Kevin's time as manager would not have panned out as he wanted but nobody could question his commitment and effort. A genuine fella, we all remember how proud he was when he got the Mayo job.

I/and I am sure other fan's will want to thank Kevin for all he has given to Mayo football and wish him and his family all the very best for the future.

Thank you Kevin & Co for your service. It didn't work out as we all hoped but you had the balls to try where may wouldn't. The Co Board statement was poor, lacked class and not fair to McStay & Rochford who have served their county more than most. The county board P.R.O should be questioned at the next co board meeting about the poor quality statement he issued.

Why should they

As a lifelong Mayo supporter, I feel a deep gratitude to the Mayo players and management who contribute so much to Mayo.
The statement released by the Mayo Co. board reflects poorly on them.

Because your not Manchester United James.

It's an amateur organisation and your CB seem to be in the news as much as your team.

Its called common decency.

The statement from county board that Kevin McStay & backroom team were "relieved from their roles" was very crude & discourteous to say the least,
Kevin tried his best but he didn't get the rub of the green in many instances but that's life. Best of luck to the contenders for job of manager/head coach etc.

Got ya west kerry

@WestKerry totally agree and it's not going to help in the recruitment of a replacement either

@James

No other county would wait and make the process drawn out . Kerry going on about getting rid of o ' Connor only the other week and will do the same. Antrim one gone to no one says a thing. If McStay hadn't gotten sick management would still be gone.

It's common decency to let them go now and not drag it out . Media frenzy & outsiders whenever Mayo do anything box office stuff . At least now Mcstay can recover and not have to worry about weather or not he is staying or going .

Tony McEntee should be offered the job, best candidate out there if available.

Most likely scenario given wording of statement is that the board approached management and asked them to step away. Heels were dug in so boards hand was forced.

I can categorically state that you will see no such statement regarding Jack O Connor.

It'll be done with decency and a wee bit of respect for a man who gave his life to Kerry much like Kevin gave to Mayo.

The tone is always set from the top.

I agree with you Clare

The very best of luck to Kevin, Stephen and their management team in the future
Kevin, Stephen/their back room team are decent honest Mayo people (and the other servants)and deserve better. The wording of the statement is very poor.
Thanks to them for their service to Mayo GAA

Did some posters actually want this management to continue and if not why are ye whinging at the board. They thanked them and removed them. No different to any other county. I never heard as much nonsense. Most of it from outside the county. Oh yes wouldn't they love us to continue not reaching the preliminary quarter finals. I'm too long in the tooth to be listening to this rubbish. Let's get on with the job of getting new management in place. Nobody is bigger than mayo football. We will rise again or is that what the outsider s are afraid of.

I don't know Kevin McS nor do I know any of his team. They seem to me to be a decent group of people who gave their best and I'm very grateful for that. I'm sorry that Kevin has been unwell. I am sure it says more about how much of his heart he put into this role. I hope you recover Kevin and spend time with your family and people you love.
We, as a county seem obsessed with getting over the line and the number of defeats and near misses have given us a mean edge.
We're pretty ruthless with the win or nothing mantra. That doesn't make football fun anymore.
Our county board don't seem to be really connected to the heart of what Mayo means and we are poorer for that.
I would love to see Mayo win an all Ireland. But even more than that I long to see Mayo play for fun. But maybe this is unrealistic. Maybe we are all becoming cut throat.
I want to commend and thank Kevin for taking the risk. He put his heart on the block and it didn't work out. I pray that he'll be well and be proud of his achievements as player and manager in a proud GAA County. It wasn't meant to be but he has played an important part in our journey to glory.
Be kind y'all.
Respect
Máigheo abú

IMO we need someone who can bring:
1. An extra 10% out of the existing panel
2. Innovation in attack while keeping the good defensive man on man structure we have
3. Self belief and mental strength in those final moments -
listened to Sean Cavanagh on OTB this morning talk about how in that great Tryone team, regardless of the score or the way games were going, 'knew' they were going to win.

West Kerry you are absolutely right. This was handled in a totally classless manner. Whoever drafted that statement and approved its release are the ones who should resign.
We all agree a change was coming but this is not the Premier League. People who have given years to the service of Mayo deserved to be treated with respect and dignity.
Thank you Kevin,Stephen and the rest of your team for all your work and efforts. You can move on with your heads held high and dignity intact.

JJ Kelly, it is unfortunate its came to this. But they are sincerely thanked in the statement. Lets say the board approached them to step down on their own terms a week or so ago and they refused how else could it we worded?

“I can categorically state that you will see no such statement regarding Jack O Connor.

It’ll be done with decency and a wee bit of respect for a man who gave his life to Kerry much like Kevin gave to Mayo.

The tone is always set from the top.”

Oh ya, like the same way ye treated Paudi. Short memory buddy.

It does seem from reading between the lines of the statement that the management team were not ready to go and the county board made a decision to relieve them of there duties as they put it which probably was not the best wording to come out with but instead of a drawn out long winded drama and with all there failures the county board made the right call good and early but what do people want in honesty their time was up and the evidence was as clear as day the team have regressed, unfortunately that’s the way it is, being saying it for a while mcentee is the man for the job he was the driving force behind our 16-17 outfit he put savage steel into us anyway sure it’s up in the air hopefully the right people are put in place

Westkerry,

‘Twas “resign or be fired” for Paudi back in the day, and he had a decent record with ye bucks. Obviously the same type of thing has happened here with us (more likely McStay was asked to depart) so I don’t know how the county board were going to phrase it any other way. They were damned either way imo

Hahaha @West Kerry - we'll have to start doing things like you guys so. Like when Peter Keane wasn't even told he was sacked, the county board just put out a statement saying they were taking applications to be the Kerry manager.

We need to have a good idea of the new manager by the time club championship starts. Any other idea would be madness.

Buíochas ó chroí le Kevin, le Stephen agus leis an bhfoireann go léir.

Highorlow

As my name suggests Paidi was a hero of mine.

None of us were happy with how that played out.

But that was 22 years ago and the county board has moved on from that.

Agree with MoDireach, many Mayo people appear to have inherited a sense of entitlement to win and an intolerance of anything less. This , I think, has been molded by our being so close, so often.
The ability of the 2025 Mayo team (& management) to get back on the horse and compete with some of the title favorites, in the last 2 games, was a huge positive.
Winning an all-Ireland will continue to elude us if our main focus is on senior team management. It’s a much bigger challenge.
e.g. Contrast Mayo college Hogan cup success with that of Kerry schools.
Until we’re performing at the highest level in schools and at underage, the conveyor belt will continue to deliver mediocrity.
A bottom-up approach needs to be undertaken where every club and every school is focused on player development.
Let’s pull together. Maigheo go deo.

Martin carney on radio said he didn’t know what negotiations went on with management behind the scenes.I can’t imagine the county board didn’t approach the lads first.as gizmo said what option had they if the management refused to budge.could be that rochrord wanted to stay on but that probably wasn’t the route they wanted to go down.wording of statement could have been better but in all honesty did anyone really want to watch that mind numbing type of football for another year

It looks as if Management did not wish to step down.
There is no nice way of sacking someone.
Give the County Board a break.

@Clare

You mention Antrim. There's numerous journalist online who are putting our statement and the Antrim statement side by side to point out the insane contrast in tone. Bear in mind that McStay is a former player and a Mayo man, McEntee was an outside manager in Antrim, possibly there for incentives. If anything the tone of the statements should've been the other way around. There's a way to do things and it's not this

@Stephenite, The McEntee departure appears to be a mutual one. The Mayo one appears not to be.

You are right West Kerry about this, but come on the Kerry county board handling things with decency? It’s only four years since Peter Keane was ‘invited’ to reapply for a job that he held. Hardly respectful of him.

@MM-MaroonedInThePale

While I agree we have underperformed in Schools football, I'm not sure there is much point in looking at schools success. There is no large school in Mayo which is now the main determining factor in a school's success. Omagh CBS has 130 students in a year. Naas CBS has 170 students in a year. St Patrick's College, Maghera has 220 students per year. St. Brendan's Killarney has 130 students per year.

In Mayo, St. Colman's probably has 60 in a year? Rice College has 80 in a year. St. Gerald's has 100 in a year.

Other than a few years where the Hogan Cup was won by smaller schools from Kerry that were stacked with Kerry minors, in recent times it is being won by the main boys school in huge towns (Far bigger than of our Mayo towns).

I had no problem if Kevin saw out the final year but think criticism of the way things were handled is a bit crazy considering nobody knows exactly what went on. It looks like they didn't want to go so no other option then. The lads were thanked for their time and wished the best like every other manager was. I don't know what else they could do without plamasan. Get it done early and see who's available and get a good luck at the club championship. Good luck Kevin and co in the future.

@Stephenite .

Fair enough. I just think it's a bit over the top reaction by media to be honest . Maybe the tone wasn't great. They obviously had no choice and it's sad that it's come to this . As I genuinely was happy when McStay got the job and he's a gentleman but it just hasn't worked out.

Maybe it was Rochford who wouldn't budge and wanted to stay on I was fearful that they would just keep Rochford on but I am glad they were a bit ruthless for once.

So are we to deduce from the 'relieved of their duties' line that the management team intended to stay on for another year? Surely even they could see the writing was on the wall after 3 years of regression

This Management team were not far off, they just didn't get the rub of green in a lot of those tight games where we drew or lost by a point etc. Mayo football is not in a bad place but it is in a dangerous place my opinion and the appointment of the next management team could be the most important/consequential in recent Mayo GAA history.

Whether you are of the opinion the statement was poorly worded / distasteful etc or not is really not the crux of the issue here , the issue is men in positions of power should not make a statement that will be met with controversy when covering a sensitive issue such as this . That’s the angle I’m coming at it from , really stupid move . Most of us that post on here would like to see some kind of cultural shift in Mayo GAA as a whole , perhaps it has to start from the very top .

My reading of it is that there aren't too many people disagreeing with the decision to see McStay and co not continue on for a fourth year. That decision was expected.
Few people querying as to why it needed to be done so quickly. I am in the camp that Willie Joe and others are in, that there was no harm in not letting it drag on. Reviews were only going to go one way and it would not have been in anyone's best interest in it dragging on into July/August when the writing was on the wall.
Most people seem to have an issue with the wording of it. It came across as cold and heartless. I'm firmly in that camp. A bit of warmth would not have gone astray, particularly given how McStay had his health concerns in the end. County Board didn't need to go into those very personal matters but a better worded statement would have been welcomed. Surely if they knew the meeting was coming up last night, and that there was a very likely outcome to that meeting, a consultant (or even any version of AI) could have been asked to assist in drafting a warm statement instead of the poorly worded, cold, nondescript one that followed.
A story where there didn't need to be one.

I would think there will be some response from members of management that might clarify what was the sequence of events that led to this but in fairness its hard to see how they could stand over a 3 year record which got worse year by year.The crowds have stopped going to games largely because of the way we play but if it was getting results it would be tolerated but once attendances started falling off a cliff it would have alarmed the men at the top

I agree with West Kerry...badly handled interms of the text but there might have been hard conversation in the background we don't know about. As McStay said himself "winning is all that matters the rest is misery"......this kind of thing nevers ends well generally and it likely won't next time either.
Still West Kerry is 100% correct.....badly written statement without much thought I think.

Because it's Mayo it'll almost certainly be leaked if reported on by the end of next week, but I have a very hard time thinking McStay + team were told time was up and that they dug the heels in and forced a removal. They're not stupid, they'd have known it was close to happening last year and absolutely everyone knew it was over this year without question. If it comes out that they forced a push then fair enough, but I think it's very unlikely. Which means there was a much simpler "mutual consent" way to go about this

It's a cold statement but people are overreacting. Move on. We've never had a strong County Board unfortunately, we'd all love to see that change. With the quarters this weekend, all things Mayo football will be forgotten about come Saturday.
Best wishes in particular to Kevin.

On a positive note, good to see Liam Irwin back with Breaffy.

For those talking about we don't have the players below is the team that lined out and lost to Longford (compliments of WJ archive), plenty of the same names that two years later were in AIF.
Everything comes from top down including style of play, we still didn't have scoring forwards but we had threats from many different positions, next manager hope can bring that.
MAYO: David Clarke; Chris Barrett, Ger Cafferkey, Keith Higgins; Donal Vaughan, Trevor Howley, Kevin McLoughlin; Seamus O’Shea (0-1), Pat Harte; Andy Moran (0-2, one a ‘45’), Aidan O’Shea, Alan Freeman (0-5, one free); Conor Mortimer (0-2, one free), Barry Moran (0-1), Alan Dillon (0-3). Subs: Liam O’Malley for McLoughlin, Mark Ronaldson for Aidan O’Shea, Tom Parsons for Howley, Billy Joe Padden for Harte.

The management team ought to have known their time was up and the board must have warned him what was coming. People weren't happy with the results and the regression on the pitch. If he dug his heals in, its poor judgment on the managements part. There was enough of advisors with the management team to see what was happening and tell Kevin to walk before being pushed

Best of luck to Kevin & his team. It was absolutely the right decision & the timing is correct (so long as we use the next few weeks wisely to get the next appointment right). Having new manager in place for club championship would be massive.

A change in mindset next year is needed. Sick to my stomach of the defeatist attitude. If we're good enough to hang with Galway, Tyrone or Donegal, then why can't we believe we can win it? These "great" teams are the cream of the crop supposedly.

We only need to be the best of a pretty average group to be honest. I think we could be right in the mix next year if we get this appointment right.

The only problem is the officers at the top of the Mayo county board need changing too & turkeys don't vote for Christmas

Thanks kevin and co for yere service.
I would like to see Tony mcantee as new manager and to bring mcconville,boyler and joe keane with him.

Thanks to Kevin and his Management team and wishing him good health. Felt it was an unlucky tenure for him, loosing some great players and key injuries did hinder. I believe he truly wanted to deliver for Mayo.

The statement could have been better but best to conclude this quickly and move on. Hoping they now go for youth and freshness (Andy, Austin – some ex players from our golden period) with a good backroom team behind them. Strength and conditioning needs to be carefully looked at – why do we seem to have above average rates of hamstring recurring type injuries.

The mentality has to change to, need a winning mindset (cuteness, decisiveness etc.). The County board also needs to support the next mgmt team better – from the outside looking in it looked like the CB didn’t support this mgmt team since the review last year, or at best the optics were terrible.

We are not in an awful bad place from a player perspective and there is plenty to build on. I would like the next mgmt team to get Carr and Cillian back in if fitness allows. New rules are made for those 2 plus they wouldn’t have to track back (negating their perceived weakness).

Wishing Kevin, Stephen and their backroom team all the best for the future. Thank you to them for their work over the last three seasons. Unfortunately, from a progression and success point of view, it didn't work out and the writing was firmly on the wall after the Cavan result, that performance / result was completely unacceptable. The high point was beating Galway in the NFL Final in 2023 and winning our 13th title.

I feel that the wording of the statement could have been much better, however, high level inter county management is cut-throat stuff. I just hope that the County Board have a structured plan in place to appoint Kevin's successor, the national press will be circling like vultures hoping that they'll make a mess of it. We do not want / need anymore unnecessary attention on us. It's time to re-build.....quietly.

We have plenty players, we are in a situation now with Dublin dominance gone that any D1 team could win an AI, maybe even a D2 team, we need to get it right soon, Tyrone could see a spell of dominance with the underage that they have

Let's just be real now on a counter narrative that is growing that we were not far off the top teans.
Exit in quarter, preliminary and exit in the group.
Eye test and statistics showed we were not good enough in our attack coaching and attacking talent.
We need to accept where we're at. We've fallen away from top table competitive and we need to put in hard work each day to close that gap.
Please don't come at me with this game, that game the other game we were competing and beating top teans.
All that matters is quarter, preliminary and group exits whilst playing average football.

I'm as willing as anyone to give the CB a kicking when it's due but I have no issues with the timing of it, rip off the plaster.

The same people whining about the timing of this would invariably be the same ones whinging if it was let drag on to October and became a saga. Sometimes you can't win.

It's a massively important appointment as we can't fall further away from the top 5-6

I suppose attention now turns to who the next man in the hot seat will be. I appreciate there is A LOT of talk about getting in young managers, yet from what I can see it’s the experienced heads that are running the show at inter county level

Jack O’Connor
Dessie Farrell
Jimmy Mc
Malachy O’Rourke
Kieran McGeaney
PJ (but still has to prove it and get over the line)

I know the hype is building around Austin and Andy but for me, I need to see more on the CV, in particular with Andy. I love Andy to bits but I do genuinely think it might be a bit early. Austin looks like he could be tied up with his business commitments.

For me, I’d be going outside and I’d be calling up Pat Gilroy. People can laugh at that all they want but Pat was the man that changed Dublin G.A.A. far more than Galvin. He changed the culture and basically did a Jim McGuinness in Dublin. Provided an excellent platform for Galvin to go on and dominate. And of course huge credit to Jim for doing exactly that.

If we used our heads correctly I’d say, give it to Pat for 3 years. Get a very solid blend of mayo youth and experience in the backroom team and tidy up both the mess and culture of “being the nearly men”. Pat has proven he can do that. He has no ego. I think he’s our man.

And in 3 years, hand it to Austin or Andy to push on. Them men will have more experience then and will be better for it.

That would be my plan for whatever little value it has.

