Mayo GAA Discussion Thread

Loafing Oaf · 15-09-2014 2:05pm

http://www.irishtimes.com/sport/gaelic-games/gaelic-football/james-horan-hits-out-at-mayo-county-board-1.1929401?page=1

Times precis of lengthy Horan interview in Western People. Has a go at County Board for not making an issue of the replay venue after the drawn game. I still think before the first game was the time to be making an issue of this if there was to be any chance of changing the venue but whatever...

Also defends putting Cafferkey on Donaghy and has a dig at "guys with white boots and bleached hair – all flash and no substance": no idea who that could be aimed...:p

Defiler Of The Coffin · 15-09-2014 2:19pm

Loafing Oaf wrote: »

http://www.irishtimes.com/sport/gaelic-games/gaelic-football/james-horan-hits-out-at-mayo-county-board-1.1929401?page=1

Times precis of lengthy Horan interview in Western People. Has a go at County Board for not making an issue of the replay venue after the drawn game. I still think before the first game was the time to be making an issue of this if there was to be any chance of changing the venue but whatever...

Also defends putting Cafferkey on Donaghy and has a dig at "guys with white boots and bleached hair – all flash and no substance": no idea who that could be aimed...:p

In fairness to the County Board I did hear Aidan McLoughlin on Newstalk the day after the drawn match complaining about the replay being held in Limerick. I don't know what more they could have done really, the GAA told them it was to be played in Limerick and that was that.

keane2097 · 15-09-2014 2:30pm

Thought the dig at Mort was a bit uncalled for tbh.

naughto · 15-09-2014 2:35pm

We don't no how things ended with mort and horan bar him getting the door.
Horan is right we where sh1te when he took over and relied on mort all the time.
He was to good to play the sub role and thought he could walk on to the team

Boom__Boom · 15-09-2014 3:04pm

You'd have to wonder at his motivation about coming out with this stuff now before a new manager is appointed.

Ideally you would have hoped that he would have been consulting with the county board on what sort of skills the next manager would need, where he felt there was room for improvement , where he made mistakes so the next guy wouldn't repeat them - basically helping the county board with the recruitment process, passing on all the knowledge he picked up, instead of the current situation where both the county board and Horan seem more concerned about taking potshots at one another and making the Mayo job look less and less attractive.

Also the comment on Mortimer is just ridiculous stuff altogether - it's on the level of school-kid juvenile stuff.

He could easily have waited until the manager was in place rather than coming out with this and making the process of appointing a new manager that bit harder

Also on Donaghy the thing is I doubt anyone was saying that Mayo didnt have a plan, they had a plan - Cafferkey would mark Donaghy the problem was that Mayo didnt have a plan B in case that Cafferkey was getting cleaned which happened. Given the trouble that Donaghy caused in his cameo in the first game this was unforgivable stuff.

MaroonAndGreen · 15-09-2014 3:18pm

Conor Mortimer tweeted today: ''Pity one those so called white boots bleached headed guys was prob the best footballer mayo has ever produced #mcdanger'' he is of course referring to Ciaran McDonald there, but id say he knows well the comment from Horan was aimed at him.

I know its a debate thats been had over and over and its a little tiresome for many, but there is no doubt that Conor Mortimer had more to offer Mayo in the past 4 years than Enda Varley, Darren Coen etc... its a pity it didnt work with himself and Horan. I blame Horan, he had a great corner forward and didnt manage him properly IMO. Its the managers job to be able to manage different personalities and to bring them together, Horan failed desperately with Mort, and we paid for that in 2012 especially when we had Conroy and Varley in the corner forward positions... what an upgrade Conor would have been on them. (Remember Varley missing 2-3 left footed frees in the second half of the final versus Donegal? Mort nails those)

Individual man-management is an area that let Horan down, along with tactical naivety at times.

FaganJr · 15-09-2014 3:20pm

keane2097 wrote: »

Thought the dig at Mort was a bit uncalled for tbh.

