Ciaran McDonald not named in Mayo panel

[Lar Naparka]

So there’s another twist to the story!
I’ve referred before to an interview that O’Mahony gave to the Mayo News, back earlier in the year, before the league began.
In it he claimed that he had spoken to Ciaran on the phone about his medical state and furthermore it was reported in that interview that he would be kept informed of Mac’s progress.
Now Mac appears to flatly contradict this.
One of them seems to been economical with the truth.
I just wonder which of them it is….

[highorlow]

Jasus, if this is where my 20 euro / mth is going .......................?

Sounds to me like the only way both MacD and JOM can get any concilliation on this is to meet face to face. MacD has a stubborn history so I can't see this happening and therefore can't see him playing under Johno.

I don't want to be walking down the street later on and having lads coming up to saying 'what sort of Mayoman are you when you won't even play for your county'. It's the management's decision that I'm not there and people should know that," he said.

Johno has said that he is still open to MacD coming back.. the ball is now back in his court, it will be interesting to see 'what sort of Mayoman he is ' in the next week or so. My view is that he will be the stubborn sort.

In saying all this I respect both MacD and JOM, both for thier past exploits, however whats done in the past is over now and its the future of the county now that counts. We can't be living off past glory's (or near ones!).

[furboot]

Like most others I am a big fan of McDonald and his skills and thrills but I think it's naive to assume that 'management' made a mistake in the way they communicated (or didn't communicate) - just 1 text ? surely the dogs in the street would know that to get McD back required more than a text - previous conflicts and problems between him and previous managers happened and had to be resolved. So the history of the management of the man is there and surely the current management know that it would have to be a bit more than a text - a bit of an effort but not much and so what !!!! So firstly, the type and level of communication can't have been an oversight or mistake by management - can it? - if they failed to see that one coming it's very worrying as surely a major characteistic of management these days is 'people skills'. Very worrying if they were blind to what was needed - unlikely you would have to say.

Second, the issue that is a bit more delicate. Many highly talented sportspeople and players can pose a few problems for managers (Roy Keane comes to mind). And avoiding going into the who's right / who's wrong debate let's just take it "that's the way it is". So should Ciaran McD be treated a little different by management and by that I mean basic things like communication, trial matches, friendly matches etc.....a little bit of a different approach, a bit of pandering maybe, a bit of comprimise here and there. It looks like that's what was needed. For all we know maybe some efforts were made. CMcD has often tested his managers but there is no question that he has contributed greatly to Mayo football, is a hard working and honest player and there's plenty of football in him yet !! Maybe it's late but not too late for the 'people skills' and "diplomatic skills" user manuals to be dusted down.!!!!

[highorlow]

Tuesday, 22 January 2008 
More might be revealed under Ballinrobe lights

Mike Finnerty

THERE are some very important phone calls to be made by Mayo manager John O'Mahony this week as he attempts to finalise his panel for the National Football League that begins on Saturday, February 2.
Despite some speculation, there has been no agreement yet reached between Mayo and Ballina about the availability of the Stephenites' players for the opening round of the NFL away to Derry.
Mayo take on Westmeath in a challenge game next Saturday night under floodlights in Ballinrobe and O'Mahony confirmed that "some guys will be back" for that game. However, he declined to confirm which specific players will return, saying that "all will be revealed" after he contacted players individually later this week.
The likes of Trevor Mortimer, David Heaney, James Nallen, Kevin O'Neill and Ciaran McDonald played no part in the FBD League but both Mortimer and Heaney are expected to be back in the fold sooner rather than later.
Mayo also play DIT next weekend in a challenge game and among those expected to feature in at least one of the two games are Tom Cunniffe, Aidan Campbell, Aidan Kilcoyne, Barry Moran, Conor Mortimer and Andy Moran.
Westmeath manager Tomás Ó Flatharta will also be anxious to get back to winning ways ahead of his team's opening game in Division 2 of the National League away to Dublin.
Next Saturday evening's match throws-in at 6.30pm and the winners will be presented with the Tim Kelly Engineering Floodlit Cup. Ballinrobe GAA Club Chairman, Peter Walkin is expecting a large crowd to turn out.
"There's something very special about night-time football and advice to people intending to travel would be to get to Flanagan Park in plenty of time and enjoy the atmosphere and the action."