People are way over-reacting to wording on the statement, the decision had to be made and the sooner the better. What do people want? All wooly plaudits for massive underachievement? Get a grip, we need to get serious and loose this soft mentality if we are ever going to succeed..
Its a tough position, Mayo manager, however with responsibility comes accountability and its as plain to see there has been little or no progression, player development, development of a playing style, etc. in three years with a massive backroom team. I actually feel some promising players that have been introduced over the last few years appear to have actually regressed. First action of this management was to cut Fergal Boland and Darren Coen from the squad before even a trial was held. The leading championship scorer of all time decided he wanted a year out at the age of 32. What evidence do people need and in my opinion, they should have walked themselves sooner. The performance and result versus Cavan was truly horrendous and for the first time in a very long time, I felt at that game that the players didn't actually want to be there, judging by their demeanor on the pitch. Probably the most thing that did my head in though was the media appearances - I assume not intentional, but it was waffle at its best and full of baloney and the whole appearance of indifference with the new rules transpires to be real given our rock bottom stats on 2 pointers and scoring attempts. Personally I wish them well, but time to move on.
I for one would hate to se an outside manager, it needs to be one of our own. My choice would be Andy Moran - yes a bit of a gamble given his limited management experience, but he really does appear to be making a real difference in Monaghan - maybe no coincidence that Monaghan are shooting the lights out and sitting pretty in a QF spot despite loosing their greatest player / forward of all time? Our biggest surgery is needed in our attacking play and surely he can make a difference here. We have potential coming through from underage and we need a youthful, enthusiastic manager who can bring a positive energy and who these lads can look up to. Wouldn't be against a joining up with Austin O'Malley either.

Storm in a teacup. They thanked the mgt team. I don’t understand what they were supposed to do. Total overreaction. Move on now.
Hopefully the following winners this weekend fingers crossed 🤞
Armagh
Donegal
Tyrone
Meath

Agreed 100% JP.

The narrative that we were close makes my teeth itch, you could maybe accept that if it's a one off, but when it's pretty much every game of importance we played over a three year period thats not down to bad luck/ref/venue etc etc thats because we haven't been good enough.

Defensively we are actually grand but ican't get past the lack of attacking guile and quality that continues to undermine mayo teams, an inability or unwillingness to kick 2 pointers (or to shoot at all in many cases), an acceptance of carrying 2 or 3 non-scoring forwards as regular starters etc. Are we producing any Matthew Thompson types?

You have to be in to win it, look out this weekend there will be at least one team who have just been chugging along til now who suddenly spark to life and ramp up through the gears now the serious business is starting

My first comment seems to be I moderation W.J ?

The over reaction in the media is insane. It seems that once one or two journalists share the article, with they’re negative view of wording, everyone jumps on the bandwagon. I wonder did most people actually read it in full?.

As a neutral, I read that statement as quite proffessional. Its obvious that Kevin refused to accept defeat and step away. The board rightly made the decision for him. Thanked him for his efforts and wished them well.

Board acted swiftly, which if appointed in time, gives a new manager a full club championship to identify players.

Finally, posters on here talk about the “Bullshit” in Mayo football. That statement sends a strong message imo, McStay as manager was a complete failure. QF to PQF to Group stage exit. A galling regression rate for a County like Mayo.

The board is rightfully giving a vibe that certain standards have to be met, and any potential manager will not get smoke blown up his backside for the sake of it.

All year I read of posters on here givin out about the style of football etc, then the cavan loss was the lowest point in 15 years. The board recognise it was an unforgivable loss and basically acted accordingly. Thats taking a bit of the bullshit out of Mayo football imo. Wish our own County board would act aa swiftly and decisively with out sitting duck.

@Western Gael

Your spot on . Totally agree with you. The media reaction is totally over the top . There would have been absolute uproar on here if Rochford was allowed continue on managing next year and maybe McStay to .
No more being to nice in Mayo that needs to go and county board clearly think that to . I give out about county board often but this time they are 100% right
People say McGuiness is building a siege mentality well after the media and outsiders reaction to the correct move we need a siege mentality .

Outsiders must be worried we will come bouncing back with the absolutely ridiculous over reaction.

We are not paying huge amounts of money every year to not even get to a quarter final place 2 years running .

I'm not the greatest fan of the county board on a lot of there decision making but on this occasion of relieving Kevin Mcstay and his management team of the duties I don't know what they have done wrong.
They release the statement last night and make an decision to part ways with Kevin Mcstay and his management team and thank them for there efforts and wish them well for the future.
I really don't know what else they could say in a statement put out to the press.
Unless the people in the Media no more than us the public about something else that went on then that is another matter.
I would hope that they met with Kevin Mcstay and informed him of there decision if that was the case then they have done nothing wrong.
If Kevin Mcstay only found out in a phone call a few hours before it was announced to the public that is 100% wrong and they deserve all the criticism they are receiving.
I would hope the county board did met with Kevin Mcstay too informed him of there decision.

Western Gael I would have to agree with you on the statement having read it back again.if the management refused to go which seems like the only way that wording could have been used what option had they.They couldn’t frame in a manner of mutual consent .They are not going to say they refused to go.i am sure there will be some comment from the management in the coming days

It's up now, 14allnall41 - I'm not sure why it didn't go up straight away. Apologies for not sorting it before now but I was on the road for the last few hours.

County Board were right, no need to right essay, thanks for trying didnt work move on.
Im open to any manager, but would like to see the right people in backroom team

The latest is that the management team were given the option to resign and refused. The reality is they had to go after the Cavan game.

Pity they had to be dismissed but it had to happen.

I think talk of Andy Moran for the job is premature.
Forwards coach, possible but not enough experience yet for the pressure of management.

I’ve 3 Cusack lower Section 315 Row X tickets available at face value for Sunday quarter finals - anyone interested??

I’ve 3 Cusack lower Section 315 Row X tickets available at face value for Sunday quarter finals - anyone interested?

Well just reading the above shows how divided we all are. Lots wanted management to go. Some wanted them retained. A good proportion think the Co Board was classless, others think they did the right thing. Some wanted ruthlessness, others admire decency. Some posters think we are very close, citing performances v Tyrone Galway and Donegal. Others tend to feel we have regressed big time citing not even making preliminary quarters this year. We have a Rossie chap praising the Co Board, a Kerry chap calling them into question. Everyone thinks they are right and there is some logic to the vast majority of comments. For me the most disappointing thing I have noticed is that the love affair between the supporters and those who play for/ manage the county team seems broken. We were falling over ourselves to support the team a decade ago with vast crowds descending on places like Limerick and Thurles for qualifiers that we were never going to lose. Now going to The Hyde for crucial games v Dublin last year and Donegal this year is a big ask. It has.moved to underage as well with us being outnumbered by Offaly by 10 to 1 in minor quarter final and a paltry show v Kerry in semi final last Sunday. It’s much easier to stay at home and criticise. We have this sense of entitlement. We say Rochford failed and Maughan failed and Horan failed. Why. Because they couldn’t end the losing sequence that stretches back to 1951. In a county that has won feck all we have an amazing sense of entitlement and if we don’t get what we are entitled to then someone has to be blamed. I suppose it’s not just in sport, it’s in society we see all of this now. I really hope whoever becomes new manager gets a proper chance and proper support and leads us to the promised land. We point to our good lads in u 17 and U20 this year and we have good lads but so do many other counties. Just look at what Tyrone are doing at the moment. Sport and Gaelic football in particular are meant to be enjoyable. It lifts us up and gives us something to look forward to but that enjoyment seems to have left Mayo football. Many point to 2021 as the watershed. Again we felt entitled to win that All Ireland. We had beaten a poor Galway side in Connacht and a declining Dublin in AISF. Tyrone had emerged from the bear pit that is Ulster and defeated Kerry in the semi and yet some people were convinced we only had to turn up. The hand of history is very heavy on us. Look at our difficulties in closing out games down through the years. Maybe it’s a top class psychologist the team (and county) needs. Anyway best of luck to whoever gets the job.

@Clare, I agree with you big time. As I said on here last night, its bad news for the rest of Connacht.

Im not privy to why a few players stepped away this year. But imagine if say Cillian O’Connor, and James Carr make themselves available for ye next year? Lets say they get lucky and stay fit, thats 2 massive ballers to introduce with 10/15 minutes to go.

Mayo lacked scoring power this year. I recall seeing Carr bomb points over in Killarney…well outside the arc (if it was there). Massive weapons that may be available under a new manager? That would be bad news for us Ros and Galway bucks.

@1985, exactly…only so much that can be said in a statement.

I don't understand why they didn't resign after the Donegal match. Failure to identify the skills needed to be competitive under the new rules, and develop these skills in the players would be my complaint.
I would be seriously concerned with mayo football if they were left there any longer, particularly with the raft of qualty young players coming on stream.
The CB did the right thing, McStay would have gone anyway, maybe other members were dragging their heels.

https://www.con-telegraph.ie/2025/06/26/mayo-gaa-management-team-declined-offer-to-resign-as-three-frontrunners-emerge/?fbclid=IwQ0xDSwLKGYNleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHlpLeB_ouldgFHUoYYaTX3mQyqoDQyRYYDdlcJPmUQFLYqU6fljs7q8vkFwv_aem_5CuMCqJrIKQf5Cmx6Fmllw#2r1wc9t5crxgf9dmzyaxojlltckh5nfl

So looks like they were given a few opportunities to go of their own accord.

I find it strange too that they didn't step down. I know intercounty setups try to insulate themselves from the outside noise, but it feels like they had lost the dressing room, literally and figuratively. It's very hard to see how they could realistically rally everyone on and off the pitch for another go.

But even if they did resist the idea of stepping away, and the board had to make the call, and had to therefore get a statement out quickly last night, they still had a responsibility to everyone involved to interrogate the wording, anticipate how it might land in the wider media (especially given Kevin's own connections) and avoid bringing this shitstorm down upon themselves. They might have made the right decision, (and again, should be commended on making it quickly) but how they've communicated it has just made life hard for themselves. And it may also act as a deterrent to anyone who might consider taking the job down the line.

Whether we like it or not, Mayo's decisions will always be subject to a greater level of public scrutiny interrogation than any other county's, because of our own chequered history, on and off the field. It's a tough gig.

No point in us tearing each other to shreds about it - ultimately the board and management are the only ones who know the facts.

Western Gael - I love your posts!

Surely the management team knew the writing was on the wall and should have done the honourable thing.

I didn't see much wrong with the statement personally. Kevin and his staff were thanked for their efforts. A decisive decision had to be made and it was best all round it was done sooner rather than later. I wanted Kevin to succeed but it was clear that we were going backwards.

Going forwards I still think we're not a million miles away. We had Galway where we wanted them in the Connacht final and started missing chances (3 scores from 9 attempts in the last 15 minutes) and we were a match for Donegal also. Dublin should have been put away last year and Gough rode us in the Connacht final. It wasn't if we were being beaten out of the gate every week. Mcstay must have been tearing his hair out.

The nucleus of a team is there defensively. Clear as day we need to improve our attacking play. It felt like we were one paced and predictable. The lack of 2 pointers were baffling.

Hopefully we can coax Cillian back, get Tommy injury free and a few of the Under 20's come through.

The Connaught is a joke. ‘Three front runners emerge’. Whence? Boyle Sports no less.

CT reporting they were asked to resign but wouldn't so hence fired...so the CB cant be faulted here really and the reaction to the statement they made is way over the top...

https://www.con-telegraph.ie/2025/06/26/mayo-gaa-management-team-declined-offer-to-resign-as-three-frontrunners-emerge/

It would have been pure daftness to wait until after the review to get rid of the management. Its done now and hopefully a new management team can be in place before the club championships begin.

The vast majority managerial terms ultimately end in failure or a sour note….I am not sure what people thought would happen. A klopp style send off in MacHale park maybe? If the offer was made to part ways mutually and rejected then there was little else that could be done.

The media hacks are circling in behind their man and now Mayo GAA are public enemy number one. Des Cahills snide remark at the end of this tweet was as classless as the county board statement….then again there is very little “class” in bland boring and corrupt RTE these days.

@ green and red, you're right about Gilroy taking the bullshit out of Dublin football. However, when they were beaten (Mayo) in the semi of 2012, he famously criticised his own team before walking away. Now, there's heart-on-the-sleeve stuff, and there's petulance. He's a great football man, don't get me wrong, but he's walked when things don't go his way, as the hurlers would attest. I think he'd be great, but he'd take no shite from any county board, which might make the task inconceivable.
Has he a Mayo connection? Asking because I've no idea if he has. Gilroy is more your director of football type IMO.

Pat Gilroy would be a fabulous choice @green&red I definitely believe we need to go outside of the county on this occasion to bring in someone that has actually won a Sam McGuire. No point going back to the past, with Horan or McEntee, time to bring in someone if we can that has the experience of winning the damn thing.

The more you look at the statement it becomes more obvious that des Cahill and lee keegan and company should have waited for the full story to emerge .refusing to resign is a bit odd in the sense that their record over the last 3 years has got progressively worse and the county board have full authority to remove them .How would they have expected this to play out………..

As manager I might add, preferably.

CT also showing Davy Burke 12/1....anyone lumping on

@ever the optimist

I’m not sure if he has any mayo roots, and I agree he probably in a bit of a bad way, but then came back with Dessie 2 years ago and Dublin were excellent. I just feel we need someone who can see the wood from the trees.

What I loved about Gilroy was the 60 training sessions in 30 days to test out what lads had the metal needed to play for the dubs. McGuinness did something similar. Bring lads to their absolute limit, and if they break they don’t have it. If they don’t break then they are good to go.

A director of football role would be interesting for him but I would like to see him in the hot seat. In relation to walking when things don’t go his way, I have to disagree. He got hammered by Kerry in the QF in his first year. He could have easily walked then. I’d say he knew he was at the back end of his time in 2012 and wanted to go out on a high.

I just think we need that streak in our game, especially when you look at the last 3 years, losing games right at the death. I think Gilroy builds a mentality where that doesn’t happen.

I’m not sure Andy builds the same mentality. Andy would build that chaotic mentality that was excellent at times (under Horan) but was it a winning mentality. The classic example in 2017 final. Every Dublin man grabbing a mayo man on the last kickout. Compare it to what happened during the Donegal game this year.

Right, I know he's got a big business going (or had). Btw, I'm in agreement as to his footballing nous. Himself and Mickey Moran set up the infamous DCU training camp etc Do you reckon he'd be approached? Can't see the CB having the balls to ask.

Pat Gilroy would be a disaster. Did none of ye see him on The Sunday Game a couple of years ago. The only thing he cares about is Dublin, the rest of the country could go to hell as far as he's concerned. Came across as an arrogant bully that night, I'd hate to see him involved with Mayo, but doubt he would go to any team that could end up playing the Dubs in a knockout match.

I wouldn't worry tubberman, it'll probably never happen.

Andy Moran only man for job if keeping it a local man. No point in going back to anyone who had it before and failed.

The backlash to the statement really is ridiculously ott (in the way every mayo gaa news story is OTT)

Now it's been all but confirmed by ConTel that management team were offered the chance to resign (when their position was untenable) and got a thank you in the statement what more do people want,it's not the X-Factor ffs, the plamasing and sympathy is getting a bit silly

They had to go, it had to be done sooner then later, they got thanked in the statement. Grow up and move on. Not everything requires a melodrama

Tubberman

I’d rather base his ability as a manger on his actual track record and not what he says on the Sunday game. It’s impossible to know if he would be interested in mayo or not. Simply going on paper he is far less of a risk than Andy. And knows exactly what it takes to take a group of nearly men and get them over the line.

No more than the statement last night, people are so sensitive about what others say. Jack O’Connor and Jim McGuinness don’t come across as lovely men when they address the media and no one from their counties care less.

Wouldn't bother me one bit if Pat Gilroy came to mayo, was a complete a**hole and won us an all Ireland. I’d be thrilled.

Regarding the dismissal of the Mayo Management a lot of comment both in national press (social media) and locally has taken place in a vacuum. We simply don’t have the knowledge of what (if any) discussions took place between the Mayo County Board and Kevin McStay and his Management team.
Firstly it must be said that this is Mayo GAA business and while the “Cahills” and “West Kerry’s” of this world have the right to comment – bluntly it is none of their dam business!
If the former Management of the Mayo team didn’t expect to be relieved of their duties after their record over the past three years, then they were naive. If they were informed of their pending dismissal, then it was arrogance on their behalf not to have resigned and instead forced the hand of the County Board.
I grant the outgoing Management this much – they meant well and gave honest service and did their best in what is probably one of the most challenging roles in Irish Sport. I am positive all Mayo folk wished they had succeeded and won a Sam Maguire. One hopes they are not unduly hurt and bitter and that they enjoy good health and the respect of the Mayo community they deserve.
I give the Mayo County Board credit also. A lot of the criticism they endure is not entirely fair. The ongoing abuse of Officers as recently outlined is horrific and should be condemned in the strongest possible terms.
The Mayo County Board is made up of delegates elected by the 48 approx. GAA clubs in Mayo at their Annual General Meetings. From that County-wide gathering of delegates, a Chairperson and Executive are internally elected. They are the legitimate governing body of all GAA affairs in the County and rightly so.
That said human nature being what it is, there have been internal factions, politics of a nature and on occasions squabbling within the Board. Yet is it is my belief that “a sense of loyalty to the Mayo” cause is the over-riding reason the vast majority of personnel and delegates are involved.
What must be done now is getting the prompt appointment of a new Mayo Senior Team Management right. It would be foolish to expect that the new appointments will enjoy 100% support but competence, professionalism and proper man management & coaching abilities are the least that should pertain.
In the longer term the County Board must make every effort to improve the standard of Coaching within the County. That is more important than “Centres of Excellence”. There is a dearth of good coaches within many Clubs at all levels, hence a shortage also for duties with County teams. Also there is a good standard of underage football in Mayo that needs astute harvesting and promotion.
Perhaps a Mayo supporters Forum under the aegis of the County Board should be formed where all these matters could be debated and strategic plans for the betterment of Mayo football formatted.
The Mayo County Board, the Mayo Clubs, Mayo GAA Supporters, the outgoing and incoming Managements surely have a common goal “the winning of Sam Maguire by a Mayo Senior Gaelic Football Team”. Nothing ever came of negativity - let unity & and honesty of effort be the guiding principal of all. “We are Mayo”.

