James Horan steps down as Mayo manager

[Syferus]

Is there any way ye Mayowestros bucks can ban Syfín from slabbering all over ye on this Board?
He's a total embarrassment to us all.
I think ye're in for a few leaner years now in Connacht and hopefully we can try and fill the gap somewhat.
However it may take us a few years yet to do so( till we dispense with some of our older/overrated lads) so I expect the Herrins to make hay for the next 2 years 

Mother of god ,  how long more are ye going to be saying ''in another few years'' ? Mental stuff. Its the stuff of generations now at this stage , next years minors will not remember Ross ever beating Mayo at senior level.


Oh and Btw we have a mighty  chance of retaining the nestor next year albeit a first year for new management and patience will be needed. It will probably take  2/3 years before we are winning in croker again.

Patience my hole Larry. We ve a team at its peak still. In 2/3 years Dillon, Andy and Higgins may no longer be about.

The only thing that has prevented us winning at least 1 AI last 3 years was a bit of extra savvy tactically against the top managers.
Today s game showed how close we were/are. But anybody that thinks we would have won today against Donegal needs to lie down for themselves. As good as Horan was he was not in the same league as McGuiness or Fitzmaurice when it comes to getting tactics right. Fitzmaurice today outfoxed McGuinness and that takes doing.

We need a manager that can match likes of these top other managers. Can Connelly do this? I dunno about him but I do know Pat Holmes can t. Why does Connelly need Holmes along anyway?
I d have no gripe with Connelly getting his shot but not the other guy again. This is the best Mayo team I ve ever seen. But this looks like a shotgun appointment. Shows lack of ambition by the clubs/board and this bunch of players may well go now the way of other golden generations we had.
And like Farr. said earlier, spare us the old guff of getting behind the new management.
Hopefully this will turn out to be an inspired appointment. Mayo teams/fans  deserve as much expertise as Donegal, Dublin or Kerry.
Maybe we re getting it but I doubt it very much.

McStay was the moonshot to be honest. The better bet would have been to double down on the characteristics that made Horan so good rather than getting a friendlier face. But, politics.

Genuinely hope Kevin and Liam will be tempted by the 'hometown' gig when Evans steps down. I think McStay has a lot to offer as a manager and has matured over his tenures managing teams over the last 20 or so years. He has gotten better with time and I think he's at a point where he can perform at the highest level as a manager.

It's weird to think we'd be more accepting of two of Mayo's most lauded ex-players than Mayo after what happened with Maughan but I think they wouldn't be viewed as mercs in the way Maughan was and McStay obviously has deep roots here. Imagine if he started winning things with us as this great Mayo team was fading away.. the clock is on Connelly, if he doesn't do it instantly he probably won't do it at all.

[larryin89]

''Spare us the guff about getting behind new management .''    Well ffs i took my cue off the masses whhen i had my doubts Horan could deliver after Dublin defeat and i done as i was told. Surely we can give the two men  a year at least before we judge.  I'm not Holmes s biggest fan either but sure all i can hope is he has learnt from his mistakes. He done great with Mitchells this year up to the all Ireland final, Brigids and corofin were well fancied before Castlebar to win Connacht. He lost Feeney early through a black card and Connolly had the mother of all games 70 mins of magic like Ciran Mac second half v Nemo.   

What could he have done though>? Brought Cunnife out to chase him and then free mOssey quinn who Cunniffe was holding well.

[macdanger2]

Is there any way ye Mayowestros bucks can ban Syfín from slabbering all over ye on this Board?
He's a total embarrassment to us all.
I think ye're in for a few leaner years now in Connacht and hopefully we can try and fill the gap somewhat.
However it may take us a few years yet to do so( till we dispense with some of our older/overrated lads) so I expect the Herrins to make hay for the next 2 years 

Mother of god ,  how long more are ye going to be saying ''in another few years'' ? Mental stuff. Its the stuff of generations now at this stage , next years minors will not remember Ross ever beating Mayo at senior level.


Oh and Btw we have a mighty  chance of retaining the nestor next year albeit a first year for new management and patience will be needed. It will probably take  2/3 years before we are winning in croker again.

Patience my hole Larry. We ve a team at its peak still. In 2/3 years Dillon, Andy and Higgins may no longer be about.

The only thing that has prevented us winning at least 1 AI last 3 years was a bit of extra savvy tactically against the top managers.
Today s game showed how close we were/are. But anybody that thinks we would have won today against Donegal needs to lie down for themselves. As good as Horan was he was not in the same league as McGuiness or Fitzmaurice when it comes to getting tactics right. Fitzmaurice today outfoxed McGuinness and that takes doing.