Were all the players contacted by text message in Jan last?

[highorlow]

Meanwhile, John O'Mahony confirmed that David Heaney, Kevin O'Neill and Trevor Mortimer will be concentrating on weights during the month of January while James Nallen and Ciaran McDonald have yet to rejoin the squad.
However, he said that no player from last year's panel had made themselves unavailable for selection.
"What we're beginning here is a transition period and we'd like everyone on board to help us get onto the next level," explained the Mayo manager. "Everyone is available if needed at the moment but things will probably become clearer over the next few weeks and months. Nobody has opted out yet anyway."



From Mayo News 2nd Jan 08

[ildanach]

I heard parts of the the interview on the internet this morning (i only had one ear on it as i was busy at the time). But oen bit i did hear was that jom would not rule out naming mcd in the panel at some stage  and that the panel of 29 is a not a definative number with injuries (barrett)etc. He also spoke about mcds fine display at the weekend.
I get the impression that the mcd interview has put the cat amoungst the pigeons and that mcd will be names in the next few weeks

[moysider]

Lads, there are a few things we have to keep in mind about Mayo football.
We fans are a very hard lot to satisfy!
We want an AI every year and feel disappointed if we only go close. There is no pressure like this put on any other manager or panel. And if there is pressure is coming form the fans, the county board seem to be a hard lot to get on with also.
Think of every manager back to Johnno and the 89' final: Did a single one of them leave the scene without bad feelings of some sort?
I think it was brave or foolhardy of Johnno to take on the job for a second spell; already there is a backlash growing. It would appear that Ciaran has left of his own free will. Good luck to him if he did; that's his decision. 
Whatever the reason, O'Mahony knows he will blamed by many if we don't win an A1 this year.
O'M did say he was in for a three year haul and I don't seem him extending his term beyond that. I hope we all now row in behind him and his team and urge them on to go as far as they can this year. Speculation will always be a fact of life in Mayo football circles but it is time to put this controversy to bed and move on.

Agree Lar but you know as well as I do that it wont happen that way. Everybody knows that Mac would never do what DB did and announce his retirement and get the 2 page Western spread. And as long as he says nothing there will be speculation from some  fans about a possible comeback as long as we re alive in the championship. Other people I talked about him being not in the panel we re not too bothered. 'No harm' was one remark I remember. Realistically if he were to be involved he should have been involved a couple of months ago in some way or other. I have never agreed with his late returns to the panel. Compare that to Padraig Joyce s early appearance every year and how Galway have a settled team most years for the league rounds.On the other hand Mac is such a good player it ll be always tempting to have him back - late or not. As I said, management would have preferred a quick kill on this with an announcement of retirement but that s not going to happen and its bound to get messy and drag on for this summer at least. The fact that the best attacking talent we ve produced since Mac came on the scene a decade and a half ago[ and the best we re likely to see for some time] has gone to Aussie rules makes it more difficult for some fans to accept that Mac is  not going to be there either anymore.

I hope ye forgive me for kinda quoting myself but the only shocking thing about this is that some people sound surprised by developments. something was going to happen.

Alarm bells started ringing for me when Johnno mentioned trial match a few weeks ago. When I said as much on here I nearly got ate. Trial matches are a not too great a  way of sorting underage talent. If management wanted to check Mac s form they had plenty of opportunity to go watch him play for his club in recent weeks. They would quickly establish whether he had something to offer or not. And before anybody comes on to point out that a trial match would be asking him to step up a notch  and club is nt county -  dont bother. Spare me the BS. Like a good horse trainer can tell the well being of a classhorse by just watching him move any halfarsed football man would be able to tell last Sunday whether Mac was up to it anymore or not. As soon as his injury had cleared up he was back. End of.