I said Mickey Moran when I meant Mickey Whelan. Multi tasking is for young fellows.

True or more made up by the Connaught Telegraph?

The Connaught Telegraph has learned that the management team declined the offer to resign which had been made on a number of occasions since the defeat to Donegal in the final group match of the All-Ireland FC series.

This forced the committee members into a position where it could not let the matter drag on indefinitely in their pursuit of a new manager.

It is obvious the executive committee has a clear strategy in mind and an appointment could be made sooner than expected in order to avoid ongoing speculation.

Going by Boyle Sports odds the front runners are the return of James Horan, Austin O'Malley and Andy Moran

I wish Kevin the best and back to full health. Please show some respect for the county board too. There's more than Kevin going through health issues at the moment. Management is gone. Move on

So 3 front runners , the same names that have been mentioned here, what's the chances of getting all 3 in some capacity

Ahh not again

Is that what we want? All the talk of the McStay ticket when they got the job was “to many cooks in the kitchen”. I get the feeling having all 3 of those men in one mgmt would be the same issue.

Thanks willie joe. It's awhile since I posted maybe that was the cause.

Ahh not again...

Hopefully not a joint enterprise like that, it very rarely works. There needs to be a clear top dog. There was definitely a case of 2 many chiefs on the outgoing management ticket, felt like all the management contenders were added to the ticket for fear of annoying anyone.

These dream tickets generally end up fracturing quite quickly.

Although I hear mention (idle twitter gossip tbh) of Austin O'Malley bringing in Paul Kinnerk as his number 2, I would absolutely be up for that. Kinnerk is a winning machine

@ to win just once, your absolutely spot on with ur post.

If the management refused to go, the cb were correct to make the call...but again, having an amateur cb running the show is still holding mayo gaa back...they are now running an organisation that generates millions..if the whole off the field operations were organised and ran properly they could rely on the mayo supporters to bank roll it. I'm certain if we all could witness a proper strategic plan of what we need to improve across the board, how we were going to do it and for complete transparency to be shown, we would all back the plan to the hilt...but we don't cos the cb aren't capable of doing this. A full clear out is needed..

Can only be one cock in the yard

Rusty bridge s. Your not wrong there. I commend the county board for their actions. Just a year too late I would have said. Now a new manager. Cillian to return hopefully. Not expecting the world from him but Murphy hasn't done bad for his age. Players that may not be so comfortable under new management... carney. Coen.ruane.flynn. All had poor championship s. Now it could be the style of play too.

We have lots of middle third utility players that are okay in all aspects and can run a really good 800m. Those players are no longer effective in the new rules and ultimately need replacing next year with higher potential young players.

Maroonedinthepale do you still have them tickets please?

It was not The County Board that sacked McStay and co last night and Clubs had no part in it either, is there anything done right in Mayo Football both on and off the field.

I see rob hennelly has had on the issue as well now .still not clear as to what reason there would be to wait for a championship to end that we are not involved in .just repeating that it was handled badly probably without knowing the full story is odd

Green and red , I agree , but Andy Moran is working as coach in Monaghan so I was thinking same role here.
I think in last instance we had someone who had the top job but was going in as second in command which is not ideal, my own preference is JH as manager and then a new backroom team, some may say we already been there but the others are unknown at top level, I would take progress and team building for now, we can't deny that we will get that, but I know the ultimate aim is an AI

We need a top quality mgmt ticket in place before the club championship.
People need to wake up to the fact that our panel needs total reshaping.

All teams out of the championship, big news controversy over manager sacked but still James Fleming is flat out looking for free tickets , James you’re a legend , we just need Martin now to drop in and confirm any overseas trips that lie ahead in 2026 !

@1985

Yeah I agree with you. Honestly I don't get the big deal . Loads wanted change we all knew it was coming. As I said outsiders & media reaction is totally ridiculous we can't do anything right it seems !

I feel bad for McStay but I'm delighted we need fresh energy .

If we had kept them on everyone outside would laugh at us ...
Also they thanked them for their efforts as did everyone here .

@Culmore

Then who sacked them then ?

James Horan one of the bookies favourites to be the new manager. Something that's to be taken with a pinch of salt obviously. Bookies throwing up odds and random names for a bit of publicity and rage bait. Realistically there's no chance Horan will coke back for a 3rd term. He has done a lot for Mayo football but the definition of insanity is trying the same things over and over and expecting different results. And for anoyone geting nostalgic. Id refer you back to the comments section on the blog after the loss to Tyrone in the 2021 final. Time for someone new. Andy probably doesn't have the experience yet on his own but definitely a Mayo manager for the future. Austin O Malley definitely a strong option. And I'm hoping Davy Burke is just a name thrown in there for the craic..he's being found out at intercounty level with Roscommon after a decent debut season

Ii will keep this short in no circumstances should James Horan be the next Mayo manager we have been there twice before and we don't want to go back there again it would be a terrible mistake to appoint him for the third time .we need a manager with new ideas that will bring a freshness to the job.

Craggy boglands - Coen one of our better players this year all be it the bar was not that high overall. Only player who stood up against Cavan too.

Sean Burke not free tickets I am looking for.Maroonedinpale are selling them.

Connaught Telegraph is a mouthpiece for the County Board who are desperately trying to save face.

Kevin had to go. Kevin was going to go. He wasn't given the space nor time to follow due process and get all affairs in order. Multiple backroom team still havent been paid by the County Board.

The County Board have rushed into this when the reality is that (unless we go cheap) no manager is going to take the role until intercounty/club championship is finished.

We dont play until late January 2026. We can't train until December this year. It's June.

County Board jumped the gun. Made a pigs ear of it (like they always do).

Time for clubs to grow a pair and show some ownership and take back control of our great County.

There is limited enough candidates for this really....the fact that club championship starts soon really excludes any club managers going for the job likes of Heffernan etc so really the only candidate pool is current intercounty tickets that are moving on.
Personally I would love to see Cora as coach maybe that's possible as she is in the backroom team in Ballina not heading the ticket.
She is an All Ireland winner and has operated as a profession althlete.
She is the best Mayo player in my lifetime I think

Cora Staunton, Caroline Currid and yer man Kinnerk...say no more!
PS...FreeTheEastBank...I agree with you. Time to actually see this as a job that can be done by the right people with the right set of qualities and approach.
I believe.

The cynic in me sees this as the county board sees a chance to save a few euros in expenses,seriously any one trying to excuse the statement needs to give their heads a wobble

Ah lads.... Ron Manager next nominee?

You get the feeling that regardless of what happened, people were going to complain. Moaning seems to be a symptom that we’ve picked up since 21

Enda Kenny was right about the mayo moaners....

Davy Fitzgerald

What about davey Fitzgerald

James Horan transformed Mayo football, particularly S&C, that, allied with an all action style of play resulted in a formidable team. The achilles heel, as always, was the absence of scintillating forward sextet.
I would love to see him back, imo the alternatives being touted, would be learning on the job, whereas he's been there done that.
Hopefully he will put-together a mngt group of complimentry eras and insights and throw their hat in the ring - other combinations run the risk of becoming overwhelmed but let's see who wants the position and their recipe for becoming consistently competitive as in post 2010.

As a new manager

The fact is that if we made some sort of progress this year like even making a quarter final then that would probably have kept the management in place but the very obvious decline year on year couldn’t be ignored and wouldn’t be ignored in any other county.Brian dooher and Fergal Logan were removed after winning the all Ireland in 2021 .while it is unfortunate with Kevin mcstays health situation Tyrone had a similar issue.surely Kevin and Stephen are long enough around football management to know the score

James Fleming I am sure you are aware that davey Fitzgerald is a hurling manager

Mayo exile

Yes consistently competitive is great and I'm sure horan would have us like that, but would it win us the all ireland??? I've great respect for horan and what he has done for mayo, but in the finals he's managed he has made several tactical mistakes, is said to be not inclined to be receptive to advise/input from his management team....but maybe, just maybe it could be 3rd time lucky regarding that aspect...he sure does know how to develop players.

James Fleming. Are you telling us our hurlers are looking for a new manager too?
Everyone in the county knew Kevin's time was over and sorry for being blunt but he should have fell on his sword. Other than that I couldn't care less what the national media or Dublin based ex players have to say about it. Even in GAA circles there's far more important things to worry about. A storm in a teacup if ever I've seen one.

What on earth is Hennelly doing in the 6 o click news having a cut. One thing we are never short of in Mayo is people who shy away from a microphone

I know he is

Hennelly going on Six one was ridiculous. It's bad enough we've every eejit out there saying we were wrong to do this did he really have to go on six one like . As others said he's obviously looking for a job as a pundit embaressing stuff .

I know he is but he has very good credentials

James Fleming i know I am going to regret asking but what would he have to offer a football team

@James Fleming. Coull you please tell me any of davy fitzgerald good credentials.

Supermac, the only time we are short of them is when we actually need them to speak up. Case in point: prior to the 2016 AIF replay.

Can we please stop this Davy Fitzgerald nonsense? I know we're in a state of flux right now but that's no excuse for utterly mad talk of that kind.

Okay Willie Joe apologies

Why in the name of god are people so upset about the statement? Mcstay and backroom team were thanked for their efforts. Like the dog in the street knew the game was up. 3 years of regression. What's the problem..for years here, we were always appointing managers too late..and always excuses. Hes gone now..stick Andy Moran in there and give him time to get a team together...develop underage talent two footed players who can kick from distance. Sure what else can ya do...mcgeeney was 10 yrs in the gig before delivering.

I think Rob Hennelly & David Brady were right to voice their opinions, everyone else is doing just that, County board went about it the wrong way. I couldn't imagine any other County handling it like Mayo did, they must have no one to check or edit that statement, it looks & sounds pathetic. All they had to say was "Kevin McStay & his backroom team are no longer in charge of the Mayo senior football team" more details later.

Your right clare. Henelly should belt up. None of his business. He seen enough blunder s in his time. Don't make a circus out of it. This same management were under serious scrutiny last year so what in the name of God is the problem. Its not like we just lost an all Ireland final. We didn't even get to the preliminary round. Do fellow s want red carpet laid down or what. They were thanked for there effort and goodbye

@Ann-Marie.
Hole in one. All very quiet then.
I’m glad the CB moved quickly and got it done. Probably should have happened last year. Time for someone else that understands the new rules and willing to implement them. Someone mentioned earlier about the Cavan game, that it looked like the players didn’t want to be there. Exactly what I thought at the game.
I remember meeting a former Mayo player who had managed county teams at a club game the day after the Longford disaster. I asked him what he thought. This was his reply. Looked like they didn’t want to be there.

So the county board basically ask the management to consider their position and they refuse to budge for whatever reason.The county board is then left with no choice but to issue a statement that was truthful that the management had been relieved of their roles .They then go on to thank them for their time effort and commitment to the mayo senior football team while also thanking them for their dedication to the players and the jersey and wishing Kevin and the entire management team every success in the future both on and off the field.i am struggling to see what the fuss is about.as regards Kevin mcstay he may want his medical situation to be kept private as he is perfectly entitled to.i am fairly sure the management knew this was coming from some way out

@Craggy Boglands

Exactly ! He definetly wants that pundit job .

If any other county had a bad run of things like we have had the last 3 years they would do the same.
Kerry , Galway , Dubs etc would have no hesitation in getting rid of management before time is up .

It's all ridiculously over the top reaction ! The same ones where giving out about managent not so long ago. I don't see anything wrong with the statement from mayo gaa .

What were they supposed to do lie ? It wasn't a mutual agreement. They gave them time to resign themselves and thanked them . Its time for siege mentality .

I actually feel better now as there's hope for the future with new management and fresh energy and hopefully the guys confidence back cause we do have the players . Bring up some of the talented under 20s. The writing was on the wall when Mchale stepped away and then even more so when Cillian did .

It may seem harsh but at the end of the day we are not going to sit back and watch another year of what we have witnessed for the last 3 . Intercounty is just like that sure look at Derry & Mickey hearte and how long he got and people say we were harsh then they'd laugh if we kept them on so feck that !

Onwards & upwards now best of luck to mcstsy & Co didn't work out but we did what we had to do & what any other county would have done.

The right decision has been made. It is a shame that we wasted a third year with this set. Anyway, onwards.

Maybe, we can now talk money. How much does a county manager and their lieutenants get paid. Let’s stop pretending that these jobs are selfless acts of service and kindness. Just how lucrative are these roles? We need to move forward with honesty and transparency in all aspects.

@James Fleming
Yes I still have the tickets available.

I'd say 95% of the Mayo players, supporters and county board officers wanted a new management team in place for next year.
It looks like the current management team weren't prepared to step down - so rather than drag the whole process out for a few months with reviews etc - the executive decided to sack them and thanked them for their efforts. I can't see anything wrong with that. Our own ex players only making the situation worse and trying to make a profile and a bit of money for themselves out of it.

Would echo a lot of above. Statement was poorly worded/laid out but it had to be done.

Time to move on. I'm hopeful again. I'd lost faith in this management after last season tbh. So if anything, it's come a year too late. If only they'd embraced the rules. I am absolutely livid after the Galway league game. I think they genuinely didn't give any credence to the rules being implemented for championship. Well they got that wrong didn't they! We pissed away a year. Writing was on the wall last year

Holy God, I've never heard such nonsense spoken/written about the ending of a management team, by media, pundits, ex players and quite a few posters on this blog-talk about making mountains out of molehills. Kevin & Co. are all intelligent men and surely must have known that the game was up for them and it was time to go. @ Super Mac put it succinctly in a previous thread "were people expecting a lengthy eulogy?". The wording could have been a bit warmer possibly, but the decision was correct and the timing was correct. I don't understand why some say the decision should have been delayed for a while-why? . I think it was @ West Kerry that suggested that it should have waited until the Championship was over out of respect for Kevin. What good would that do-the Championship is over for Mayo, yet again far too early. What would be the point in leaving them hanging on like sitting ducks waiting for the axe to fall?

Ex players like David Brady...whos giving that guy media time..its unbelievable. Of course he'll stick up for his club mate. And Leeroy, loved him as a player. As a pundit ..bang average if im being honest. It's these guys and some local sports journalists and I use that term lights creating a fuss over nothing. Grow up and move on.

I do find it genuinely amazing that all these ex players can comfortably voice their opinion and blame a CB for mistreating a management when the same players had no issue whatsoever forcing a previous management out a decade ago. The hypocrisy is unreal!!!

If a pundit goes on national media and agrees with one’s view he is dead right. If he goes on media and disagrees with one’s view he should belt up. These pundits are only doing what we do on the blog. Difference is that they have a much bigger ( though not better) platform. Hennelly was on Sunday Game last week. Did quite well. No surprise he was asked for his comments then. Leeroy has a very high profile. He expressed his views. D Brady gets quite a bit of air time with various organisations as well. Never shy of expressing his views either. Other media lads have had their say as well. Likewise story in Connaught Telegraph is to some people’s liking so they swallow it whole while others do not trust it so give the story little credence. We may or may not like what we hear.. we like it if it echoes our own views. How dare they if it does not.

Glasagusdearg. Well said 👏. Personally I'm absolutely delighted. Never mind the cute kerry man. Business has been done.

1985. As regards Kevin’s health issues. I find it strange that the Examiner reported on it , on Twitter a few hours after it happened. Who gave them that information and could they go public with it without Kevin’s agreement. I don’t know, but I would be furious if it was me .

For those defending the wording of the statement, by defending the decision, I'd just say that they are very different issues.

What I love about Mayo GAA is the resilience they have always showed, the honesty they play with and the heart on our sleeve.
Values and philosophy are a big part of sport. Under Mickey Harte, Tyrone played with a chip on their shoulder. Under Gavin, Dublin played with ruthless calculation, calmness and strategy. Kerry have always played with swagger and class. Mcguiness brings a messianic energy, almost spiritual and fate-like belief to Donegal.
Identity mattters, and having a strong identity as a county football team is something we always had, as underdogs, as fighters, as honest decent, romtantics on a quest. The statement is a step away from our identity, we are not Dublin or Tyrone or Kerry or any other county and we should not try to be.
As Mayo fans we have have relied on pride in these values at times- when friends who understood us less, would see us losers. I am not happy to trade that in, as the world gets a bit madder and people become more entitled and demanding, to be more ruthless.
At the end of the day, what Mayo represents is what we actually come back for year after year. If it was just about winning, we would have a miserable time.
The statement shows a lack of understanding of that- and the people defending it are contributing just as much to the noise, as the people disappointed.
We are on this road together, and for the people more focused on the need to win, don't miss out on the other pieces of value along the way.

For the record- I was excited by the prospect of new management, freshness and the possibility of a return of Cillian that a new management would bring.
I also would have had hope that if Kevin had stayed, it could have been a full season of backs to the wall football we had seen, given the writing on the wall, which has always brought out the best in us!

The timing was good, the wording was bad. But the thing is, even if the county board can't capture the heart of Mayo football, the fans is where it really lies, but it would be better if we were all aligned.

David Brady was a voice for the lonely dont forget during covid wasn't he..ha, I mean come on guys..the world in an awful place at the time, and you suddenly find David Brady on the the other end of the horn asking about your day.

Apologies for the long post.

Roll on Saturday and actual football matches as I said earlier the correct decision was made to change the management maybe the wording of it could have been better but it is what it is.

Well said Green & Red .. disappointing that Rob fell into the Marty Trap .. 4 mins video of Make Mayo Look Stupid Again .. was it worth it?

Whatever wording was used it would have had the same conclusion.once the county board lost confidence in the management there could only be one outcome

Ah come folks, criticising ex Mayo players for sticking up for their own is bizarre. We’d all do the same if we knew them personally, it’s the nature of the beast .

Magpie. Nothing wrong with David Brady. He wouldn't suffer 15 choir boys.