We need a manager that can match likes of these top other managers. Can Connelly do this? I dunno about him but I do know Pat Holmes can t. Why does Connelly need Holmes along anyway?
I d have no gripe with Connelly getting his shot but not the other guy again. This is the best Mayo team I ve ever seen. But this looks like a shotgun appointment. Shows lack of ambition by the clubs/board and this bunch of players may well go now the way of other golden generations we had.
And like Farr. said earlier, spare us the old guff of getting behind the new management.
Hopefully this will turn out to be an inspired appointment. Mayo teams/fans  deserve as much expertise as Donegal, Dublin or Kerry.
Maybe we re getting it but I doubt it very much.

McStay was the moonshot to be honest. The better bet would have been to double down on the characteristics that made Horan so good rather than getting a friendlier face. But, politics.

Genuinely hope Kevin and Liam will be tempted by the 'hometown' gig when Evans steps down. I think McStay has a lot to offer as a manager and has matured over his tenures managing teams over the last 20 or so years. He has gotten better with time and I think he's at a point where he can perform at the highest level as a manager.

It's weird to think we'd be more accepting of two of Mayo's most lauded ex-players than Mayo after what happened with Maughan but I think they wouldn't be viewed as mercs in the way Maughan was and McStay obviously has deep roots here. Imagine if he started winning things with us as this great Mayo team was fading away.. the clock is on Connelly, if he doesn't do it instantly he probably won't do it at all.

I don't think McStay is ill-regarded by mayo supporters, it would probably be fairly evenly split between those favouring him against connelly.

A lot of non-mayo people might not like McStay but at least he was willing to put his money where his mouth is unlike most of the rest of the RTÉ pundits

[moysider]

home
Lets take this in baby steps - apologies in advance but I m pretty pissed off after attending that AI today.

Mayo have been good enough to win an AI these last few years. Dublin were considered a better panel but look at what happened them when they thought off-the-cuff would do. Arguably the best 2 teams in the country were at home watching the AI on tv this year. Why? Because the other 2 teams had better tactical managers.

Tactically Mayo have never been good. Because we are a strong footballing county we can usually do well casually enough. But when a tactical approach is involved we ve always been shite. Kerry - the most traditional of them all - adapted a defensive game and prevailed. Will the old traditionalists in Kerry complain? Will they f**k. What a satisfying win for Kerry - yeah it took a bit of effort and a 16 yr old won MOM - but we re f**king about all the time.   

[macdanger2]

home
Lets take this in baby steps - apologies in advance but I m pretty pissed off after attending that AI today.

Mayo have been good enough to win an AI these last few years. Dublin were considered a better panel but look at what happened them when they thought off-the-cuff would do. Arguably the best 2 teams in the country were at home watching the AI on tv this year. Why? Because the other 2 teams had better tactical managers.

Tactically Mayo have never been good. Because we are a strong footballing county we can usually do well casually enough. But when a tactical approach is involved we ve always been shite. Kerry - the most traditional of them all - adapted a defensive game and prevailed. Will the old traditionalists in Kerry complain? Will they f**k. What a satisfying win for Kerry - yeah it took a bit of effort and a 16 yr old won MOM - but we re f**king about all the time.

I agree that he got the match ups right today but how much of tactics is luck though?? Sending on Donaghy in the SF was desperation stuff from Fitzmaurice but it won the all Ireland for kerry in the end. I remarked at the time that Kerry were f*cked sending this guy on, how wrong I was.....

[moysider]

home
Lets take this in baby steps - apologies in advance but I m pretty pissed off after attending that AI today.

Mayo have been good enough to win an AI these last few years. Dublin were considered a better panel but look at what happened them when they thought off-the-cuff would do. Arguably the best 2 teams in the country were at home watching the AI on tv this year. Why? Because the other 2 teams had better tactical managers.

Tactically Mayo have never been good. Because we are a strong footballing county we can usually do well casually enough. But when a tactical approach is involved we ve always been shite. Kerry - the most traditional of them all - adapted a defensive game and prevailed. Will the old traditionalists in Kerry complain? Will they f**k. What a satisfying win for Kerry - yeah it took a bit of effort and a 16 yr old won MOM - but we re f**king about all the time.

I agree that he got the match ups right today but how much of tactics is luck though?? Sending on Donaghy in the SF was desperation stuff from Fitzmaurice but it won the all Ireland for kerry in the end. I remarked at the time that Kerry were f*cked sending this guy on, how wrong I was.....

Donaghy won Kerry this AI and he mostly did it in the last few minutes of the first semi-final. He is now probably above Eoin Liston as the best Kerry 14 of all time. Looking at the second goal again on tv he actually read and nailed it. Maybe the substitution v Mayo in the first semi was desperation? But it was treated so casually by ourselves that we invited what happened coming. This is Donaghy after all. How do you treat him so casually? He s a nightmare.

Neil Gallagher was out on his legs the last quarter today and mostly because he was getting back to try and help out on Donaghy when Kerry were building. If we got one of our big men to do that last few minutes of drawn game things could be different.

