Ciaran McDonald not named in Mayo panel

[rrhf]

I would love to see Mc Donald get an ai medal alebeit after Tyrone went out. 

[stephenite]

Maybe I am a bit old fashioned but I find the idea of communicating with senior players like Nallen and McDonald by SMS very unedifying. I woud have thought that over the past couple of months O'Mahony would have either met the senior players or spoken to them by phone to find out if they were available or to tell them straight out that he did not see them as part of his plans. These players deserve a degree of respect. It would have been good manners (and good politics) to speak with them.

I would agree with you TJ - but from talking to those involved over the last few years under varuous IC managers this appears to be the preferred mode of communication. I'm also wondering that if Johnno himself was too busy could he not have sent someone else to meet them, Tommy and Kieran Gallagher are well able to meet up and tlak on behalf of the management team. If I'm wrong and Jimmy Nallen was given a more courteous approach than I take back what was said above, but I can't see why he would treat lads differently, especially ones he needed more than others.

[mannix]

Onus is on jom?
There is no answer here,he loses face if he brings him back to play and if he doesn't he may  be viewed as an idiot  for leaving a player like this off the panel.
I hope they can work it out between them but I think once this trigger was pulled there is no going back.

[the Deel Rover]

Totally agree with you tatler jack . Dont think he has shown them much respect . However  mc donald seems to resigned to the fact that he wont be playing for mayo judging by the first comment  however he just wanted to let the mayo fans know his side of the story and john o probably did not factor this in no more than the rest of us

[RedandGreenSniper]

Ah lads this is going to be a disaster for Mayo, we won't see McDonald again and I can feel the anti O'Mahony vibe rising already.

I think a number of things have to be said.


O'Mahony clearly had no desire to bring McDonald back into the panel. He knew the risk of coming out and saying there would be no place for McD in terms of a public backlash. So he tried to play it cagey, send out a token text, say he had made contact and then presume McD wouldn't come out and say anything - the man hasn't given an interview in over four years like.


If he did want him back he would have done a lot more than make one phone call and one text message. We're not talking about a callow under 21 here - we're talking about one of the most experienced players in the squad. To invite him to a trial by SMS is an insult. Jesus a junior club player wouldn't respond to a text like that!
I take Stephenite's point that McDonald wasn't entitled to an automatic place on the squad. But if Johnno, who is famed to be such a good man manager as seen with Michael Donnellan and Kevin Walsh, wanted to see what McD was made of then he would have tried to coax him in, met him, explained the situation and got him in for a look. A text message speaks of a pure token jesture. If he got no response to the text then surely he should have rang him?

I was thinking over the last 24 hours whether McDonald being back in would be a good thing. He has a tendency to play his own game at times but a player of his talents is hard to ignore. But this blows all that out of the water. The McDonald issue is now very much a stick to beat O'Mahony with. I think it will be no coincidence if we see McD give one of his best ever seasons for the Deel Rovers.

I don't think its a case of playing politics either. The two seem to be poles apart, I think this definitely spells the end of McD's days for Mayo.

O'Mahony probably has his reasons for not picking him, looking to the future, not wanting younger lads to be dwarfed by McD's presence etc. I see his reasons for not coming out and admitting as much but I bet he wishes he did now.

[IolarCoisCuain]

Johnno due on MWR now to discuss the situation: http://www.midwestirishradio.com/index.php

[heffo]

Looking at it from an outsiders perspective, and as a huge admirer (not in a gay sense!) of McDonald's, I would say JOM has handled it badly.

In terms of CMcD not being around for the league, that's pretty standard practice in a lot of counties that the older players take the winter off the recharge the batteries - look at Daire O Se coming back overweight for Kerry, but see what kind of influence he has come July.

If I were CMcD and I were asked to play in a trial game, I'd be quite insulted - especially if your form could be seen playing for your club. McD doesn't strike me as the kind of fella to spend the winter on the piss either...so I can't imagine fitness is an issue.

JOM should really have been keeping in touch regularly with McD  by phone, and if it were the case that he wanted to build for the future or change the pattern of play, to not have McD as the focal point, then he really should have had the decency to tell him straight out - all players start waning at some point, but most retire/are retired gracefully. The focus should be on Mayo's first game, but this albatross is going to be hanging around JOM's neck now imo..