One would swear what we had as management were 2 genius s the way some posters are going on and on about them. We didn't make the preliminary round. Year 3. Get it

Had his chances too Craggy..didn't deliver. Went on donaghy after the game was over in 06 to act as some sort of hard man..it was laughable really. Look he gets air time for whatever reason..a cameo pushing ciaran whelan to the ground hardly makes it in his highlight reel..but good luck to him.

Magpie. David rang a friend of mine, an 84yr old at the time, whose brother had played for Mayo. I can tell you it meant a lot to him. He also rang me twice as I had a serious health issue. I had never met him before but my son contacted him through Twitter and he done it for him. David is one of the good guys.

@Craggy

Your spot on . Was embaressing watching Hennelly on six one saying was disrespectful to management who've done so much for mayo I was like sorry what to myself ?

What have they done brought us backwards anyone who says otherwise is in denial .

I was actually surprised at Keagans reaction to I've great admiration for him of course but was surprised .

Come on like for years we are known as to nice a county and for once we are ruthless when we needed to be loosing 4 years in a row to Galway in our home ground was bad enough but to loose to Cavan that was season ending and I knew management would be gone then .

Was happy when Mcstay and co got the job .. but this is the right thing to do .

I for one did not have defending the county board (of all organizations) and criticising players from the golden generation (including our greatest ever) on my bingo card for 2025

Ah i know nephin..sure he rang a friend of mine too, nothing personal at all against him. Just on the field sometimes I thought he didn't do enough at times..but the hard man persona was a bit silly. Like ive watched alot of football and I dont think he'd 2 good games in a row..bits and pieces here and there. Imagine the excitement if it was Ciaran Mcdonald ringing people instead of DB.

It's all getting a bit silly now with shots being fired at anyone and everyone. Seeing as it's gone midnight, I reckon everyone would do well to leave off commenting further on this till the morning.

Great point Green&Red, i agree

This must be a record for comments about a statement from a county board.
Management team of former employees of other counties (Roscommon, Donegal, Kerry, Monaghan) given Mayo gig promising an All Ireland within 4 years.
Three years in - team have regressed year on year.
Management refuse to resign.
Co Board remove them in a manner which hints to their refusal to resign.
The dog on the street agrees that they had to go and there is nothing to be gained from delaying it.
Nothing to see here.

I find it crazy the players who refused to play for the management team come out whining about how their sacking was done.

Lest we not forget, Mayo county Board are broke, not having to pay out to an outgoing management team while they attend the rest of the all Ireland series and a few club matches over the next 6-8 weeks is good financial management.

Tirawleybaron. Well exactly. What the hell was henelly playing at. I'm shocked at keegan too. Move on rapidly.

I believe that the Mayo county said that they have two million euros in Croke Park,not exactly broke then

Not too long ago i went to buy a car and asked a few people i knew what their opinion was on what I should buy and found the more opinions I got the more confused I got. I feel the same again on here.

To be perfectly honest we've just endured three pretty miserable years punctuated with the odd good result.
One league title followed the following week with a home defeat to Roscommon is the sum of our achievements.
Losing a host of experienced players, not through retirements but just making themselves unavailable.
A failure to get to grips with a new set of rules.
A litany of mind-boggling team selections and substitutions.
No optimism installed for the future and as for the furore over a cb statement when we've had three years of "He's really close"......"We only lost by a kick of the ball".........."I can't be kicking the ball in" etc etc.
I for one am delighted and relieved this management group are history even if the county board statement has upset people.
I'd have more respect for ex players who are certainly entitled to their opinions if they gave them on Local radio or on Mayo GAA blogs like this one and spoke to the people closest to the situation with real feelings for the county and not the national media circus.

Corick if they have this €2 million but owe €5 or 6 million then….

first of all, no one likes to see anyone lose their job, whether it be a high profile one or a ordinary joe soap, the reality of this is people have lost employment for them and their families. Secondly, the main issue that needs addressing is why the day before the donegal game played in the hyde in our neighbouring county, the county board seem fit to summon the players and management to mount falcon in ballina for a day and night of team bonding/strategy/fun/craic and whatever else this jolly cost. At around 30 people at 300 euros estimate , this amounts to 9000 euros for what is really a home game to be fair. Not even crossing the shannon here. This 9000 euros is over one third of the 25000 euros of the monthly loan we have been debt laden on, by successive county board mismanagement, not only at a financial level but also at a structuring level of enhancing club and county players of the game. Only one player had the street smarts and honourable intelligence to go home and rest in his own house that night. That was Jordan Flynn. For the rest it was a jolly before being knocked out of the championship. For some players involved it is the gift that keeps on giving. Having looked at alot of the above comments above, the main points seem to be of a complete overhaul of all divisions, to which I would be completely in agreement with. But my last point is that for mayo gaa to come back to the glory days of challenging for the big one, no mayo person should have a influence to decide important issues at county level. Thats a statement there, but the reality is the cartel has to be broken up completely. County board need outside expert restructuring for financial and club supporting at ground level, the management team need to be all outsiders to break the monopoly of players influencing team sheets and tactics. and the players need to be able to be honest with themselves and say nights away before a local game are not in their own bests interests. But finally when comments of bringing in horan, o malley, moran and others of the old brigade are posted, they are plain lack of foresight here. If we are going to continue with it has to be local thinking , then bring in mary robinson or panti bliss, as they would probably do better than the forementioned above. All out ,new ideas and thinking in, tough couple of years ahead but green shoots would be welcome and would come before the decade is out. Because in reality this decade is probably gone again in our quest to finally lift sam since 1951. Three all irelands in 141 years is not a good return. Maybe the problems have always been there. That statastic would confirm that .HON MAYO.

Looking forward to the announcement of a new positive manager. Absolutely delighted with the county board. Job done

@Craggy boglands

Yup same here . Now we can sit back and watch Armagh knock out kerry . Monaghan to knock out Donegal .
I want to say Meath to knock out Galway but I just can't see that happening.

I saw rob hennelly on the news last night but reading what he said amounted to a whole load of nothing.”they didn’t get the results they wanted but it’s not fair and totally unnecessary.we have a tendency in Mayo to maybe not do things in the rIght way .the board didn’t acknowledge the reasons Kevin had to step away “did it occur to rob that maybe Kevin doesn’t want to have his medical situation made public.in any case the decision was clearly made because of the results or lack of over the last 3 years as hennelly referenced himself they didn’t get the results.if you are going to go on national tv at least have something prepared that makes some form of sense.The only alternative to this was to hang around for the next couple of months with endless speculation and the result would have been exactly the same

Looks to me as if our pundits have both lost their souls to RTE.
Should have qualified their remarks.
Management team were within their rights to insist on seeing our their term but CB also had the right to sack them.
No easy wording in this situation.

It's a disappointing way for things to pan out for all involved, but it seems the County board gave them several opportunities to go of their own accord. It was not taken, so their hand was forced. They thanked them sincerely for their time and efforts, and when Kevin had to step back a few weeks ago they issued a lovely press release.
Onwards and upwards now hopefully.

So it's okay for people to come on here and voice their opinions and that is as it should be. But it's not okay for former players to use the public airwaves to voice theirs. Everyone is entitled to express their views and should not be criticised for doing this just because we don't agree with them.

As pointed out here yesterday out lads in the media were all very silent when the campaign against lee keegan was in full flow after 2016 draw with Dublin.Of course hennelly is entitled to give his opinion but what did he say of any value.” It’s not fair” and we in mayo have a habit maybe of not doing things right.it just looked like rte getting a former player on as quick as possible to say whatever came into their head .what’s not fair is it that we finished fourth in a group of 4 behind Cavan

Yes well said 1985.
Hennelly made us look even worse and it was definetly what RTE and the likes of those other pundits that love to have a dig in to Mayo wanted to hear .

JJ Kelly. The difference is posters on here are pretty much keeping it in-house among the Mayo GAA fraternity which is as it should be for an internal matter.

They just added fuel to the fire. Henelly and co. I knew Rochford would be stought enough to carry on. But the mayo public have had enough and the county board knew that. It's the best news I've heard in years. I'll let ye know what I think of the next manager in due time. Maybe more posters might listen to me this time.

So now,some of our finest footballers are not allowed to have an opinion on our dysfunctional county board,of course they had to make a decision,but surely they could have put out a graceful statement,after all J Burns said that we have the very best people in charge,they sounded like a gangmaster,.or a J A Murphy,who had no further work for the men,I think some further training ,or a new PRO is needed

@Corick Bridget

What were county board supposed to do lie ? It was not a mutual agreement. They thanked him did what they had to do and we move on . Some people are snowflakes these days .

Corick if you were removing someone from a position who was refusing to go how would you phrase it?

It could have been worded slightly differently to possibly mask the reality of the situation. But if given several chances to go on their own terms but refused it left the CB little option of they want to get in with the process of getting a replacement, especially one before club championship. But it is what it is at this stage, they were sincerely thanked in the statement for their time and efforts.

What if management results are as good as it gets?

Divisional Two could beckon, it could be very competitive…

Once you are on a downward trajectory, it’s very hard to turn it around. It’s only recently that getting to AI semi final was the norm; now that’s a distant dream. Look at Meath (this year apart), Cork, Down, all away from the top table for years. Galway were propping up Div two not so long ago.

I’d say prospective managers will be taking a long hard look at us, and at the financials of the county board. They may not like what they see.

Hail the county board. They showed balls and got on with the job. Delighted. Maybe they have been reading my posts for the last 3 years. 🤣

Craggy while I think the correct decision was made I think we also need to acknowledge that the two lads came into the job with the best of intentions .unfortunately it didn’t work out and I am sure they are more disappointed than any of us.

No,they did not have to lie,but they could have been much more diplomatic in their language,I am with David Brady,Rob Hennelly,and J P Kane,who have criticised the county board

@Corick

Tell me then what other ways they could have worded it without not saying saying the truth ?

It's a sad way to go and they will be dissapointed but we all thanked them as did county board . Nothing wrong with it.

Could have went Gwyneth Paltrow style with a "conscious uncoupling" :)

Of course it could have worded differently Clare, don't pretend otherwise.
But regardless, the wording will be soon forgotten. The decision was for the best and we can all start look forward again - at least until the appointment process turns into a fiasco!

Did you read the statement,I have seen Kevin McStay since he was a minor playing for Mayo,you would think that they could have acknowledged his history of service to the county,but I am afraid that they have no class

Corick in fairness while the intro could have been better the general body is very respectful; "We would like to sincerely thank Kevin and his management team for their time, effort, and commitment to the Mayo Senior Football Team during their tenure. Their dedication to the players and the jersey has been greatly appreciated by all involved with Mayo GAA.

We wish Kevin and his management team every success in the future, both on and off the field."

“ we would like to sincerely thank Kevin and his management team for their time effort and commitment to the mayo senior football team during their tenure.Their dedication to the players and the jersey has been greatly appreciated by all involved with mayo gaa….. The fact is the lads had to have known the game was up as the mayo supporters were voting with their feet and were not attending games.They could have stepped down with dignity intact.in any case this is all just a distraction from a situation that was inevitable.There was no where to go when finding ourselves outside the top 12 teams in the country

Really looking forward to the quarter finals this weekend. Hope it might take the limelight off us for the outsiders and might lessen the bickering here. Then I am looking forward to getting a fantastic new management team ( or maybe that should be manager in the singular) and just watch us go. Now I am not worried about the league because league titles don’t really matter. It’s next July I am looking forward to ( ifJarlath Burns doesn’t push back the All Ireland final) Dreaming of being in Croker for it after all the past disappointments of ‘failed ‘ previous mangers. Hopefully some of the lads who were unavailable this year will return refreshed to help get us over the line. And ex players in their capacity as pundits will say it was all part of the plan.and sing the praises of the Co Board . And this wretched week will be forgotten about.

Good point to win just once, back to the football. Think I'll go:
Donegal
Tyrone
Galway
Armagh

If McDaid and Walsh are out Meath are great odds at 11/4.
Monaghan wouldn't surprise me either at same odds, Donegal seem to be running low on energy, but still think they be to strong.
Tyrone Dublin could be a cracker.

Alot of people on here criticising K McStay/Rochford & crew on what's gone wrong in the past, pure bullshite.
That Mayo senior football management team are gone, out, finished. So it's time to look to the future now & get a very good manager & backroom team in place fairly quickly & see how we get on, making sure to choose the most suitable man to bring Mayo football back up a few notches. Question is "will they make sure to get it right this time" ???.

Ah it's a storm in a tea cup , PRO statement was sound.

What else is Keegan to say , he has to keep himself relevant .
Watch him go all Jason Cundy on his Talks port show.

Managment team were thanked for their roles, in the olden days and recent past, they didn't deliver, turned fans and players against them but were releaved of their duties and the statement never referred to any illness or likes , so on a whole it was sound and fit for purpose.

Now back to county league games this weekend

@Gizmobobs: Yeah. That Tyrone v Dublin one I'm struggling to call and really looking forward to.

If Dublin gets a tune out of the (relatively) returning Gannon, Murchan & Con and a couple from Kilkenny, Costello, Howard, Small x2 or Bugler step up to the 8s or 9s out of 10 they're so capable of, that side is still a match for anyone in the country.

One where the attitude and intensity will be every bit as important as the matchups or tactics. Though confidence in the latter a huge boost to ensuring the former, so all goes hand in hand.

I’ve been away from the blog for a day and the consensus now seems to be that the County Board were right to dismiss the McStay management team, that there’s too much fuss about the succinct wording of the dismissal, and that there’s something wrong with Lee Keegan and Rob Hennelly for saying the County Board handled it badly.
Did they have *formal* notice they were going to be axed or was it all done and dusted over the space of two/three hours on Thursday evening with short shrift given? When we give a birthday present and someone mutters ‘thanks’ how do you feel?

If it tasted sour for players who had a glimpse behind the scenes into the personal investment given, it doesn’t surprise me.

Others are saying McStay and Rochford refused to leave - do we know this?

I will wait,don't expect a decision soon

We don't now have alot of choice of manamgement options, left boot and had alot less when Mcstay was appointed.
Theoretically Mcstay should have worked , a well respected and very knowledgeable gaa player and pundit, whom voiced the fans concerns and detailed our shortcomings to the nation in the form of the Sunday game.
So we appointed a man and a man of military background, thus a leader to iron out our issues.
We sent with him an excellent coach whom wasn't as comfortable as being main man manager, appointed another coach, Mayo Legend and well respected leader Liam Mchale.
All in the perfect group to lead the county, but it didn't work out as too varying of ideas as regards how to play were the source of problem, but I'd hold no grudges, just move on .

Re current options, definition of insanity is doing same thing over and over and expecting different results, so no thanks re horan.

Austin bring sound experience, modern day coaching and management of top profile players and egos.

Andy has no experience, nice guy, means we'll but too big too soon for him.

McEntee and or McConville bring hardened experience and motivation.
We need a new culture not just ohh ok second best is acceptable .
Donaghy is sure thing for Kerry, Fitzmaurice will never leave cushy roles he has , there's no stand out club managers in the county so ya I'd back the Armagh lads either of them with a new team and culture of win at all costs

Swallow swoops, we do based on local newspapers reports. And colloquially from taking to people involved.
It seems they were contacted a few times over past couple weeks.
As regards tasting sour to past players, any word from current players???

https://www.irishexaminer.com/sport/gaa/arid-41659010.html

Not sure its being posted already, but a good piece by Colin Sheridan

Thank you, Gizmobobs. That adds something extra.
I don’t know how much leeway current players have to speak out publicly.
But who knows what we’ll hear from players in next few weeks? Current players might also be feeling on edge about their own positions next season.

Outside of the boot, Andy has inter county management experience. O Malley hasn't.. I'm not saying I have any preference for either, but that was wrong to say he has no experience.

But like you, I'd be looking North. McConville for me. I remember him saying in 2024 that Cavan would beat us because we weren't a bad team, but were badly coached. He got the year wrong but he was bang on the money. He wouldn't take shite off anyone. And he has won Sam & a heap of club All Irelands

https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/gaelic-games/2025/06/26/malachy-clerkin-mayos-decision-to-oust-kevin-mcstay-was-fair-enough-but-the-way-they-did-it-was-foul/

That article from Malachy Clerkin is very good on the statement. 7 premier league teams sacked their manager last year. Not one of them used the tone of phrasing Mayo did. They all did it somewhat tactfully. These are terrible money making corporations and each acted much better then we did

There was 3 things wrong.

The headline - simply say "we've decided to move on" rather than the horrible sounding "remove from duties"

The tone - be more effusive for a lifelong Mayo man through and through

The timing - why did it have to happen on one of the biggest football weeks of the year. Next they'll appoint the manager on all Ireland final week, and it won't be the first time that's happened with us. Get off the stage

I really hope we go outside , the “96 -17 “ cartel already been thrown about . Honestly as much as I treasure the moments some of the fine players been mentioned have given us , I think we would be well advised keep them away from the job .

Fresh voice not from Mayo . We have to let the past go , the Horan , Moran , o Malley , gardiner , Sheridan etc etc etc , none have the big one . I’m convinced we need someone who’s won it at this point . The boring depressing safe options need to be put aside this time , we need a freshness this time .

@outsideoftheboot I agree with most of that but don't think its too early for Andy Moran.

He has managed a Country set up and coached a division 1 team that has reached an all Ireland quarter final playing a nice brand of football well adapted to the new rules. Let's not forget he's a former player of year, and there aren't too many of those around anywhere in the Country.

I have heard how well considered he is in Monaghan so they are going to want to keep him, and of course he could try a few more gigs i suppose, but at this point I think we need someone who will inject some optimism and energy. He is also personally invested in the County and through his business essentially lives S&C.

For an non-prof observer like myself he seems to tick a lot of boxes that's all I am saying.

Agreed Rusty, I know andy has experience and have great time for him as player buy his team lost to new York

We had Jack O Shea with a pocket full medals, how did that work out, Andy the only man with his own team no interference from anyone.