[maigheo]

To say that Donahy is a better F.F than Liston is going a bit far .Kerry are deserving All Ireland winners but they had  the luck with there 2 goals and that had nothing to do with tactics.Kerry had the better players on the day and that is what usually wins you games and any talk of Mayo or Dublin  being the 2 best teams in ireland this year is rubbish as they  were not good enough to get there.

[larryin89]

To say that Donahy is a better F.F than Liston is going a bit far .Kerry are deserving All Ireland winners but they had  the luck with there 2 goals and that had nothing to do with tactics.Kerry had the better players on the day and that is what usually wins you games and any talk of Mayo or Dublin  being the 2 best teams in ireland this year is rubbish as they  were not good enough to get there.

Kerry get special treatment and its mostly down to an attitude they have. They get away with a lot more than any other county in Ireland.  The whole thing is just ridiculous with Kerry, as a community the GAA treat Kerry like we have treated the countrys rouges and gangsters as a nation, we have this gra for it all . Paudi(rip) , Micko etc they're legends for doing what they did to Westmeath, Kildare Laois but are they really , what dollars was involved , are we that fooking stupid ?

Take yesterdays final ,  many cynical plays to talk about, the negative manner in which the game was played , BJ Keane one, the obvious 50 that was never given (mchugh practically had to whisper it on tsg ). Why Why why i ask, because its the Kerry thing.

[Lar Naparka]

IMO, Pateen left Mayo football in a far worse state than he found it when  he took on the job the last  time.
I have no confidence at all  that he'll do any better this time. Noel Connelly was a great player. Like Horan, he was a central player in a very strong side and according to Keith Duggan's "The House of Pain,"  he was also a forceful personality in the squad as well.
Dunno much about his work at underage level, but I think he'd do a lot better if he was able to operate on his own.
I can't see the pair of them standing up to the CB in the way Horan did.
There may be trouble ahead and that's for sure.

[AZOffaly]

To say that Donahy is a better F.F than Liston is going a bit far .Kerry are deserving All Ireland winners but they had  the luck with there 2 goals and that had nothing to do with tactics.Kerry had the better players on the day and that is what usually wins you games and any talk of Mayo or Dublin  being the 2 best teams in ireland this year is rubbish as they  were not good enough to get there.

Kerry get special treatment and its mostly down to an attitude they have. They get away with a lot more than any other county in Ireland.  The whole thing is just ridiculous with Kerry, as a community the GAA treat Kerry like we have treated the countrys rouges and gangsters as a nation, we have this gra for it all . Paudi(rip) , Micko etc they're legends for doing what they did to Westmeath, Kildare Laois but are they really , what dollars was involved , are we that fooking stupid ?

Take yesterdays final ,  many cynical plays to talk about, the negative manner in which the game was played , BJ Keane one, the obvious 50 that was never given (mchugh practically had to whisper it on tsg ). Why Why why i ask, because its the Kerry thing.

The 50 (aka the 45) was mentioned loads of times.

[ballinaman]

IMO, Pateen left Mayo football in a far worse state than he found it when  he took on the job the last  time.
I have no confidence at all  that he'll do any better this time. Noel Connelly was a great player. Like Horan, he was a central player in a very strong side and according to Keith Duggan's "The House of Pain,"  he was also a forceful personality in the squad as well.
Dunno much about his work at underage level, but I think he'd do a lot better if he was able to operate on his own.
I can't see the pair of them standing up to the CB in the way Horan did.
There may be trouble ahead and that's for sure.

We have no coaching plan at top level. In other counties like Kerry, the best man is groomed for the job and down our way it's whoever is nominated, free for all.

[Jinxy]

Would there be many former players (other than Connelly & Holmes) involved in coaching in Mayo that would be the same vintage as Horan i.e. 96/97 team?

[ballinaman]

Would there be many former players (other than Connelly & Holmes) involved in coaching in Mayo that would be the same vintage as Horan i.e. 96/97 team?

Ray Demspey was with the minors who got to the All Ireland a few years ago and had an unsuccessful spell with the 21s...
Not sure if Flanagan every coached Ballagh?
Nallen was a selector last year....can't think of any more off the top of my head.

[sans pessimism]

Would there be many former players (other than Connelly & Holmes) involved in coaching in Mayo that would be the same vintage as Horan i.e. 96/97 team?

Ray Demspey was with the minors who got to the All Ireland a few years ago and had an unsuccessful spell with the 21s...
Not sure if Flanagan every coached Ballagh?
Nallen was a selector last year....can't think of any more off the top of my head.

Pat Fallon-Barna

[Geoff Tipps]

Would there be many former players (other than Connelly & Holmes) involved in coaching in Mayo that would be the same vintage as Horan i.e. 96/97 team?

Ray Demspey was with the minors who got to the All Ireland a few years ago and had an unsuccessful spell with the 21s...
Not sure if Flanagan every coached Ballagh?
Nallen was a selector last year....can't think of any more off the top of my head.

Pat Fallon-Barna

Peter Burke is the current goalkeeping coach.