Boom__Boom wrote: »

You'd have to wonder at his motivation about coming out with this stuff now before a new manager is appointed.

Ideally you would have hoped that he would have been consulting with the county board on what sort of skills the next manager would need, where he felt there was room for improvement , where he made mistakes so the next guy wouldn't repeat them - basically helping the county board with the recruitment process, passing on all the knowledge he picked up, instead of the current situation where both the county board and Horan seem more concerned about taking potshots at one another and making the Mayo job look less and less attractive.

Also the comment on Mortimer is just ridiculous stuff altogether - it's on the level of school-kid juvenile stuff.

He could easily have waited until the manager was in place rather than coming out with this and making the process of appointing a new manager that bit harder

Also on Donaghy the thing is I doubt anyone was saying that Mayo didnt have a plan, they had a plan - Cafferkey would mark Donaghy the problem was that Mayo didnt have a plan B in case that Cafferkey was getting cleaned which happened. Given the trouble that Donaghy caused in his cameo in the first game this was unforgivable stuff.

He was dead right, we were a joke and Mr mortomer didn't help the situation! He was not missed then and is still not missed!

MaroonAndGreen · 15-09-2014 3:23pm

FaganJr wrote: »

He was dead right, we were a joke and Mr mortomer didn't help the situation! He was not missed then and is still not missed!

He may not be missed now, but there is no doubt we would have been a better team in 2012 if he hadnt been frozen out by Horan

Loafing Oaf · 15-09-2014 3:23pm

keane2097 wrote: »

Thought the dig at Mort was a bit uncalled for tbh.

And grossly unfair really, to imply a guy with his scoring record has 'no substance'.

The whole thing reads a bit like Father Ted's 'Golden Cleric' acceptance speech: a torrent of pent-up score-settling against "all the people who've really fecked me over down the years.":
"Conor Mortimer, he really needs taking down a peg or two...the County Board should be under 'twats' rather than 'liars'"

We'll have to wait for Roy Keane's new autobiography to read something else in that vein...

Boom__Boom · 15-09-2014 3:39pm

FaganJr wrote: »

He was dead right, we were a joke and Mr mortomer didn't help the situation! He was not missed then and is still not missed!

In a sense I agree with you [even still it's not like Mayo werent a proud GAA county before Horan came along and I'd probably agree with you that Mortimer leaving the squad was an overall positive] , but my main point is what's to be gained by Horan coming out with this now?

It's hardly putting the best interest of Mayo football first, which is a shame as he did a massive amount for Mayo GAA and obviously cares deeply, but at the moment coming out with this stuff is just a hindrance and unnecessary and seems to be all about soothing Horan's ego and scoring points against the county board.

MaroonAndGreen · 15-09-2014 3:47pm

Boom__Boom wrote: »

In a sense I agree with you [even still it's not like Mayo werent a proud GAA county before Horan came along and I'd probably agree with you that Mortimer leaving the squad was an overall positive] , but my main point is what's to be gained by Horan coming out with this now?

It's hardly putting the best interest of Mayo football first, which is a shame as he did a massive amount for Mayo GAA and obviously cares deeply, but at the moment coming out with this stuff is just a hindrance and unnecessary and seems to be all about soothing Horan's ego and scoring points against the county board.

Horan did great things for Mayo GAA, really brought us in with a chance of All Ireland glory, but there is a bitter taste left after his comments.

Horan seems to have fallen out with a lot of players in his time: Conor Mortimer, Richie Feeney, Alan Feeney, Alan Freeman... also if ye remember the Mortimer family statement (:pac:) accused Horan of having an agenda against a whole club.. highly unlikely though in fairness!

''When the previous manager was in charge, there were four Shrule/Glencorrib players on the panel. Now there are none. Mark Ronaldson was another example from last season – he was playing well and was dropped from the panel.''

Im trying to show that Horan's relationship was strained with alot of people, and the County Board was no different. I hope our next manager wont be drawn to conflict as much.