InExile - I'd be in agreement with you. I'd be a 100% sure the commitment and passion would be off the charts with Andy. The experience of playing in those 'nearly' matches is also worth a lot. If he gets the right team with him he be the front runner for me...

I hope I'm not alone in this one but f most posters on here. We're following an amateur game with players and management putting everything into making us as competitive as possible. So disappointed to see the lack of respect given to folks who have given so much to get us over the line. I've seen more love given to Wall Street execs walking away with million dollar handshakes. This nonsense about fans walking away because of the style of football is shite too. After a great league in 23(exciting football) bugger all went to Killarney so see us topple Kerry playing great. After that game where we out footballed the Kingdom, how many turned up in Castlebar for the Louth game? These are people but more importantly they are our people. I'd love an AI but I'll die happy without one if I need to turn my heart to stone to get it

No right or wrong answer Culmore, certain lads cut out for management others not but I'd worry about Andy being too fresh and the pally pally with AOS etc . Be nicer have a guy from outside, everyone's clean slate be it Evan Regan, Cillian or anyone , each footballer who makes themselves available is an option for management to assess and managment does so with no prior backage or preset thoughts of players .

Horan brought us to a few finals so I can't see the negativety about him.
Jury still out on Andy.
No time for outside managers
Would have no problem with Ray Dempsey.
Who had the playe s in mind last December when the review was done and so many players walked?

On another topic with your local clubs who's the upcoming forwards and midfielders , either in your team and or opposition you seen live in action

It's a very interesting discussion here which I would summarise with two questions?:
1. do we look back or do we look forward?
2. if you are in the forward camp, who would best reflect that attitude?

Well James Fleming might have a few more interesting candidates today

@Outside of the boot

Sadly as far as I can tell Jason Gibbons remains comfortably the best midfielder in Mayo. He was probably the 5th choice Mayo midfielder in the noughties

2010s I meant

1985. When this news broke. The first thing I done was to compliment Kevin mcstay and with him good health. If u look back u will see that I had no issues with the man. On the other hand I have massive issues with Rochford

Stephenite, I agree with point one the heading could have been better.
The rest of the release I felt was very gracious and sincerely thankful.
The timing I've no issue with either, sooner the better. Fact it is QF weekend is irrelevant to us as we not involved, and it seems it would have been week or so earlier had management agreed to go on their own terms. It's a pity they didn't take that route for their own sakes as the mood among the board, players and fans seemed be set for change.

Inexile the only way is forward. Someone outside for me is the way to go given the situation we find ourselves in. Mcconville could be a good option, but Devlin for me would be worth a punt.

Donaghy , Canavan and Andy Moran

That's a very good article by Colin Sheridan. Sums it up perfectly.
Whilst the county board statement could have been a bit more "flowery", it's been blown out of all proportion.
It'll be interesting to see how this progresses over the coming weeks. Will there be any further comments from the CB, or will any of the now departed management team have their say.
Either way, let's hope we're not stuck in the middle of yet another media circus.
And thankfully the action on the field should deflect most of the attention away from our almost annual cycle of bedlam.

As for the next manager, I'm on the side of an outside voice. The voice of an All-Ireland winner who will take no shit from anyone. Would our county board want that though?
McEntee and McConville seem the obvious names.
But I would like to see Andy involved as a forwards coach.
And ideally we could see someone like Dempsey or Deane involved, someone who knows the club football scene.
Could we get these people working together, and willing to accept that there is only one man in charge, and that's the named manager. They call the shots, the rest are just part of the wider management team (albeit very vital parts).

Craggy I am aware of your thoughts on Stephen rochford but it’s over for them now and as I said they both would have come in with the best of intentions and as mayo men I am sure they are disappointed not to have made any real progress.it’s best for everyone to move on now.recriminations from either side now is not going to change anything

Reading this blog over the last couple of days maybe I am missing something but I have rarely seen such angst and emotion over a wording of a media release by Mayo GAA effectively terminating the current managements time at the top of Mayo football.... there is no easy way to part.....and it appears there was not mutual agreement so the County Board had to be decisive.... why are people so upset? I could not seek folks in Kerry, Tyrone or Dublin reacting like this....Most if not all of the county GAA community accepted that change is necessary....and that results speak for themselves.....and when it happens people are up in arms using words like respect, insensitive, lack of decency etc etc.....is this all we have to focus on? Lets move on and focus on getting the best team in place to take the county forward....lets wish Kevin and his management team the very best and I wont be surprised to see him again at some stage or the other members taking on other football challenges at either club or county level....this is life and it moves on .....lets get a new management team in place in advance of the club championship and then lets look forward to an exciting few month of club games with the new rules where the lads on the current team can show what they are made of and the rest of the squad and challengers also put their best forward for all to see.

Dan

I could easily see Dempsey and McConville working together in some capacity. McConville was coach for dempsey in his 2022 bid. And McConville has since spoke very highly of him on podcasts since. You’d imagine McEntee could work with both men too considering he has already coached crossmcglenn with Oisin.Niall Heffernin in all fairness deserves credit too, could be involved in some mgmt ticket. Jury still out for me on Sean Deane. If he wins a county title with Breffey then yes he deserves huge credit but his achievements don’t stack up to most other men mentioned. He needs a bit more silverware in the cabinet but no reason why he can’t get Breffey over the line.

Giz,I am only quoting what our (excellent) county board said according to J Burns

@Corick

"Excellant " is going a bit overboard.

I'd like an outsider manager. Though I'd be happy with Andy Moran he would be great with the under 20s who will come up . He definetly would bring the belief and confidence back to the guys .

We're all missing the obvious solution to all our problems, it's simple really, everyone in Mayo walks out of the county, leaves the key in the door, we then put out a proclamation that that those Mayo houses can only be filled by young men that have been sired from All Ireland medal holders(thankfully I think PJ's are too young to qualify yey), same rule for female's, then Mayo GAA is disbanded, debt gone, replaced by Mayo Gaelic Games committee, we win, everyone's happy

Yeah I hear ya Green&Red about Dempsey and McConville.
But since then, both have managed at intercounty level, so would one be willing to take a step back?
The last thing I think we need is another dual management role.

Rex mortuus est, vivat Rex. Le Roi est mort, vive le Roi. What ever way you phrase it, let's move on!

Just a quick FYI.

Ye can keep your hands off Donaghy we might want him home ourselves.

Provided he's not dancing on the sidelines on Sunday.

Clare your backing against Kerry gives me a little bit of hope.

We might do it yet.

@West Kerry

I'm not the only one on here saying you lot will loose my God. You even said it yourself .

We might be out of the championship but the mayo v Kerry battle goes on

Heffernans lack of progress in the CCC is a big negative in my opinion.

Dan,

Ya very fair point, but I’d personally like to think they could work together in some way shape or form. I think the issue most people had last time was that there was a lot of “back seat driving” for want of a better word.

Anyway regardless it’s not something I think will happen. I think the CB will go for Andy. Personally if I was Andy I’d go for the job when it comes up again. People seem to forget that Monaghan were in an All Ireland semi final 2 years ago. They have a good squad. But if they lose to Donegal tomorrow then I’d say there is a fair question to ask them f Monaghan have improved?

No manager can guarantee success. There are lots of management teams all over the country but only one will win the All-Ireland. I don't blame McStay and co. for not winning the All-Ireland but I do blame them for playing the most negative crap of any team in the championship and league over their tenure.
Mayo were renowned for their flair but now are renowned for their negativity.
When Rochford was with Donegal, they became synonymous with all that was boring with the game. The outgoing management introduced the same muck with Mayo. Even the new rules didn't change the Mayo style while everyone else embraced them.
It is fashionable to blame the Co. board for all ills - yesterday I heard a contributor on MWR calling for McStay and co. to be retained and the Co. Board be sacked because some of the best players are not being picked. Figure that logic and I thinking it was up to team management to select the team. For those who attend Mayo matches, can they honestly say they enjoyed watching the fare on offer over the past few years.

Jr

Fair point, I suppose what I was getting at was that he could definitely be in as a selector etc. he has proven more at the club scene the Sean Deane and everyone speaks very highly of Sean. It’s so funny how certain people are loved by the media and then supporters just jump all over it.

No more than the CB statement and the subsequent article in the CT. If the CB did ask Kevin and co to resign and they refused, and given the lack of progress under them, I can see why the CB would be a small bit annoyed.

More loose talk from the banner . (Slightly cryptic in the hope of no reply )

Anyway west Kerry for what it’s worth I have a hunch for a Kerry victory . There is a lot of hyperbole the last couple of years about good teams as if they are magnificent, it’s simply not true imho . Like I’ve said all year be some craic if we end up with a dubs v Kerry final .

I believe that the county board should be more annoyed about the lack of clarity about the write down

That was some article in the Examiner - "Let us see if the battered bastards of Gaelic Football have finally learned something".
We will ultimately see that they haven't though, when they go back to Horan for round 3

Means nothing tbh as the market is more fun till you see a massive odds on but the market moves today have Andy as the new fav , Tony mcantee moved way out the road from 14 s to 50/1 outsider

Never a dull moment, or a day Mayo isn't box-office with the media. I forget, is it Summer or Christmas journalists call "the silly season"?

No way, as Sean Burke said above, no ex-players/ex managers from '96 - 21 coming back to manage. It's been tried/tested and failed. It's up to county board, players and supporters to welcome someone from outside.
A bit of humility might do us the world of good.
We have a problem, we haven't won Sam in 74 years (3 generations) and we've regressed in recent years.
The first step is acceptance that we need help, we haven't been able to do it ourselves in 74 years.
There's lots more steps needed for us but let's be open to outside help.

my choice would be DAVID HEANY and selectors from within mayo. the best football i saw this year was the mayo v kerry minors . i would love to see the seniors allowed to play that way.

Sunday (Galway, Meath, Kerry, Armagh) Quarter Finals
Three Lower Cusack Section 315, Row X adult tickets still for sale.

How much please maroonedin pale

I thought James Fleming was after those tickets

The problem is there are many second tier teams who are now very close to being seriously competitive while we have regressed. Winning Sam could very well be an open competition for years to come.
Not that Mayo can't get back up there.
A manager with experience of Northern set up and structures is our best chance imo. Is Donaghey wishful thinking? Haven't seen where he's not loving his stint with Armagh. Canavan/ Cillian or Andy, all outstanding forwards, would be my choice for the head hunt

Kevin is a gentleman, too much so to be a County Manager.
His heart was definitely in the right place.
Bringing a former manager in with him was a big mistake - too many cooks-.
Let's get on with new appointment.
My preference would be a home based manager.

@ James Fleming

€115 = {(3 * €45) face value - €20 }……..for a refreshment for yourself

@Jr

Really nice post there well said .

Is donaghy not just mcgeeneys helper ? Seriously different to becoming no. 1 .

It shouldn't have escaped anyone's notice that most of the noise about that statement came from outside the county. I'm sure that people from our rival counties (or, at least they were our rivals back when we were good enough to have rivals) are only too delighted to have a go at Mayo and are devastated that Mayo have (finally) parted ways from a management team that have made us completely uncompetitive and therefore no threat to their teams. I'm disappointed at Hennelly and Keegan for pouring more fuel on an entirely unnecessary fire but they wouldn't be the first to sell their souls to RTE for the few Bob. Keegan high tailed it out of the Mayo camp after Kevin was appointed so his opinion should hold little weight. Looking forward to a new management team being appointed (obviously with the caveat that there's a fair chance that the county board will make a balls of it). McConville would be a great shout but if we're having an outside manager I'd like a mostly Mayo backroom. Andy would be a great coach and would bring that relentless positivity that we're so badly in need of right now. Cora Staunton would also be a fantastic addition and would take absolutely no crap from anyone. We also need a serious sports psychologist.

I wonder did Keegan and Hennelly feel the same way when Holmes and Connelly were ousted?

I came across a piece the two boys did after they were ousted in october 2015. Connelly adds: "If a small group within the squad are allowed to dictate the way they tried to when we were there, it's not good for Mayo football.

Was Keegan and Hennelly part of that group youd wonder? I'd say they werent far away..so memories are short when it comes to hiring and firing managers.

@Mayo for Liam

Yes totally agre there alot of the noise is coming from outsiders maybe thet are worried we are finally getting our shit together .

We definetly do need a good sports psychologist 100% .

@Magpie
Good point there short memories!

I may have raised this question before but got no answers, I might ask it again now, with all the talk re new management teams etc I think it's a fitting question.

In the current Mayo Senior, Inter & Junior leagues are there players comfortably taking on and scoring the 2 pointers?

This is probably more important that discussing new prospective management teams.

@Magpie, I think you will find that Lee Keegan voted to retain Holmes and Connelly at the initial players vote.

Yes baterheblanket there are many players doing so and all young forwards, ability isn't the issue, setup, culture, confidence and system is and was the issue .
Whatever about 2 pointers and I think it's a side line topic, we only had 1 forward capable of kicking 1 pointers never mind 2 pointers .
We need to field more natural forwards, a fullforward line that has speed and scoring abilities, not two big lumps and ROD next to them .
We need halfforwards with dynamic runs and searing pace creating goals , interlinking play and then look at 2 pointers.

If Kerry best armagh or anyone for that matter it will be fue to Armaghs lack of goal threat , not lack of 2 pointers , 2 pointers are a gamble in any man's world , even the elite players , it's only a chance , goals win matches and tagging on simple scores when the chance presents itself

Clare we are managerless with no obvious candidates in view .we are a bit off getting anything together and alot of the noise has come from inside the county.i wasn’t aware there were about 20 people involved in the outgoing management.does seem way over the top

Maybe he did lean times..Maybe he did. Anyway big fuss over nowt. On to the games tomorrow and Sunday, I think all fairly close.

Donegal
Tyrone
Galway
Kerry

@1985

Yeah fair enough I know we are a good bit off of getting ourselves together but this is a big step towards it . Noise has come from inside the county to of course but alot from outside .

I just hope it won't be a media circus again like the last time get it done quickly. I see Andy moran is joint favourites with Austin O Malley and James Horan .

I hope Horan doesn't come back no disrespect to him but we need fresh energy and something new .

Has to be a Mayo person for me.
Normally we want to bring an outsider in to show us how to defend, but to be fair to the outgoing management they have for the most part sorted that out. We haven't been conceding stupid goals at the rate we were. Been a long time since we were debating sweepers, number 6s or even fullbacks with real venom too.

The other side of that is we're currently easily the least Mayo like Mayo team ever, and the last time it felt like we were a traditional Mayo team was against the Dubs in 23 when we conceded silly goals and kicked wides for fun. Neither has happened much since, and the management team and players deserve credit for that.

With that said the bottom line for 2025 is that the defeat to Cavan cost us the opportunity to really show if we'd improved from 2024, and ultimately you are going backwards until you can prove you are moving forward.

James Horan for me, if he wants it. Feels like we need the self belief he instills. Especially in young players. Horan and Maughan are the managers that I remember bringing that belief, but that's not to say that they are the only people capable of bringing that, but they are the closest thing around to a sure thing. Normally I would think it's too soon for Horan to come back but the fact he spent a lot of that time writing the new rules changes things for me.

I noticed today, that Boylesports have Davy Burke at 12/1 for the Mayo job.. I hadn't heard that he had left Roscommon.

@Mayo for Liam.. Lee Keegan is and was perfectly entitled to make his own mind up as regards playing for Mayo or not, as is everyone else who ever played for Mayo. and his opinion, considering hes the greatest player ever to play for Mayo is at least as valid as some other peoples opinion that he's not even entitled to an opinion. Nothing terribly wrong with the Robbie Hennelly interview, but i taught the Marty Party Pudding and Pie questions were a little leading to say the least. Did Kevin McStay not work for RTE for decades himself.. Mind you Kevins opinion that John Smalls hit on Eoghan McLoughlin was fair game, or the previous Christmas All Ireland final that Michael Fitzsimon hit on Lee Keegan wasn't too much wrong with that either takes some analysing.

The noise will die down.it’s hard not to have some sympathy for the two lads but it was the right decision whatever way it was done .it just didn’t seem to be going anywhere with a general lack of energy around the whole set up .in general I think there has to be a cap put on the numbers involved in these management teams in all counties.it’s getting completely out of hand .what are all these people doing and it certainly isn’t sustainable

Davey Crockett has more chance of getting the job in any case

Observer2.
I hope he stays there or anywhere else bar Mayo.

@1985

Yeah your right the noise will die down eventually . Yes there definetly should be a cap on the amount of numbers allowed in a management team getting a bit like a circus now .

BatetheBlanket,
I'm seeing inter & junior players taking on 2 pointers but few really impressing but I'm limited to games I get to. Busy weekend ahead with leagues and in this county so many of the inter squads are eligible for juniors, there'll be lots of players on Saturday eve trying 2 pointers and they'll be back out Sunday trying 2 pointers again😵‍💫

On the 2 pointer subject. Towey kicked 2 x 2 pointers for Charlestown last weekend. There's footage online of one of them.

The decision not to take 2 pointers has to have been a management one. Some games we barely attempted any at all. I saw a stat that we had scored 15 2 pointers this year. Monaghan scored 53. We were fast asleep at the wheel.

What's the old saying? "You never miss the shots you didn't take".
Mayo misses from 2-point attempts this year are probably one of the lowest in the country, therefore all is well.

@Tubberman.

Look at your man Michael Plunkett. 3x2 pointers in the first half against Westport earlier in the year. The players are well capable of kicking them.

Back room teams costing all the money.
Anyone with IST at the end of their title should be banned.
The Medical team are probably the cheapest of all.

So the Connaught Telegraph reporting McConville heavy favourite for the job..hard believe anything really.

