reilly standard but they were not far off.  I remember watching Knockmore playing Crossmolina in Castlebar last year.....O'Neill beat them on his own and maybe only Maughan who was prancing on the sideline might have thought that he was not good enough.  Will he have learned from previous mistakes......does a leopard change his spots.....but at least it keeps the Fine Gael boys happy in the county board. 

This is only a gripe from one fan from one club, Id say that people could name a good few other players from a variety of clubs who were treated poorly by the same man.

Maybe someone could select a Mayo team of players that Maughan did not use enough of?

[Beard]

Holy moly, just had a scan throught this thread which covers everthing from Mick O'Dwyer to Ballymagash, from McHale Park building contracts to James Nallen as a selector, from Fine Gael and blueshirts to 1951 and 1989.....and where do we end up......... John bloody Maughan


I'm not anywhere near as knowledgeable as the other contributers here when it comes to Mayo football, or indeed football in general for that matter but I know over thinking when I see it and this is definitely a case of over thinking. I think Mayo people (and west of ireland people in general) think too deeply about things and this often leads to teams collapsing under the weight of expectation and pressure. In reality football is just football, you win something you have a spring in your step for a day or two and then it's back to the normal drugery. There is no need to let it take over your life and the more relaxed you are the more successfull you will be. The length and scope of this thread shows just how desperate Mayo people are for success and desperation doesn't tend to be a great ingredient for winning stufff. I expect when Mayo do eventually win the AI it will come out of nowhere....like the Dubs in 74. 

Mayo would appear to have around five or six candidates at their disposal who would all be more or less equally capable of doing the job.  Whoever takes the job will have two big problems IMHO. Firstly, how to deal with the mental scars and secondly, Mayo may have plenty of underage talent but they lack a team leader or a focal point to carry the team on to great things. No team has ever won anything without a personality in the team who guys can turn to in a moment of crisis and get the bit of inspiration to push on the extra half yard to get over the line. If the new manager can find or develop this player he will be in business.

So for what it's worth I think the managerial issue is kind of a secondary concern for Mayo at the moment. Mayo should be wondering where the Peter Canavan or Daragh O'Shea or Padraig Joyce type figure going to emerge from rather than agonising over whether the next manager will be Pat Holmes or John Maughan or Noel Connelly or Ray Dempsey or James Horan or persons unknown.

[Donnellys Hollow]

Just a thought - if Colm Coyle's hail mary garryowen had hopped into John Madden's arms in 1996 would a 'bronze' (excuse the pun!) statue of John Maughan now stand in the middle of Castlebar?

It really is a game of inches.

[IolarCoisCuain]

Just a thought - if Colm Coyle's hail mary garryowen had hopped into John Madden's arms in 1996 would a 'bronze' (excuse the pun!) statue of John Maughan now stand in the middle of Castlebar?

It really is a game of inches.

If that ball hadn't bounced over the bar there isn't a man on or associated with that Mayo panel who would have had to buy his own porter at home for the past fourteen years. Game of inches, as you say.