FaganJr · 15-09-2014 4:06pm

Boom__Boom wrote: »

In a sense I agree with you [even still it's not like Mayo werent a proud GAA county before Horan came along and I'd probably agree with you that Mortimer leaving the squad was an overall positive] , but my main point is what's to be gained by Horan coming out with this now?

It's hardly putting the best interest of Mayo football first, which is a shame as he did a massive amount for Mayo GAA and obviously cares deeply, but at the moment coming out with this stuff is just a hindrance and unnecessary and seems to be all about soothing Horan's ego and scoring points against the county board.

He's probably making the point of where we are now and then, type comparisson.
And I agree with him whole heartedly. The only thing not to change is the County Board not doing their job correctly and what he says is true.
"It was a disgrace that they said NOTHING about the replay"
Spineless, thats not what a manager with the Ultimate ambition wants!
Watch out next man in, you will be fighting from within also! Hard to beat the opposition in those circumstances!

Boom__Boom · 15-09-2014 4:06pm

MaroonAndGreen wrote: »

Im trying to show that Horan's relationship was strained with alot of people, and the County Board was no different. I hope our next manager wont be drawn to conflict as much.

Yeah - it just seems like a massive waste of time/energy.

If you want to win an All-Ireland going around constantly getting into squabbles, especially with people from your own county seems hugely counterproductive.

The Mortimer statement was a serious gem although - that's likely to follow them for a few generations.

Boom__Boom · 15-09-2014 4:10pm

FaganJr wrote: »

He's probably making the point of where we are now and then, type comparisson.
And I agree with him whole heartedly. The only thing not to change is the County Board not doing their job correctly and what he says is true.
"It was a disgrace that they said NOTHING about the replay"
Spineless, thats not what a manager with the Ultimate ambition wants!
Watch out next man in, you will be fighting from within also! Hard to beat the opposition in those circumstances!

You don't go to the press to have these fights, especially not now when the county board is trying to recruit a new manager. All this will achieve is 1) make the county board dig their heels in and be more stubborn and 2) make getting a top manager that bit harder and 3) make the new manager wary before he even starts the job [not helped by the county board's nonsense about demanding written assurances

Overall there is very little in the way of positives to be gained from Horan speaking out now and a whole lot of negatives. Very unwise imo.

BPKS · 15-09-2014 8:44pm

Loafing Oaf wrote: »

http://www.irishtimes.com/sport/gaelic-games/gaelic-football/james-horan-hits-out-at-mayo-county-board-1.1929401?page=1

Times precis of lengthy Horan interview in Western People. Has a go at County Board for not making an issue of the replay venue after the drawn game. I still think before the first game was the time to be making an issue of this if there was to be any chance of changing the venue but whatever...

Also defends putting Cafferkey on Donaghy and has a dig at "guys with white boots and bleached hair – all flash and no substance": no idea who that could be aimed...:p

Did Keith Higgins not wear white boots in the games against Kerry?

Barlett · 15-09-2014 8:45pm

Boom__Boom wrote: »

You'd have to wonder at his motivation about coming out with this stuff now before a new manager is appointed.

Ideally you would have hoped that he would have been consulting with the county board on what sort of skills the next manager would need, where he felt there was room for improvement , where he made mistakes so the next guy wouldn't repeat them - basically helping the county board with the recruitment process, passing on all the knowledge he picked up, instead of the current situation where both the county board and Horan seem more concerned about taking potshots at one another and making the Mayo job look less and less attractive.

Also the comment on Mortimer is just ridiculous stuff altogether - it's on the level of school-kid juvenile stuff.

He could easily have waited until the manager was in place rather than coming out with this and making the process of appointing a new manager that bit harder

Also on Donaghy the thing is I doubt anyone was saying that Mayo didnt have a plan, they had a plan - Cafferkey would mark Donaghy the problem was that Mayo didnt have a plan B in case that Cafferkey was getting cleaned which happened. Given the trouble that Donaghy caused in his cameo in the first game this was unforgivable stuff.

In an ideal world Horan would be part of overseeing the whole structure of Mayo football, but I would think the County Board have zero interest in consulting Horan over anything.