278 posts and still going! Hopefully this story will be old news after a weekend of great football. The whole thing has been blown completely out of proportion and it’s time everybody moved on from it. There’s plenty of people that would like to keep it bubbling away but there’s nothing to be gained from it at this point. The county board have made their decision and now must be given the time to carry out an effective recruitment process to ensure the best possible candidate is selected.

Enda McGinley from Tyrone would be a good choice as manager. He played on that great Tyrone team under Mickey Harte that won three all Irelands, did well as manager of Errigal Ciaran last year and has that Tyrone winning mentality that we are so badly missing in Mayo.
Andy as coach then.

People having a cut at Keegan, christ almighty do some research. He had no issue with Holmes & Connelly. He didn't care who manager was, he just wanted to play for Mayo. He is arguably one of our greatest ever players.....imo the greatest because he stood up on the biggest of days.

This management team got 3 years and their forward play was a joke to watch, sick of hearing about this story now.Peter Keane was treated worse by Kerry but not a word about it.

Managers can be chopped and changed all they want, the real problems of ameturism, lack of planning, lack of fundraising, lack of proper s&c, lack of top quality coaching throughout the county, the list goes on...Real change off the pitch at executive level is desperately needed. Will they change or can they change? I keep saying, turkeys won't vote for Christmas...a complete root and branch review of the county board structures and all of the above issues ive mentioned have got to be demanded and implemented immediately. For the love of mayo, we need a top quality person in, who is paid a salary to run it, call them a ceo or whatever, but it's way beyond required. The top guy running connacht rugby is a mayo man, living in mayo. I'd love to see him overseeing everything, with an dedication person in charge of fundraising and a development manager to oversee all coaches/trainers. Get the right structures and plans in place.

I hear some of the same people talking about Mayo needing to be more adventurous in style of play and yet talking about going back to the same set of names from a managerial perspective. Where is the adventure in that?

Burke steps down from Roscommon.
A much more amicable break up

It's always amicable when when it's what both sides want facetheball...lol

Indeed

McConneville now favorite , it's been said we need a manager that has won something so I wouldn't be opposed to him, but it's still an unknown, JH would build a team, I know it was mentioned that tactically he has been found wanting but you would hope he could learn from prior mistakes, loais pundit once said, can't remember his name, but he was talking about Mayo and he said if you get to Finals often enough then law of averages says you will win won.
I believe we will be at business end with JH, I hope who ever comes in I hope they can bring the same.

Lee Keegan was one of the greatest ever Mayo players but if he criticised the Co Board and you think the Co Board were right then Lee Keegan becomes a ‘bad’ man joining other ‘ bad’ men like Brady and Hennelly. If an ex Mayo player praises the Co Boards decision ( none so far that I have heard’ ) they will become a ‘good’ man and a great ex player… and all because they agree with you. Seriously it’s time to move on The Co Board did what they did with the best of intentions. K McStay and his management team did what they did with this best of intentions. These guys are amateurs who do their best for Mayo football. Sometimes their best is not good enough but they are worthy of respect. When the Co Board guys are attending meetings and trying to plot a way forward and when the management team are out seeking pitches for training in the depth of winter what are their detractors doing? Time to give lads a break, show a bit of respect and realise that these guys are under pressure and these guys have families and lives away from football as well

@to win just once in an ideal world that would be the last word on that....we live in hope!

I must say the fact that McConville is favourite with the bookies unfortunately means nothing. If I remember correctly they suspended betting on Mike Solan the last two times as he was the favourite at the beginning of both of the last 2 processes. I would like to see Oisin on the line in 2026 but I genuinely don’t think it will happen.

I see Oisin Mullin flying now in NFl and the Cats already said they have a contract waiting for him sad to as thought he might come back . Though it is what it Is and we need to focus on the guys willing to wear the green & red . I can't stand the NFL though to be honest does my head in !

We've lots of young talent coming up and a fresh start will take time but I feel more hopeful then I have in a while .

Still sad not to be apart of one of the best weekends in our main game to be honest.

Some buck called Killian Connors scored 1-8 from play in a senior league game this evening. Seemingly he's scoring for fun the last few months.
But hey, there's a world of difference between Club and county so he probably wouldn't make it at that level

no way do i want to see oision mcconvill as mayo manager , he failed to get wicklow out of div. 4 ,what did he ever do at intercounty level nothing worth talking about.

He must be jimmy Connors young buck

Who would you be thinking of so Patrick Hayes?

david heaney or andy moran

Agree with you. Finding Sam. There has been a lot of for/against here over the last 24 hours or so. In the general scheme of things it doesn't matter what we think. We can all have our opinions but that's as far as it goes. However to see people criticising one of our greatest players ever I have to take exception to. People should think before they post on this platform or other for that matter. Kevin McStay is a gentleman and has done a lot for Mayo football but his time was up and it's now time to let the process of selecting the next manager take place.

The more i think about it I really think Andy Moran is the man for the job . Yes an outsider would be nice to but would they know who is good in the club football scene ?

Why wasn't Conor Diskin called up and the likes of that to.

Andy Moran would install fresh energy, belief and flying with Monaghan at the minute . For me I'd love if he got it .

I would not be into the minutiae of administration of our national games but it is hard to credit that someone or some people who have been tasked with interfacing with media outlets would come up with such a crass and demeaning way of describing an end of a managial term. To my mind it is bordering on the illerate and an object lesson in how the wrong people end up in positions which they are patently unsuited.

Moving on to the very important appointment of our next manager-I don't care if they are from Mayo, another county or Outer Hebrides, as long as they are the right person for the job. Neither do I agree with this idea that he has to have won an All Ireland-many great managers have never won the "Big One" in various sports and visa versa.. The CB need to set the following criteria/questions for the candidates. 1) What is your target/ambition? - to win Sam during my tenure(only acceptable answer), with at least one Connacht title. 2)What style of play do you intent to use? 3)How do you intend to embrace and take full advantage of the new rules. The winning candidate needs to have a winning mentality(does'nt mean he has to have an AI medal) and not be satisfied with second best, narrow defeats, good performances etc. Should be strong willed and tactically astute. Should assemble a strong support team, consisting of and attack coach(Andy Moran would be ideal),a top class defence coach and someone with strong knowledge of the club scene. Personally, while I have had many great days and great memories following Mayo, I am sick to death of defeats in finals and other big games gallant defeats and generally being second best in big games-we can't be satisfied with that and need to get rid of that mindset. PS, I'm glad I don't have to make the decision.

Betting markets seem to be pulled . Someone has the gig ?

Carlsberg don't appoint GAA managers.........but if they did..?

Sean Burke. That's interesting. Anyone from Castlebar keep a look out for white smoke over McHale Park please.

Probably best to seek out an Ulsterman, green and red. The time is right for so many of them to throw their names into the hat. They've been telling Mayo folks for so long that they're too "nice".
I'll be laughed at but I don't care... Mickey Harte-or someone of his ilk- is what's required to get the Mayo train back on track. The whole engine room needs an overhaul. No more Mr nice guy from the bottom to the top. I'm talking about some ruthless outsider coming in to rip up the script. It'll be nasty and painful, but a total root and branch denuding is a must.

I like Oisin McConville but Andy Moran has more managerial experience. I really don't see any magic there.

People are saying bring someone in from outside. Andy has also cut his teeth outside the County now in Connacht and Ulster, tick's another box.

Patrick Hayes, not saying Andy is the wrong choice but to say "no way do i want to see oision mcconvill as mayo manager , he failed to get wicklow out of div. 4 ,what did he ever do at intercounty level nothing worth talking about." Seems a contradiction when you think Andy who handed New York their first ever championship is the alternative.

Andy Moran is going to be a brilliant manager but now is not his time to manage mayo. He is learning and serving his apprenticeship at the moment. He needs to continue learing for another few years. Andy Morans time will come.

Magpie,Lee Keegan is on the record as saying he voted to retain that management team,one of about six I believe,so stop the nonsenj,we will to see that craggy h no problem with new manager because he has never stopped calling Stephen out,a great coach and person

Hope Austin O'Malley is interested. He stands out in the names mentioned. A lot of others mentioned would be fine as part of the Management Team e.g. Andy.

@Corick

Your entitled to your opinion as is everyone here . As is @Craggy boglands .

You can't deny that the same issues we had were with were with Donegal to when Rochford there .

Same boring lateral play , players opting out, rumours of trouble in camp christ they even got Murphy back .

I also believe the Cillian rumours and O ' hora rumours rows with management . Though as much as I love Balliba we've better defenders then O 'Hora to be honest .

Anyway time to focus on moving on and a fresh start for 2026 .

Best of luck Monaghan and and Andy Moran today !

@Joeg don't mix possible white smoke from Davitt house on our Tax problems.

If it’s to be a native , I’d go with Ray Dempsey tbh . Knows the club scene inside out . Probably would need a couple of men with him that have county experience in terms of managerial logistics for modern county set up

You might be correct,but he has never stopped saying this is the same Donegal team ,I believe that there is eight or nine new players in the set up,same with Mayo when I believe that there has been fifteen new players introduced,we have the same problem for seventy years,so it can't always be management fault

One positive about McStay having wanted to stay on is that his health concerns must be well allayed.

Corick you are correct, it's not all managements fault. But the set up and management are a huge part of it.
Unfortunately it didn't go well for the boys and results show us have gone backwards and the CB and players it seems lost faith.
Sticking with an old fashioned game plan and failing to adapt or acknowledge importance of the new rules proved costly.
At this stage all we can do is thank them for their efforts, wish them well and good health.

It could be Halloween before we see white smoke.

Horan, Rochford, Dempsey all part of the past, great thanks honor and glory to them!

Moran, O’Malley etc. whoever it is the future

Ray Dempsey? I dont know about that.won a couple county titles with knockmore in a terrible style that the rules allowed. Didn't he manage Limerick for a bit and didn't last long. Even limerick was a step up for him so id prefer to see someone like Andy Moran, hes young and willing to learn too.

I wonder what the narrative will be at 6:00 this evening?

If Monaghan win then Andy will be the chosen one. If they lose then he will still be very much wanted however his management team will have had a worse campaign then the previous management team, who had Monaghan in an AI semi final 2 years ago. Not that many will pay any notice to it because we get way to emotional when making these decisions. It was the same story 3 years ago with Kevin. Lines like “he was shafted in 2015 when he went for the job” and “it’s his 3rd time to apply, he deserves it”. That type of soft chat doesn’t run in other counties and it cost us 3 very average years.

I still need to see more experience from Andy. I think the next time the job comes around, he will be very well placed. I’ll put it another way, if Kerry are on the look out for a manager in a few months they won’t go for Donaghey.

@green&red we shouldn’t be too influenced by the Monaghan outcome today. It’s about taking teams as far as they can possibly go and a bit further. Monaghan may be at or close to that now.

2 years ago different qualifying route and old rules so nothing to measure agaisnt.

InExile and Leitrim v new York?

I think Andy could be great as manager but think it's to soon yet as has played with many of the players.

@Gizmobobs
- first day out
- good NY team - full of ex county players
- NY equalized last minute and won on penalties

I”d look at it another way
- see how he turned Leitrim around - up a division etc.

@inExile

Exactly. New rules and all hear is that they are suiting Monaghan and Meath more then every other county in the country. So the new rules should be a plus to Andy and his management team.

His loss to NY was a big red flag and tbh Leitrim caused us far more problems this year under poacher then they did against any team in Connaught under Andy.

Look regardless Andy is going to be either managing or coaching Mayo one day, and I feel he knows that himself. I’d just like to see him with another 2/3 years experience and take on the role the next time it comes around. It will probably be more appealing anyway in 3 years when the crop of U20 forwards have been fully interested into the panel.

Too soon for Andy, it undoubtedly will be his one day but he's a young man still and learning a good trade up in ulster, a few more years of that and I'd like to see him take a mayo sfc team too for the summer if monaghan exit today.

Too close to a lot of the current players too. Would he be strong enough to drop his old teammates AOS and Diarmuid if he had to?

I think he'd be mad to take it right now but should have his eyes on it in 3 years time

I think it might be a better time for Andy next time round, but not sure he'll be patient enough to wait. He said he had a serious chat with people after Horan left as to whether he should go for it.
He thought it was too soon then, which it was, but will he think the same thing now.
Depending on who he can bring with him, maybe now is the time?

Maybe McConville as manager and Andy as coach might work sort of a good cop bad cop approach. Whoever gets the job will need to drop a few lads from the panel and bring in some of our younger players and maybe bring back Cillian i dont envy the new manager whoever it will be

Andy coming in to take the job in 3 years might not be pertinent if our next manager (whoever he/she might be)has got us up them there steps in the meantime....Andy or Austin ,along with a more experienced,battle hardened manager might be the ticket. I hope the process doesn't drag on too long, but of course we might have to wait a while if our preferred candidate is still in a job elsewhere.

My preference for player development is someone within the County, doesn’t have to be the manager. Horan is the no 1 at that around but can’t see him just doing that as part of a management team (previous managers voice too strong for the new guy). If he could be persuaded to do it and paid for it but not as part of the core team (so we have the fresh approach people want), would be ideal. Either way it’s an important role for someone.

For Manager I have several from outside
1) Jim Gavin the greatest manager in the game who’s unlikely to be interested and yet has not been linked to any team since his Dublin departure. At the very least needs to be sounded out. He’ll likely by having the feet up Thor 2 days watching the greatest QF weekend because of the new rules he helped to create.
2) Kinnerk as manager or coach we’d be fools not to approach him. Different code but has the knowledge.
3) Austin O’ Malley based on that OTB Interview is one of the best around. No idea if he has the time to do it but has to be asked.
4) Tony McEntee who takes absolutely no S**t from the players even less so the star ones. Bit of a gamble with style in contrast to O Malley but I suspect the players had no issue with his style before.
5) Enda McGinley is a great football brain and worthy of consideration.
6) Canavan, didn’t have a good run with Fermanagh but with limited player pool. Hard to see with his sons playing for Tyrone.

Within my preferences are
1) Andy. It’s very obvious he wants to Manage Mayo. The job’s unfinished. Despite a few posters, has experience deliberately cut his teeth at Leitrim and doing well in his role with Monaghan. If they keep progressing they’ll be mad to keep him. Has seen the meticulous attention to detail Horan brought and the strengths and weaknesses of several management teams.
2) Toss up between Gardiner and Heaney (Claregalway but close enough). Both have plenty to give and good attitudes. Less experienced than Andy who’s managed and coached at a higher level.

I think chances of success are actually higher with internal. Even the other greatest (Micko) could only make a final with Kildare. Mickey Harte has done a Sam Alderdyce on several lower counties but only won with Tyrone. Some of that’s down to the player pool.
Struggling to think of an outside manager that’s won it.

with the rossies manager having steped down , i hope mayo dont even think about it

Patrick Hayes. Totally agree. I wouldn’t want him anywhere near Mayo.

[Deleted].

Looking backwards on the last few days it’s a storm in a teacup that’ll fall away when today’s action kicks off.
For what it’s worth here’s my tuppence worth..

1) Ok with management being ruthless if the lads had to be pushed. Guessing the players were sounded out or at least some senior ones. It gives a new team time to check out the club scene if they can be found quickly enough.
2) Gratitude for the contributions of the team. I honestly think we were very close with not our strongest panel. So easy to be critical. I do think our failure to get 2 pointers especially with the wind was a minus this year but each year we had some great wins. The Dublin QF defeat was a low but the lack of rest week was a major factor that day combined with Dublin finding their killer instinct.
3) Disagree with criticism of S&C, we have just as much pace as the other top teams. I’ve seen the club and University level GAA players training in the gym and it’s a million miles from 2 decades ago in sports science etc. If we needed someone who may has the 2% edge it’s the Lukasz Kirszenstein who worked Clare, Tipp and Galway hurlers to AIs (presumably snapped up by some other code but ye never know) closely followed by Solan but no doubt there are many experts out there. As for injuries, it’s a contact sport. Check out Kerry atm.
3) Feel the statement could have provided more recognition, it may be reflective of conflict but still could have mentioned achievements. Staying in Div is a strong legacy for the next manager.
4) No issue in the wide world with Robbie. I think he’s been 100% honest. He feels for the management and thinks it could be done better. His interview does reflect on the County Board so sheds light he thinks they could do better in their roles which may well be true. Marty drew him out a bit. As I see it he’s a genuine guy whether or not he’s going for a pundit role doesn’t concern me. Haven’t heard David Brady but he shoots from the hip and that’s refreshing as a neutral listener. We only get annoyed because of trying to control the narrative. None of this is of consequence if we build a top team capable of completing for AIs regularly as before. This will be a hard job, old winners in the doldrums for years have emerged so there will be no easy AIs any year soon. Tyrone have an underage academy, hard not to see them being near the top for 10 years. We need to emulate that. Limerick hurlers built on huge minor and U21 success in the lead up.

Optomisteek, that’s disingenuous to both. Rochford has given huge service to Mayo in the pursuit of success. By our standards he hasn’t achieved it but has come closer than anyone else bar Horan on a par. I don’t know how much these guys get paid but with modern social media and posts like yours, it’s a somewhat thankless task. Likewise how many hours has Gardiner given to Mayo. I think your comment is a disgrace to be honest.

Was this the lad that was in with Dempsey and McConville? He's doing a serious job with the Irish athletics team.
https://www.westernpeople.ie/sport/mayo-mans-link-to-another-slice-of-sporting-history_arid-62745.html

Opt2misteek - there's absolutely no call for that and there's no place here either for derogatory remarks like that about someone who has given loyal service to the county. Don't make the mistake of doing that a second time.

@sufflydeck some interesting suggestions there.
Jim Gavin in particular but also Jason Sherlock?

However although Gavin wrote the new rules I still think his style is past. Mayo tried to copy that lateral ponderous wait for the right moment approach to ill effect. I think the new rules have changed everything.

Apologies WJ-standing count taken.