As for communicating with players by text, that only happens even at club junior level for week to week housekeeping duties. Things like traveling arrangements. Not at all appropriate in this instance. I know for a fact that when Tommy Lyons was manager of Ballina he regularly rang some lads - those away at college etc - just to keep tabs on things. If they could nt get Mac on the phone they could have visited him at work [ not ideal I know but worth it] or nabbed him after a Crossmolina match.

I too was puzzled about they naming this panel BS. If the County Board insisted on it because they wanted closure for secretarial reasons because of the grants then it s a sorry development. Was nt so much against the grants myself but if the GPA and the grants initiative have contributed to this mess well.......

Dont know whether to laugh or cry to be honest. The Johnno interview was car crash radio. Never heard the man under so much pressure. I wonder would he have been as quick off the mark going to the radio if he was nt concerned about his popularity as a politician being damaged. It struck me as being an exercise in damage limitation. You could almost see him dodging the bullets.

[Farrandeelin]

Heard the beginning of the interview on the radio myself. Have to say O'Mahony sounded like a great politician dodging questions left, right and centre. I'd imagine Mac would call it like it is though. Although the heading of the article 'Forced Out' is hardly fair either...

[moysider]

Heard the beginning of the interview on the radio myself. Have to say O'Mahony sounded like a great politician dodging questions left, right and centre. I'd imagine Mac would call it like it is though. Although the heading of the article 'Forced Out' is hardly fair either...

Not fair at all  Farrandeelinbut thats sports editing at the Indo I m afraid. Pity those giving Mac advice did nt tell him to ring Keith Duggan or Kieran Shannon  and not Brehony. 

[heffo]

Heard the beginning of the interview on the radio myself. Have to say O'Mahony sounded like a great politician dodging questions left, right and centre. I'd imagine Mac would call it like it is though. Although the heading of the article 'Forced Out' is hardly fair either...

Not fair at all  Farrandeelinbut thats sports editing at the Indo I m afraid. Pity those giving Mac advice did nt tell him to ring Keith Duggan or Kieran Shannon  and not Brehony. 

In fairness to the Journalist, they have no input into the headlines.

[Lar Naparka]

highorlow, can you recall if this is the interview in which O’Mahony stated he had been in phone contact with Mac about the state of his injuries and would be keeping in phone contact about his recovery. The timing is about right but I can’t recall the exact words now.
John was stating here that he had been in contact with Ciaran and would be kept informed of his progress. Period.
Both of them can’t be right!
It’s the manager call when picking his panel and if he has decided to dispense with Ciaran’s services, I’d say, “F**k him, but he has the right to do it!”
If he dropped him in the way the player claims, it reflects no credit whatsoever on the management. It’s just my opinion but I think both of them may have flung their rattles out of their prams in this case.
For my own peace of mind and to avoid controversy dogging the team throughout the championships, I hope the matter of Ciaran’s departure is settled. (If that includes a possible return, it would be mighty!)

[moysider]

Heard the beginning of the interview on the radio myself. Have to say O'Mahony sounded like a great politician dodging questions left, right and centre. I'd imagine Mac would call it like it is though. Although the heading of the article 'Forced Out' is hardly fair either...

Not fair at all  Farrandeelinbut thats sports editing at the Indo I m afraid. Pity those giving Mac advice did nt tell him to ring Keith Duggan or Kieran Shannon  and not Brehony. 

In fairness to the Journalist, they have no input into the headlines.

In fairness Heffo I did blame the editing rather than the journalist. I just think if he was advised to talk to the fourth estate then he might have gone for more a up- market journalist whose editor would nt sensationalise things. Lord knows things are sensational enough around here at the best of times.

[heffo]

Heard the beginning of the interview on the radio myself. Have to say O'Mahony sounded like a great politician dodging questions left, right and centre. I'd imagine Mac would call it like it is though. Although the heading of the article 'Forced Out' is hardly fair either...

Not fair at all  Farrandeelinbut thats sports editing at the Indo I m afraid. Pity those giving Mac advice did nt tell him to ring Keith Duggan or Kieran Shannon  and not Brehony. 