As an aside there's not a whole lot of difference between Horan's man-management and that of Jim McGuinness, for both it was their way or the highway. But Jim got Donegal over the line

TCDStudent1 · 15-09-2014 11:32pm

realweirdo wrote: »

Mayo have proved over the last 3 years they can beat any team on any given day and when they have lost to the bigger teams its usually been by only a score or two, usually because of bad tactics, a bit of bad luck or bad refereeing.

When you are that close to other big teams, it really does come down to small things that make the difference such as a decision going against you or making one or two tactical errors.

Unlike a lot of people such as TCDstudent, I do believe this Mayo team has what it takes, even if you stick with most of the team that started against Kerry. Obviously you change your formation and team to match your opponent...ie they have a 6"5 full forward, we need to put in a new full back. But like I said the core of the team is good enough to win an AI.

Horan was a great manager, but unfortunately, he persisted with flawed tactics too often and was loyal to some players when they should have been dropped.

I don't think Connelly has done anything particularly special as a manager. Co-Manager for the under 21 team, fair enough, but he was co-manager and it was under 21s.

This is senior football we are talking about where you have to be a tactical genious. I also thought Castlebar were lucky to make the club AI final last year. They equalised late against St. Brigids when injury time went on too long, Colm Cooper's injury was a stroke of luck in the semi-final. As for the final, they had no plan to deal with Diarmuid Connolly who was the main danger man. He dictated the play and none of the Castlebar players got near him. We can't afford tactical naivity like that for Mayo.

As other posters have said, this Mayo team, which many consider a golden generation, will be over the hill in a few years, and if we don't get this particular managerial appointment right, we could be back into the dark ages again or sufferning more near misses.

To be honest, I think if any Mayo player is thinking with that mindset, they will definitely not come back and win an AI. Every Mayo player should be looking back at the last year (last 3 years I suppose) and be asking "How can I improve on what I did in that year?" Only in that way will they improve and have the possibility of becoming an AI winner. They certainly wont become AI champions by thinking they didnt win it in the last few years because of luck or referees.

TCDStudent1 · 15-09-2014 11:38pm

From that interview:

“Look, forget all this talk. We had numerous plans to deal with all situations and Ger Cafferkey is a superb full-back, end of story. The supply of ball into their full-forward line was the problem.

“However it’s time to let that go and move on.”

The mind boggles - sure, he is a good player. But good players have bad matches and sometimes need to be switched. Last week in the hurling, Richie Hogan was struggling at midfield and was switched to centre forward. It was a switch that changed the match. I remember Seamus Moynihan cleaning P. Joyce for Galway back in 00. Galway had to put Joyce out to wing forward. There is no shame in switching a good player away from their natural position. Every player, no matter how good they are, will have a bad match or struggle with an opponent at some stage.

I liked Horan a lot during his time as Mayo manager. Thought he talked a lot of sense but he has gone down a lot in my estimation this year. The whole thing with the Cork management and now this interview.

davegrohl48 · 16-09-2014 7:17am

The supply of ball was the problem. Complete head in the sand guff.

SeanJ09 · 16-09-2014 9:27am

Speaking if Mortimer, I wonder has he any aspirations of playing for Mayo again and will he make himself available to the new manager?

FaganJr · 16-09-2014 11:10am

SeanJ09 wrote: »

Speaking if Mortimer, I wonder has he any aspirations of playing for Mayo again and will he make himself available to the new manager?

Lets hope not, a good player in his day, but in todays game, too small and light. Also hes past his best physically & mentally.

boosabum · 16-09-2014 11:20am

FaganJr wrote: »

Lets hope not, a good player in his day, but in todays game, too small and light. Also hes past his best physically & mentally.

I think Mortimer is the same age as Dillon and most likely of similar height and weight. I couldn't see how physically he would be that much inferior to Conroy, Varley, Sweeney, Dillon or Moran.

Anyone know how he's fairing out in the Dublin championship, is he shooting the lights out every game ?