Austin for manager based on all Ireland club title. Rochford and McStay both won AI club titles. Andy managed Leitrim to promotion but defeat to New York. Doing well with Monaghan at moment. Depends what value you place on being a coach. Amazingly all of Rochfords detractors put Donegals mediocrity down to him and seem to excuse the manager . McConnville ? Still stuck in Div 4 with Wicklow. Blew an 8 point lead in Tailteann semi last Sunday- surely a hanging offence in Mayo . Dempsey?? Not the most enjoyable of football as Knockmore won county. Short stint with Limerick but very unsuccessful. Now look at Limerick Won Div 4 and in Tailteann Cup final. Easy to be destructive and get rid of managers but as I said previously there is not a queue of supremely talented managers waiting in the wings. Big , important and difficult challenge for Co Board. Hope they get it right

Jim Gavin's work schedule is pretty hectic lads, so I'd be looking elsewhere. He's a total non-runner considering he's already won 6, with the famous 5-in-a-row to boot. I think McConville is definitely in the frame.

I wouldn't want him (an other, Duine Eile ) anywhere near Mayo either!!! ..too fond of bladder interviews with RTE , all the better to raise his profile ..Anyone guess who I am referring to? .. In fact I think its better that our next manager has enough about him (or her or they, you never know nowadays) might steer the conversation away from the RTE agenda every once in a while. A bit like Brian Coady v Marty Morrissy . I cant recall the last time RTE interviewed Brian Coady , maybe his CV not up the required standard .

To win just once,

Before Rochford went to Donegal, Declan Bonnar had won back to back Ulster titles with Carl Lacey as coach. He then made the vital mistake to get Rochford in, and they didn’t win anything after that. And now as you said Andy is doing well in Monaghan but for all we know Brannigan could be a genius, he does come across very well. Whilst Dempsey’s time in Limerick wasn’t good, I think it’s crystal clear to see they should never have been in an extremely competitive Division 2. Played the likes of Dublin, Derry Meath and Cork. If they were any good they would not have got relegated to Division 4 the next year. I personally think McConville has got the max out of Wicklow and he himself was critical of how they closed out the semi final.

The reality is some of these men might not want the job. I still think Pat Gilroy would be the ideal man with a good mayo backroom team behind him. Anyway it’s thankfully not our decision to make.

My penny worth is id like to have kept Stephen
on board in some capacity if that was possible.
Tuamstar busy organising the open top👍

Mind you, if we get Mickey Harte, I dont think RTE will get an interviews at all, and thats not great for sponsors, they like their logos on TV screens all over Ireland and indeed the world.

@Gizm

Absolutely shocking a man of Kilgannons quality is not involved with Mayo S&C. Our own mayo man with huge success who was willing to do S&C and sprint work with a previous candidate. With the modern game power running and explosive pace (especially for the inside line) is absolutely essential.

Such a shame we missed out on him last time.

@InExile: I wouldn't make an assumption any top manager has 'a' style of play. The top ones will adapt quickly to changes in rules, changes in their own personnel and changes in their opposition to find the best solution(s) to win a game.

Sometimes that'll be focusing on your own team's strengths and playing football in their way, while others it'll be adjusted to address what they're up against. A quick comparison of Dublin in their hayday and how they tackled going up against a Tyrone or Donegal versus how they tackled a Mayo or Kerry at that time showed two very different approaches.

The likes of Gavin, Horan (has spoken incredibly critically this year of teams overly dependent on going through the hands, something his own teams have been known for some years back) or Fitzmaurice would be playing different football today than they'd have done in the past.

@Green&Red: All the word from football folk in Monaghan (or the lads on the panel themselves) is Andy is a lot more than just the forward coach and if anyone on that backroom team was getting high praise it'd be him.

Non-football management has often been described as hiring folks smarter than yourself and then getting the hell out of their way. Possible we're starting to see football go down that route more and more too.

Are some of these names being bandied about as unlikely as the suggestion of Davey Fitzgerald the other night.jack o Shea might be interested in having a go at it again after he said on his laochra Gael that it came too early for him the first time and corrick where are the 15 players that this management brought through and what games did they play.The majority of the current panel were brought through by Horan .The idea that management have no responsibility for what happens is totally ridiculous.For instance when jack o Shea was in charge in 93 94 years we were beaten by 20 points by cork and didn’t score for the majority of a defeat by Leitrim in Connacht final.mcstay and Anthony Egan came in the next year and Galway hammered us in Connacht final.one year later John maughan took us to within seconds of winning the all Ireland.Maybe we should have left jack o Shea there for the next 31years as he obviously had no responsibility at all for the team’s performance and results.i

To win just once Limerick are also 2 divisions lower since then as well they were playing there trade in Division 2 then, completely different level, only way they were going was down.
General consensus now is league is the new preseason competition. Championship is where it's at.
I agree with you on Rochford getting to much stick for being a coach, the manager is the manager book stops there.

On style of play I wouldn't mind if it was boring and successful to get our first win, issue last few years is it's boring and losing is games.

What's the record for the number of comments?
I'm not a football buff. But I honestly think most of the comments here are very short sighted. People need to look outside the box and I think we are missing a trick by not including Cora Staunton in the discussion.
I just know we have a proven winner. A ruthless competitor. An inspiring voice. A person who has done it all. Yes, she's a woman. Big deal. She is gold dust and given the right team this woman can do great things.
Mayo women are leaders, trail blazers. We have so many that I personally am very proud of. Mary Robinson, Kathleen Lynn, Norah Patten, Sinéad Diver, Lady Sarah Fleming, Grace O' Malley...
This is an opportunity for real change. I wonder do the men in charge see this or are they afraid of powerful women.
Máigheo abú

Has the draw been made for who the teams will play in the semis?

Monaghan are flying

Sounds like Patton having a bit of a mare of a 1st half.

@Mayo25: No. Any previous meetings are avoided where possible for the semi, so there's potential we won't need a draw and it'll be set pairings yet. We'll need to know all 4 teams involved before we know the next step, with the draw happening after the Kerry Armagh game tomorrow as the most likely scenario.

Aha, Glory be to the 2pointers

@2hops

That's Andy Moran getting them to practice the 2 pointers 24/7 I'd say !

Just goes to show, it's more about the players than management at the end of the day. Beggan with 5 points for Monaghan and Patton responsible for another 5 for Monaghan.

@The west best

No cause confidence is installed from the top it's the same in any job if your not treated well or given the confidence you won't be performing to your best abilities !

This Monaghan team in approach are everything we weren't. And they aren’t better footballers. Direct running, movement, passing, interplay and no fear of taking a chance. Moran doing his chances of being involved no harm at all

Excellent game.2 pointer bonanza . Donegal need to lead by half time or even get level cause the rest week issue will come to roost

West is best, amazing swing between the the two number ones

Shuffly deck, it's mighty. To think some people didn't think the 2 pointers be that big of a deal!

@Clare I agree of course, but Beggan has been kicking them over from huge distances for years. We had ROD trying to force them and he just hasn't the range. Mayo would have dropped 4 or 5 shots into the goalkeepers arms at this stage of a game.

1-15in a half of football left4-5 behind. Donegal in serious trouble. Monaghan will win this and should be considered a contender.

Level now with 20 mins to go.

Donegal finding another gear.

Monaghan look gassed, some bad wides this quarter.

Lads and ladies I hate to say it but it looks like Andy has took the mayo lack of efficiency in the forward play with him. It’s being found out now. Hopefully they can turn it around as I do have huge time for Monaghan as a county but it’s looking doggy.

People who commented in the first half must be wishing they held off til the match was over 😀

Monaghan are falling apart

Awful shooting from Monaghan second half.
Andy will be available now 🤭

Great stuff from Thompson there to get the 50 . Donegal going through the gears when needed , same as Galway have been . So if Meath go a few points up tomorrow will ye please hold up with the getting carried away stuff and just wait till 65 mins or so .

Monaghan do not look up to it fitness wise. They're ran ragged. Shooting is absolutely woeful as well.

Don't think anyone was getting carried away Donegal we're always going to have a come back in 2nd half. Meath have no chance v Galway .

Shocking by Monaghan in the 2nd half. Completely gassed out in the 2nd half after a 2 week lay off. Donegal cantering.

Agreed, shooting has cost them and poor decision making,

Great effort by the Farney men, didn't have the fitness or accuracy in the second half sadly.

Jimmy still winning matches. It will haunt us if they go on now to take Sam back to the hills of Donegal

it was a complete collapse, how could you it a great effort!?

Very easy for Donegal in the end. I thought this would be the closest game of the weekend but no. Monaghan need to look at their fitness. Not acceptable that they are gassed a good 15/20 mins before full time.

Maybe Mayo aren’t as far away as we think
We ran Galway and Donegal close and beat Tyrone whilst playing old rules when they were playing new rules 😛

This is exactly why myself and other posters said that Andy needs more time. We are giving out about Monaghans scoring and efficiency. If that’s the case then surely that lies at the feet of Andy? Truth be told once Donegal found their rythem they ripped Monaghan apart. Rory Beggin has probably pushed Andy’s stock higher than anyone else. Hard luck Monaghan but they got a serious lesson in football in that second half

@Clare Jimmy McGuinness further proof of the importance of great management. That was an unbelievable 2nd half performance.

Don't agree Meath have no chance against Galway, think they can turn them over.

Well 🌟

Jimmy's winning matches..Jimmy's winning games. They'll be hard to knock

Yes a complete collapse but games are not won in the first half , Monaghan not near good enough for that level . Composure in clutch moments is what really separates the better teams from the rest , look at that two pointer from think it was langan , my god that’s just sublime , that’s proper winners mentality. Donegal are nothing amazing either but Shur no team has stood out

Schoolboy stuff by Monaghan in the 2nd half. Wide count went from bad to worse, decision making poor. On the other side Donegal kept improving.
Once Ryan McAnespie got injured their shape was gone combined with the Donegal goal.

Mayo could be in this mix, it's very disappointing with the teams that are left that we haven't done better

Haven’t seen the match today and maybe Donegal are a different team to a fortnight ago.
But it’s interesting that Mayo were level in the final seconds versus Donegal with an avoidable one-point loss eventually while Louth and Monaghan lose to the same team with a wider margin.
And we’ve sent our managers packing.

@The west is bret

Yeah exactly no fan of McGuiness but he is a great manager and has turned Donegal around

@km79

Agree we are not far off just needvtight management and right tactics .

I agree we are not far off but still find it hard to see Mayo scoring 1 26 in Croke Park with current style.

Let’s be honest Monaghan don’t have the squad that Donegal have but performed to the max of their level, still scored 1 20 with lots of miss’s.

Lads & lassies , we honestly only have ourselves to blame , I still can’t explain the performance v Cavan . It was unforgivable in championship

We were level with Donegal but that's not good enough, if we were more positive in first half we would have won the game, management had to go, we can compete but we will never get to business end playing that style of football

Ahh not again, I wonder if it was horses for courses. We played that game versus Donegal and gave ourselves a chance to get a result. The Leinster champions played an open game against Donegal and Donegal out scored them (with a scoring spree). Today Monaghan couldn’t contain them either.
We played an open game against Tyrone and won.

By the way, I don’t support a predominantly negative style of play either.

Yes agree on the Cavan game knew it that day that our season was finished very frustrating .

Monaghan were positively positive in the first half and still got reeled in...as were we.
Donegal have more gears and more options than us at the moment.
The Tyrone 'jolt' could well be the making of their season.

Tubberman, great effort as in they gave it their all. They weren't good enough as I think almost all on here predicted as can see in the poll. They just didn't roll over which is a credit to them.
As green and red alluded to, from out point of view their level of fitness and forward play in second half a worry.

The amount of 2 pointers in today's two games already really is an eye opener, we never really tried to play the new game this year. Other teams embraced them.

Lads and Lassies,looking at today's games, most other top teams are playing completely different games to what we have been playing. Tenacious physical tackling, taking great advent age of the 2 pointers and fast direct transition from back to front-none of this boring ineffective lateral side-to-side shite. We need to cop on for next season.

If Andy Moran was in charge of Monaghans fitness and shot taking today, well he didn't do a good job of it.

Glasagusdearg. Absolutely spot on..
This weekends games are miles ahead of the group games..
The four winners will show that...
Donegal in the second half today light years ahead of that game that they didn't have to win in the Hyde..

@Tuamstar

No not at all . Would not say they were light years ahead of he game in the hyde . Monaghan are just not at the same level and very poor to be honest in 2nd half. I'd have to agree with others now that Andy needs more time and isn't ready for the Mayo job just yet but one day !

I really hope I'm wrong on my Meath prediction tommorow. .

Tryone pushing away now

Dublin have been no better than mayo all year
Today’s result is no suprise

Clare.. miles ahead of Hyde performance, Monaghan one of the top 2 ooint scorers in the country, but we'll bet in the second half..
Tyrone fantastic , best display of season from them today...
The groups were Shadow boxing...

Again, hard to see us scoring 23 points like Tryone in cp today on current style

Amazing really That supposedly poor Mayo management (specifically Rochford) oversaw a win v Tyrone and were 6 seconds away from halting Donegals gallop

Maybe our group was the real group of death.

@Tuamastar

Your on the wind up here I see ! Donegal did have to win that day in the hyde to avoid an extra game . They could have just kicked the ball out but went for the point at the very death so yes they did need to win. They were not miles ahead then in the hide .

We are not far off .

Ulster is definetly the strongest province . Dubs are finished. We could do with an ulster manager to be honest !

Will take a serious effort to beat all Northern teams..great to see Dublin out aswell..very intense last 15 from the red hand ..powered home. Cud be an all Northern final unless kerry or galway have news for them

Mcstay and co should have been ran out the.gate after losing to Cavan its unforgivable that they didnt embrace the new rules and have us scoring two pointers and as for lateral passing ...........

Armagh were the only team who knew they could lose their final group game and still top the group. So they rested their 3 top scorers in the championship. And still nearly won.
That was some serious shadow boxing from Galway in the first half to go 10 points down and lull everyone into a false sense of security:D

That’s not correct, Clare, as Donegal didn’t avoid an extra game last weekend by beating us. It was the difference between finishing second or third in the group for them so worth going for the win to increase the chances of a better draw in the PQF but they were heading to that stage, and the extra game, regardless of our result.

Km79...nearly...but didn't..

Thought the ref was harsh on Dublin and let a lot of foul tackles go .

@Willie Joe

Ah yes thanks for the info my bad I got that one wrong !

It is depressing sitting at home though on quarter final weekend .

Only ourselves to blame though Cavan game was an absolute disaster.

Dublin absolutely shocking today. Easy to see why Jim Gavin considered Costello and Small to be bit part players at best. Still don't know what to make of Tyrone. Some of the older crowd didn't show up for them today but they still got the job done fairly handily. The thing with them is that the deeper they go into the championship, the harder it'll get to beat them, I reckon.

Hugh contrast between the way today's too games were referred. Of, the two winners, I'd say Donegal will go home the happier of the two, though conditions deteriorated in second game

I think Dublin made Tyrone look very good in the last ten minutes there, but credit to Tyrone, they dug in and took their chances. Dublin looked gassed with 10 or 15 to go. Suspect we will see a lot of changes now, and Dessie will be moving on. And likely Cluxton too, who to me will always be the greatest goalkeeper of all time. Like ourselves, not the great team they used to be.

Another few million of a cash injection should sort them!

At one level I say we’re not far off then on the other level I don’t see us scoring 1 26 or 23 based on our current style of play

It's been Donegal all year for me. They'll win it. Tyrone played a Dublin team on the wane for a while. .

Fair play Tyrone. Praying here for a Meath and Armagh win tomorrow. 🤞

to win just once,our management also oversaw our most embarrassing championship defeat since 2010,the rock that our season perished on, and leaving a fit Diarmuid o Connor warming the bench against Donegal when the game was in the fire, really beggars belief. Personally speaking,I find it unacceptable that a watery aul crowd like Cavan can come away from McHale Park with a Championship win,and lets not kid ourselves that the players were to blame for that 'game plan'.If there was any integrity in the management team,they would have recognised that they had lost the room,and not left it to the County Board to call them ashore.

The Dubs can support the hurlers now. Tyrone can win U 20, Minor and Senior now. Donegal very good in the second half, dont know what happened to Monaghan.

Anne-marie, you could say monaghan made Donegal look good too, easy thing to say but the conditions were very tough..alot of missed kicks and wayward shooting and sloppy play but no denying Tyrone's intensity.. I picked them to win it and still think they will...McCurry had an off day but a great bench they have too in young mcelholm and canavan..they'll improve again in two weeks. Great to see the Dubs out.

Dubs didn't blood enough young players. Time for them to get rid of Cluxton as good as he's been time to give the role to Evan Comerford .

They might try get Austin O ' Malley now .

Is one of the bigger issues for whoever takes over is they will inherit a squad a year behind the other counties in playing the new game?

Paddy Andrews was fairly scathing in his assessment of where Dublin go from here, getting beaten at underage in Leinster too..but do you know what, no harm, they've won enough for 20 years

[Deleted].

1985,my go to man on the ball is Tsu Dho Nim,he said fifteen good enough for me

Sorry1985,my go to man on the blog is Tsu Do Uhm for stats said fifteen players by McStay and co,good enough for me,but seeing as people on the blog are calling out some of the finest players who ever played for Ma,it takes all sorts,do your research

Wow. Dessie didn't hang about!