In fairness to the Journalist, they have no input into the headlines.

In fairness Heffo I did blame the editing rather than the journalist. I just think if he was advised to talk to the fourth estate then he might have gone for more a up- market journalist whose editor would nt sensationalise things. Lord knows things are sensational enough around here at the best of times.

Comment withdrawn - didn't read your post properly!

[Maradona]

Lots of assumptions re who contacted who, was it a text or a call, etc.

Fact is this probably had to come to a head. I for one want Mayo to always have the strongest panel together, and of course that still includes CMD. However one of the most frustrating things over the years has been the 'will he - wont he' regarding the likes of McDonald, Brady and others and too much pandering required by management in my mind, which goes against collective team building and going for a common objective. It is a team game after all. As said before, I am probably MCD's biggest fan, but looking at the bigger picture and all Mayos falings through the years, I think we all agree that we needed a stricter approach to getting committment of players. It just cant help team morale to have uncertanties among key players going into the summer. Yes, a key aspect of management is managing different personalities in different ways, but also must be seen to be fair to all as well. I think all in Mayo love CMD, and I'm sure a lot of the Mayo panel are big fans also, and sure he is a different carachter, but at the end of the day you are either in or you are out. What about the like of Heaney, T Mortimer, A Higgins, etc - lot of service there also. Ironic that the first 'interview' in years comes when MCD's bluff is called - great to know that he still wants to play for Mayo, because down through the years we were never sure until we actually saw him on the pitch. Look at it this way, there were two scenarios:

1. JOM leaves the door open to MCD. Outcone....continued speculation, squad, training methods, tactics, preparations can not be really finalised if a key player may be returning, MCD returns close to the championship, possib morale is affected, preparations have to be revisited, etc - in summary, Mayo not fully prepared as they should be going into the champtonship

2. JOM finalises squad - preparations can be properly planned and Mayo are best prepared for championship with all panel members playing a full part in the preparations.

Ideal scenarion now is that both get together and sort out the issues and we get out best squad together. In fairness I think JOM had to set the example, he will probably take some rap for it, but that is the way I want Mayo managed into the future

[AbbeySider]

Lots of assumptions re who contacted who, was it a text or a call, etc.

Fact is this probably had to come to a head. I for one want Mayo to always have the strongest panel together, and of course that still includes CMD. However one of the most frustrating things over the years has been the 'will he - wont he' regarding the likes of McDonald, Brady and others and too much pandering required by management in my mind, which goes against collective team building and going for a common objective. It is a team game after all. As said before, I am probably MCD's biggest fan, but looking at the bigger picture and all Mayos falings through the years, I think we all agree that we needed a stricter approach to getting committment of players. It just cant help team morale to have uncertanties among key players going into the summer. Yes, a key aspect of management is managing different personalities in different ways, but also must be seen to be fair to all as well. I think all in Mayo love CMD, and I'm sure a lot of the Mayo panel are big fans also, and sure he is a different carachter, but at the end of the day you are either in or you are out. What about the like of Heaney, T Mortimer, A Higgins, etc - lot of service there also. Ironic that the first 'interview' in years comes when MCD's bluff is called - great to know that he still wants to play for Mayo, because down through the years we were never sure until we actually saw him on the pitch. Look at it this way, there were two scenarios:

1. JOM leaves the door open to MCD. Outcone....continued speculation, squad, training methods, tactics, preparations can not be really finalised if a key player may be returning, MCD returns close to the championship, possib morale is affected, preparations have to be revisited, etc - in summary, Mayo not fully prepared as they should be going into the champtonship

2. JOM finalises squad - preparations can be properly planned and Mayo are best prepared for championship with all panel members playing a full part in the preparations.

Ideal scenarion now is that both get together and sort out the issues and we get out best squad together. In fairness I think JOM had to set the example, he will probably take some rap for it, but that is the way I want Mayo managed into the future

Id agree with a lot of that Maradona. Its a fair way of looking at it. Even though I think the door is open for his return.
I hope both parties are mature enough to sort it out.