Mentally, hmmm, double hmmm. I think if he was able to accept a bit part, he may make a useful impact sub

FaganJr · 16-09-2014 11:24am

boosabum wrote: »

I think Mortimer is the same age as Dillon and most likely of similar height and weight. I couldn't see how physically he would be that much inferior to Conroy, Varley, Sweeney, Dillon or Moran.

Anyone know how he's fairing out in the Dublin championship, is he shooting the lights out every game ?

Mentally, hmmm, double hmmm. I think if he was able to accept a bit part, he may make a useful impact sub

The point is the team should be moving forward, Dillon will be retiring this year so no point bringing in someone whos already past it. Develop the young lads with a fresh manager.

Fr Tod Umptious · 16-09-2014 12:13pm

Loafing Oaf wrote: »

http://www.irishtimes.com/sport/gaelic-games/gaelic-football/james-horan-hits-out-at-mayo-county-board-1.1929401?page=1

Times precis of lengthy Horan interview in Western People. Has a go at County Board for not making an issue of the replay venue after the drawn game. I still think before the first game was the time to be making an issue of this if there was to be any chance of changing the venue but whatever...

Also defends putting Cafferkey on Donaghy and has a dig at "guys with white boots and bleached hair – all flash and no substance": no idea who that could be aimed...:p

I'm going to have to go against that grain on this "guys with white boots and bleached hair – all flash and no substance" stuff.

For the years up to Horan taking over the joke about Mayo football was "guys with white boots and bleached hair – all flash and no substance".
It was trotted out the way the “they don't have a marquee forward” is now.

But when you look at it a bit closer you will see that they guys had the white boots and bleached hair were also the guys with the substance, Mort is not Mayo's most prolific scorer for nothing.

So when Horan mentions the "guys with white boots and bleached hair – all flash and no substance" he is as much taking a swipe at the media and their lazy analysis as he is anyone else.
That being said he know full well what the reaction would be.

I supported Horan when he dropped Mortimer in 2012 and even though Mortimer would have certainly added to Mayo in the past few season Horan did what he had to do at the time.

I'd also agree with Horan on his though that the problem with Donaghy was the ball in to him.

I said on a thread here before the replay that the best way to deal with Donaghey was to stave him of ball and make him come out the field, thus negating his infulence inside.
You starve him of ball by winning midfield.
But as it turned out Mayo were well beaten in the middle, thus the ball going into Donaghey was the problem.
Of course Horan should have done something during the game to resolve the problem.

And as for his arguments with the County Board, Horan is a tough guy to get along with, that's just the way he is, and this interview is no surprise, it's the way the guy acts.

Overall I think Horan did a great job with Mayo, I welcomed his appointment and I welcome his departure at this point.
In all 4 years Mayo went down fighting, something they had not done in the 20 year previous

As for Mort coming back, I think he would be a great impact sub, lets see what happens with the new manager

naughto · 16-09-2014 1:32pm

Mort coming back where did this come from?what age is he now?

GBXI · 16-09-2014 1:37pm

BPKS wrote: »

Did Keith Higgins not wear white boots in the games against Kerry?

I think someone has a problem with understanding what was actually written.

KMFCross · 16-09-2014 1:39pm

http://hoganstand.com/ArticleForm.aspx?ID=224391

Be great if this man came back for a year. Still playing great football.

irishgeo · 16-09-2014 2:15pm

KMFCross wrote: »

http://hoganstand.com/ArticleForm.aspx?ID=224391

Be great if this man came back for a year. Still playing great football.

at 39 , your having a laugh

KMFCross · 16-09-2014 2:18pm

irishgeo wrote: »

at 39 , your having a laugh

He's still as fit as ever from what i hear. Could be a great impact sub.

BPKS · 16-09-2014 2:19pm

GBXI wrote: »

I think someone has a problem with understanding what was actually written.

Horan says he got rid of some of the bullsh1t which surrounded Mayo, that perception of them as a bunch of fancy Dans who died their hair and wore white boots.

Is that the jist of it?

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