Opt2misteek Like most things in life you can have more than one narrative. Critics of Rochford/ McStay can point to the disastrous performance v Cavan. I can totally agree with that but I also felt Cavan were a dangerous opponent. I knew that after we lost Connacht Final we would be desperately deflated and vulnerable. Not only did that happen to mere mortals like Mayo it happened to Limerick hurlers ( the greatest hurling team ever ) v Dublin last week. If you are not at it 100% you can be taken down. I don’t dispute that it was a terrible result for us. But if you wish to emphasise how poor team and management were for that game are you not capable of giving a bit of credit to said team and management for the performance v Tyrone. While we did not beat Donegal we showed exactly the way to play against them. Granted our first half performance wasn’t great but we were extremely structured, brave and tracked their runners and went man to man . People were getting excited here at half time about how great Monaghan were and Andy was even getting credit for their 2 pointers but maybe he forgot to tell them that the game wasn’t over after 35 minutes. I am not having a go at Andy as I think he is a fabulous guy and has been brilliant for Mayo and I’d like to see him in a future Mayo set up. The point I am making is we can twist any narrative to suit our way of thinking. As I said very poor v Cavan but not poor against 2 teams ( possibly 3 by tomorrow evening) who are through to AISF

I don’t think we can really take much from the group stage games v Tyrone or Donegal when you start the real knock out stuff from today. Teams move up a gear or two with that all or nothing at stake. Look at the difference between Donegal 1st v 2nd half when they knew their season was on the line. That 2nd performance was a long way off what was demonstrated by Donegal v Mayo but they had it in them to move to that gear. I’m not convinced Mayo had those gears

The other thing that I can’t get my head around is the sense we have the players currently in the squad to be competing for the All Ireland. I was saying it since the start of this year, the squad has far too many average club players. The facts are we did not get through the group stage of the championship because we were not good enough too

Ger Brennan for the Dubs they wont consider Austin even though he won an all ireland with Cuala Ger Brennan has bags of All Ireland medals and won a Leinster with Louth he'll get the Dubs moving again

Agree Rocco88, without doubt

2 senior All Irelands for Dessie was a great return with an aging team. He deserves a lot of credit and he did the decent thing and called it a day gracefully.

@Glorydays

Yeah that's true Ger Brennan did great work with Louth .

Dunno how they gave Kieran McGeary man of the match. The amount of times he carried ball into traffic and was turned over and then kicked a free straight over the sideline with about 5 yards go when nothing between the teams.

* 5 mins to go.

@towinjustonce I totally agree you can take whatever narrative you want e.g. at half time Andy was responsible for the Monaghan 2 pointers by full time he was responsible for their misses. Monaghan reached their level and a bit more and still scored 1 20 in croke park today.

Bottom line our scoring rate was never going to take us to the promised land this year unfortunately. Not easy to do but our forward play is the big fix for next year.

I've no idea what provoked that outburst, Magpie, but if that's your final say here then perhaps it's just as well.

To win just once they also oversaw the debacle against Cavan. If the players had been allowed to go for it against Donegal, we could have won that game too. We haven't embraced the new rules. Quarter final hammering in 2023. Preliminary qf exit in 2024. Bottom of group in 2025. What more evidence does one need?

@Rusty Bridges

Well said . We are well behind in terms of the new rules . Rochford and co didn't even know of some of the new rules at start of the league I mean like what!

Maybe Meath could pull off a shocker and I really hope so . I'm supporting Armagh now I think they could do the back to back they got alot of slack after they won sam some saying they didn't deserve it or that they only won cause Galway bottled it. Rian O' Neill back for them is massive to .

Dessie did a very good job with Dublin. The 2022 win was as good as any of Jim Gavin's.

Donegal's second half was superb. While Mayo have a better defense than Monaghan, I'm not sure at all we could go close to scoring 1-20 or keeping Donegal to less than 1-20 in Croker. Brannigan would walk into the Mayo team.

Inexile given. We only tried 10 attempts in first half with wind v Donegal be doing well to get to those type of figures.
Looking at club reports lots of 2 pointers being kicked around. The county.

The Ref in the Dublin v Tyrone game was not up to standard.
I had no idea what way frees were going to go

@giz the 2 pointers at club level is encouraging, gives us hope for next year

I really hope history treats Dessie Farrell well. I’m sure he knew when he took the job there would be a transition phase with less talent in the pipeline but to his credit he managed to land 2 more all Irelands. Yes I think his time was up but in all fairness he had the decency to step aside for the betterment of his county. There is a lot Mayo could learn from the humility if recent stories about our last management are true. I feel mayo culture is just in a bad place overall.

I would pause on Andy Moran for the moment, give him the Mayo Under 17s or 20s or see him manage Ballagh or another Senior Club championship team before giving him the big job, for me Austin O'Malley, Niall Heffernan, Ray Dempsey and Sean Deane have more experience.

Clare I'm hoping Armagh do it too. Would echo a lot of those thoughts. Galway were wasteful in last year's final, but Armagh didn't play particularly well themselves & still won. There is a lot to like about them

Jimmy s bandwagon keeps on rolling. What a difference a real manager makes. Hope we choose wisely. Ask any donegal supporter how they have came from no hopers to potentialy a tilt at the big one.

Achill75 having managed a county set up and coached a division 1 side means Andy at a young age has way more experience than any of those guys.

More than that his experience is current to the new rules. He has just couched a team to an all Ireland quarter final that scored 1 20 in Cole Park against a favored team to win the all Ireland.

I haven’t posted anything here since 28th July 2022 the day Kevin and Stephen got the Mayo job, a comment that was quickly deleted I might add I guess my choice of words weren’t very well chosen to express how I felt at their appointment. There’s a lot of you on here that knows a lot more about football than me but at the time I couldn’t understand how so many couldn’t see what was coming. But all that is in the past and it’s time for a new start. I really don’t know who would be the best person for the job a few people have mentioned Andy a lovely lad but I’m not sure if he would be ruthless enough but maybe as a forwards coach, I would also like to see someone like Colm Boyle or Billy Joe Padden involved listening to them guys talk on the podcasts I think one of them would be great on the sideline and maybe someone like Chris Barrett to work with the defence. That’s my opinion anyway here’s to 2026 and bring back the glory days.

@Rusty Bridges

Yeah for sure and their supporters are a sound bunch most of them ! I still remember Keagans last game v Kerry in the pouring rain an Armagh couple beside us said Mayo get an awful lot of slack but your a great team and great supporters & will get there one day . They remind me alot of us sometimes pre them winning Sam of course !

Yeah I just feel are out to prove a point that last year wasn't a fluke win and they mean business !

It looks like we are not as far away as we might have thought. We can only hope at this stage that we trip over the ideal ticket for the future. The chances of our county board having the wit or the capability to recognise what's required for an intercounty setup for 2026 is bordering on zero.

Corrick I simply asked you who the 15 players are that the ex management brought in and what actual game time they had .Again you are totally unable to answer any question but defer to someone else.surely you would research something yourself before posting it .i wouldn’t be in any way at Tsudho s level for stats but the majority of the starting 15 in any major game are still players introduced by James Horan.the likes of Dylan Thornton Sean morahan and Davitt neary have no more than cameo roles

I think Galway can go all the way because they haven't played well in first half yet, I think their bench is stronger than other teams & I think they'll beat Meath pulling up.
Galway to win it for me

@1985: Wasn't following this chat earlier, so not entirely sure if you're looking for that data or if it's more chatting about the context of it.

On the off-chance someone does want a look:

'25 Championship debut:
Neary - 57.96% of competitive minutes this year
Irwin - 48.06%
Kelly - 32.76%
Morahan - 24.39%
Thornton - 21.02%
Dawson - 13.67%
Akram - 3.57%
Coggins - 3.10%

(Lads that didn't play Championship, so not in the 15 from the previous query the other day, but made their league debut:
Reid - 29.49%
C McHale - 5.61%
Philips - 1.63%)

’24
Hunt - N/a

’23
Reape - 98.37%
McBrien - 92.86%
McHugh - 86.02%
Callinan - 65.41%
Tuohy - 10.20%
McStay - N/a

Agree completely Clare. Felt they were so similar to us, but crucially they climbed the steps. Very few , if any, would have given them a chance of winning Sam at beginning of 2024.

This is a critical appointment for us. Could be a few years of "one off" Sam winners & we need to be ready to pounce.

Tsudho no I wasn’t looking for the data but interesting to see it but of course the 23 group has mcbrien mchugh callinan all brought in by Horan and akram was also involved before not disputing numbers just any real impact as yet .of the first group none of them are actually regular starters

@Rusty Bridges

Yeah definetly we need to get the best manager available . Whoever we get it will only be a 3 year contract they won't be giving out a 4 year one anytime soon .

Some say Kerry will kick into gear tommorow I don't see that happening . Even if Clifford is on top form Armagh just have to many they can rely on for the scores .

It's frustrating sitting at home watching on as we would have beaten Monaghan . I think Monaghan made Donegal look good . Though in saying that McGuiness is a great manager despite his moaning !

Still looking ahead to 2026 a fresh start will be great for us and hopefully whoever comes in brings in the talented under 20s we have there's hope yet even though it's hard to see it at the minute .

464 comments on a single thread? Must be a record?! The passion is still alive amongst the followers

Some people like to live in a deluded world. Jimmy lifts donegal from despair to.... well time will tell. You have to be in it to win it. I listen to some cop out mayo supporters saying. Oh I'm glad we are out.... we aren't good enough to win it anyway. Absolute rubbish

2 teams from our group in the semi finals.
Tyrone we beat, and Donegal we should have bet.

Previous results matter not. Both sides making the semis yesterday have one thing in common-: they have options in the scoring department.

Pullhard, 464 comments on the thread is a lot,but I think the stats are a little skewed,as nearly 10% of them are from the one contributor.

By season end, Mayo, Roscommon, Sligo, Dublin, Galway ( possibly) Kerry ( possibly) could all be looking for managers!

Well TsoDhoNim.....I don't know who will be the manager this time bur it's your respo sibility as a Mayoman to step up for the stats job!....
That's incredible detail.....thankyou

Dessie did relatively well with Dublin as manager. 2 All Ireland senior titles and outstanding service to the county. Dublin were a bit like ourselves with the new rules. Lack of 2 pointers hurt them. They also gave away 3 dreadful points to Armagh in the 3 up infractions in a group match.Rochford and Co were accused here of not knowing the rules!!!!, yet after the early stages of the league Mayo made very few technical rule errors. There is a world of difference between not knowing the rules (u14s I train know the rules ) and not being able to use them to your advantage . We struggle to kick one pointers let alone 2 pointers but we also possess good qualities. While we definitely fail to score enough our concession rate is not bad. You don’t see massive scores (goals or points ) kicked against us. Bearing in mind we do not tend to dominate midfield our concession rate is something our backs/ goalie and overall defensive set up is credit worthy. Now we need to start doing it on the other side of the field.

If Kerry do get knocked out today they will 100% go mad and be calling for O ' Connor to go which is funny because the amount of words they were calling us for getting rid of our managent was something else .. !

Dessie did do well with the Dubs sure got them a celtic cross and he also got a fair amount of abuse from the Dubs .

In fairness at the start of the league didn't McStay say he wasn't aware of one of the rules .

Never thought I'd be shouting for Meath as much as I will be today !

Freetheeastbank i would agree on Tsudho alot of effort put into that .i certainly wouldn’t have the patience for it

I was dusappointed initially to Kevins response to the new rules. But in fairnss to him, Canavan who was in that group who decided on the rules, said on television that the communication to all managers was very poor. Not all managers were told of changes as they developed, and they themselves were not too sure about some of the workings. Hence the confusion in many of the matches at the beginning of the league. Canavan was very honest about this communication failure. So in that light, McStay and many managers were only feeling their way as there were no clear instructions sent to every county at the same time.

Today’s game between Armagh and Kerry is very interesting , fancy Kerry but my prediction of Dubs victory yesterday indicates I’m likely to be wrong . I fancy Galway to win too , so hopefully that trend of mine continues . Before anyone accuses me of been bitter , I am , I dislike Galway football with a passion .

Dessie did it the way it should be done, getting in before the "review". In fairness, he hung on because he was asked, and he's on record as stating the calibre of young lads coming through wouldn't match those preceding them.
Their strength and conditioning coach (former) was quoted saying it'll be another 10 yrs plus before they're challenging for Sam.
Let's hope Mayo can recalibrate, and stop what looks to me, like complete Ulster domination for the foreseeable future. Galway might do it this year, but I doubt it.

If Kerry lose today Jack O Connor will have enough cop on to step down himself as he'll know he's not wanted.
How our management team didn't have this level of cop on I don't know. How could they not read the situation with players, supporters and county board.

It's so frustrating that there really is no stand out team this year. We really aren't far off any of them so there was a great chance this year. Our inability to take 2 pointers is our biggest achilles heel as it can rapidly change momentum in big matches. The Cavan performance still remains a mystery and we deserved to be dumped out because of that unfortunately. Colm Keys in the Ah Ref pod also talked about our lack of incisive line breakers at the moment, pacy players running lines of the shoulder etc. He's right. Maybe that's the reason for the lack of creativity and urgency in our forward play. Yet even with those deficiencies we still created a lot of goal chances in our last couple of matches. Sadly we badly butchered most of them and apart from Cillian O'connor, this is a longstanding Mayo weakness. We muddle on as always but strangely I still have hope for the future.
Lots of talent still there. If Tommy and Eoghan are back next year they'll add something, and the younger lads who showed promised this year will only improve further.
I don't expect Cillian back simply because he was only a bit player in his last couple of years. Too many injuries and miles on the clock. He owes us nothing. We need to unearth more forward talent. That's become a cliché in Mayo but all we can do is keep trying.

Dessie Farrell's replacement will be an interesting one, will they gamble on ex players with a good understanding of the new rules or will they be more conservative in going for an established coach with a track record. You don't have to be winning underage titles to put a good squad together.
Boyle and Barrett would certainly put steel into our defence but a manager that will get Mayo over the line, I think it has to be someone that's been there and done that.
Goalkeepers are hugely influential in the new game, Galway need to sort that one out, but I hope they can keep the Connacht flag flying today

I hope Galway and Armagh win today. In this scenario am I right in saying that Donegal would play Galway and Tyrone Armagh?

Donegal were impressive yesterday but Monaghan crumbled when the pressure came on, Meath will be better but I am of a generation who find it very hard to shout for them so will be going for Galway today. Kerry are well capable of winning today, should be a real battle, just think Armagh's consistency might shade it.

@Sean Burke

I've the exact same feelings there .

Who knows everyone thought Dubs would beat Meath handily enough . They could throw a shocker . Meath are waiting in the long grass while Galway think they just have to show up. Now I don't give Meath much hope to be fair but please God they shut that lot up till next year . I am bitter is well but no problem admitting that so come on Meath do us all a favour today please !!

@southmayoExile

It’s got nothing to do with cop on, it’s just a pure ego trip that some managers have, believing they are better than others. At least JH had the decency to step aside when he knew he it was time. Same with Dessie and possibly Jack today. A lot of people knew the writing was on the wall for Rochford in 2018 and there was a big song and dance over him going and the exact same again this year!

@Clare

It's Meath...FFS!

Yes a 2 time all Ireland winner steps down and the roscommon management after 3 years but for some strange reason our management team believes that they should be retained after 3 horrific championship season s. Is all that for the greater good of mayo football and their supporters. On donegal I don't see a massive difference between the team today and Bonner/Rochford s team. Correct me if I'm wrong. Personnel I'm talking about obviously. The other well say no more.

I don't know where the idea that Galway think they only have to show up comes from. Galway are like ourselves trying to work their socks off to win an all ireland. The efforts they put in to achieve this are as honest as the day is long.
It's a forwards game nowadays and Galway are not short in that department. Finnerty has taken his game to a new level and was unfortunate In last years final. They know how to win close matches....

Article in the Irish Times Mayo were right to get rid of management but it was foul. Also said McStay and co will be relieved themselves to be away from mayo county board and mayo itself . Totally ridiculous the whole thing blown way out of proportion . Though we are box office and the media love this type of stuff.

Agree that if Kerry loose O ' Connor will do the right thing and step down himself as did Dessie yesterday.

@Craggy Boglands

Your spot on they were very deluded not to read the room, not to read how the players, supporters and most of Mayo have been feeling . We've gone backwards and anyone who says otherwise is in denial . We did what we had to do .

Very hard to work Donegal out. They impressed when monaghan folded in the second half. Mentally they are as hard as teak. McGuinness has instilled that into them and there not beaten until they are beaten.
@craggy boglands, I agree. Why aren't we playing the helter skelter football that every other county in the country are playing. Our players want their share of the fun, they are as sick and tired of playing possession as we are of watching it.

Ever the optimist - at least the Dubs have the self-awareness and brutal honesty to admit that about their prospects and the standard of player they have right now. Lots of people in Mayo can't even get as far as admitting that. Dessie had a limited group for most of his tenure, and he knew it.

At the games yesterday, it brought home how important the next manager appointment is going to be.

Two pointers are absolutely key in the new game. The level of fitness required is also incredible to see. The players who stand out are typically powerful, have incredible stamina and are full of pace.

The off the ball movement was great to watch, the new rules have made a huge impact.

TsuDhoNim Reid made his debut in 24, McBrian in 20, Callinan in 22, McHugh in 22, Akram in 18.

@MayoMayo

Yeah your spot on there agree totally with what you said. We used to be one of the fittest teams I feel like our S & C has gone backwards to .

If Galway win today, that's 3 of the 4 semi finalists we have shown we can be competitive with in Championship 2025.

This years failure was the Cavan game.
This years only real notable success was the response to Cavan. It could have been a Longford but we recovered well enough, and possibly more importantly right now, supporters responded positively to the players efforts.

I would feel that management have been unlucky and we're better than our Championship results show, but there has in each year been very costly examples of us not being able to move on from a result in time for the next game, Roscommon, Derry and Cavan each year and those hiccups have cost us the opportunity in each of those years to show how good we are. In fairness, I don't think that it's only been us, a lot of teams are struggling to find consistency in the current format.

But let's be honest, results aren't the primary reason a change needed to be made, the unhappiness towards management had reached a point of no return.

Are Mayo "clearly" going backwards? Not on yesterday's results.