[RedandGreenSniper]

Johnno asked did he agree to meet McD. O'Mahony said he had been in contact with McD more than any other footballer over the last 18 months.
Says about problems with getting into contact some days with McDonald because of his work. Saying that he doesn't want to get into too much detail.
Says "if you can't get in touch with a player with a call you might text them.
That may have happened in this case." Really on the back foot

[the Deel Rover]

John o on the radio now admited mc contacted by text seems stunned not denying anything mc said was incorrect

[RedandGreenSniper]

Jesus I'm surprised he's coming on here because he's not doing himself any favours.
Says there's nothing to rule out McD coming back in the future if injuries or form comes into it but doesn't want to give the impression that the panel could change next week.
JOM saying he has nothing but admiration for McD. Says any comments McD is fine but JOM's way of doing things is behind the scenes and not in public.
'We'll be watching this space as time goes on was his last word."

[Tubberman]

God, this story has really blown up since Mc's interview!
What McD has to say certainly throws a different light on it. In my opinion, neither JOM nor McD have handled the situation particularly well.
It seems JOM has decided that he doesn't have McD in his plans for this year. Certainly, if he saw him as a central part of his plans there would have been more contact than a single text and a single call. Then again, according to MidWest listeners, JOM said he has been in contact with McD more than any other player over the last 18 months....

I don't think there's any probem with JOM wanting to have a look at McD in a trial game. But sending a text asking him to come down from Dublin to be there on a Tues night wasn't the right way to approach it. Having said that, I'm sure if McD had rang JOM and explained that he couldn't make it, another time could have been arranged.
If you look at the example of James Nallen, he played a trial game and is now in the panel.

The situation now is that the whole thing is in the public domain, and that's going to increase the pressure further. McD obviously has lost a lot of respect for JOM at this stage, and who knows if he'd rejoin the panel now if asked.
JOM is really under the microscope now and has to deliver this year - otherwise he'll be the man who ended McDs career and delivered nothing for Mayo. That might be harsh, but it's how many will judge it.

[the Deel Rover]

Looking at it from an outsiders perspective, and as a huge admirer (not in a gay sense!) of McDonald's, I would say JOM has handled it badly.

In terms of CMcD not being around for the league, that's pretty standard practice in a lot of counties that the older players take the winter off the recharge the batteries - look at Daire O Se coming back overweight for Kerry, but see what kind of influence he has come July.

If I were CMcD and I were asked to play in a trial game, I'd be quite insulted - especially if your form could be seen playing for your club. McD doesn't strike me as the kind of fella to spend the winter on the piss either...so I can't imagine fitness is an issue.

JOM should really have been keeping in touch regularly with McD  by phone, and if it were the case that he wanted to build for the future or change the pattern of play, to not have McD as the focal point, then he really should have had the decency to tell him straight out - all players start waning at some point, but most retire/are retired gracefully. The focus should be on Mayo's first game, but this albatross is going to be hanging around JOM's neck now imo..

Your spot on with everything you said Heffo and as you said in your last paragraph  he should have just told mc he was been dropped from the panel however john ' o is a shrewd operator and would be aware of the public backlash so now it looks like he sent Mc a text on a tuedsay asking him to attend a trial game ( didn't even have the decency to ring mc up poor in my opinion ) mc didn't attend therefore he could then say that mc was not interested in playing for the county. What he didn't figure nor us here would that Mc would respond through the media not his style.As i said before he could have handle it so much better if he really wanted him can't imagine him contacting Kevin Walsh by text in 1998 asking him to committ to the panel. I can't see mc been invited back no matter how he plays a o' mahony would loose face however as least for once we got mcs side of the story

[the Deel Rover]

God, this story has really blown up since Mc's interview!
JOM said he has been in contact with McD more than any other player over the last 18 months....

Ye 18 months cover a long period of time however if he has only contacted Mc once by phone and once by text in the last 5 months thaths not a lot

[Moose]

Maybe I am a bit old fashioned but I find the idea of communicating with senior players like Nallen and McDonald by SMS very unedifying. I woud have thought that over the past couple of months O'Mahony would have either met the senior players or spoken to them by phone to find out if they were available or to tell them straight out that he did not see them as part of his plans. These players deserve a degree of respect. It would have been good manners (and good politics) to speak with them.

Have to agree with you your comments Tatler, it is a bit unedifying to contact someone through text for a trial game, a phone call explaining the situation, whats expected, etc. Talk to the player on the phone or in person. This is all very messy. There's absolutely no reason that Ciaran Mc shouldn't have been automatically invited back on the panel, he has done enough over the years to deserve that.

[Hound]

JOM knew that Ciaran would ignore the text message.

However, given that he did ignore the invitation, McDonald hasnt got a leg to stand on. He was offered a trial game, but there's no way he'd play in a trial game. JOM has the right to perform his selection process in whatever way he wants - but its deliberate poor man management in an effort to force McDonald out.