A brillant interview. A must listen for all Mayo Fans

Best of luck Robbie in your retirement. I know he got a hard time following the 16 replay and I was very critical myself too, but privately. You’d have to feel for him in that interview. It must have been very difficult for him personally. I had the great pleasure of meeting Andy in the stand at the final whistle of the Dublin game in 21. Naturally he was delighted that we beat them, but he was absolutely buzzing for Rob . Said he was so happy for him to nail the 45 that got us extra time after all he’d been through. It proves what he said about Boyler and the team having his back despite what happened. So maybe, us supporters should be a bit more forgiving.

Brilliant pod, the Boyler story brought a tear to my eye. Thank you Rob for your service, you definitely deserved one. But despite that, the memories and highs to get to the top table won't be forgotten, all the best for the future

Fixtures for the year ahead (dates for diary) all confirmed by the Connacht GAA today.

Senior Championship
Sunday 6th of April - Mayo v Sligo - McHale Park (throw in TBC)

Semi final v Leitrim 19th/20th of April
Final 3rd/4th May at 4pm

U20 championship

19th March - Roscommon (H)
26th March - Galway (A)
2nd April - Leitrim (H)
16th April - Sligo (A)

2nd v 3rd in table 23rd of April

Connacht final 30th April

U17 fixtures

March 28th - Leitrim (H)
4th April - Roscommon (A)
11th April - Sligo (H)
18th April - Galay (A)

2nd v 3rd on May 2nd

Connacht final May 9th.

Club fixtures for November 2025.

Senior - Mayo v London quarter final with the winner to face the Roscommon champions in the semi final

Intermediate - Mayo v Galway quarter final with the winner to face the Sligo champions in the semi final

Junior -Mayo v Roscommon or Sligo champions in the semi final

Congrats to Michael diskin the new vice chairman.a question someone might be able answer does he automatically chair the ccc now aswell or was Moynihan doing 2 jobs?

Ronan Kirrane mentioned in his report the huge problem in Mayo of too many players in concentrated areas and not enough in rural areas. A lot of players not getting enough football in the urban clubs.He mentions is there ways to fix the problem??

For a start the Parish /boundaries rule has to be alot stricter at underage in the town clubs of Westport, Castlebar, Ballina and Claremorris.No player living outside these parishes should be playing football there. this has not been the case to now.

Mayo gaa should also look into reducing the geographical areas of the town clubs and extending it to the rural clubs who border these town clubs.

Great listen, best of luck to him, always a reminder for us hurlers on the ditch.

A great glimpse into the mindset it takes and bouncing back from a mistake.

This has to the best interview I have ever listened to. Honest and heart-breaking, a real look behind the scenes of Mayo GAA. Fair play to Robbie and Mike.

Great interview by Mike and a hard listen at times. It confirms what I always thought at the time, how desperately wrong and unfair it was of management at the time to throw him in cold to that situation. Not only that, but I was horrified to hear then that he was also warned to tell no-one that he would be starting, and had to carry the weight of that anxiety alone in the few days' run-up to the final. This isn't forty years ago, it's in the last decade, and the lack of consideration for player wellbeing there is quite astounding. I really hope lessons were learned at the time, and that the parties concerned do some reflecting when they hear this interview. As should many of us supporters; I can only imagine the effect some of the online commentary had on him at the time.

Many won't appreciate it, but the resilience and determination Rob has shown down the years to bounce back and continue to compete for a starting place, and it's a real shame that he doesn't get to look back at that huge moment v Dublin with an All-Ireland medal in his pocket. Wishing him and Orla all the very best in their next chapter.

I agree Anne-Marie, it was a thought-jerking piece to listen to. My own thoughts went back to that evening in Croke Park in early October 2016 and watching Robbie have a tough first half, never mind what happened in the second half. Dare I say I wouldn't be the only one of the 40k or so green-&-red supporters there that evening who now feel guilty for complaints of his performance at that time.
For all we build these lads up to be heroes just to knock them down when they make a mistake, at the end of the day they are humans who love football, ...Mayo football...., like the rest of us. I believe that we as supporters are sometimes as much to blame as anyone else for the famine in Croke Park since the first time back in generations in 1989.
For 2025, let those who play the game play it, let those who manage the team manage it, let us watch and enjoy, and cry at the bad and smile at the good, but at the end of the day let us be proud of every one of those lads and ladies who put their heads, hands, feet and hearts into the green & red jerseys, shorts and socks and who give us the entertainment that they give, and the outlet for us show what it is to be Mayo.

@Anne marie agree. Awful carry on that he was warned not to tell anyone that he was starting then he got the abuse for Rochfords mistake after. How Rochford is back in the set up is beyond me.

Switching in hennelly was not meant to be made known to Dublin so obviously hennelly would have been told to keep it to himself but if the rest of the players weren’t aware of it then I can’t see the advantage although someone did leak it on the day of the game .it all seems a bit ham fisted .The switching of Aidan o Shea to full back was an obvious option and had it been done in 2014 then would never have been limerick.That mayo team no matter who was in charge was always going to at the business end of the championship.they were too good not to be

I can absolutely see Rochford's rationale for starting him, and always could, but on the balance of all the factors involved, it was absolutely the wrong decision to make. I really, really felt for Clarkie that weekend too who was in a similar position, unable to share that he had been dropped. Neither he nor his family deserved that. It was a terrible situation for everyone concerned.

And for Mayo fans, just another chapter in the book entitled "How to Lose 15 All-Irelands in Progressively More Unbelievable Ways".

As someone who lives in Dublin, 1985, I can confirm that that strategy didn’t work! The world and its spouse knew about the switch by Friday that week.

I see in RTE Sport that Mayo GAA are bringing all their issues with Revenue up to date.
Included are management expenses.
Every county will have the same issues.
This day has to come and will follow on to other team sports.
It seems that gate receipts have increased greatly since the new ticketing system was introduced!!!!

A great interview. Well done to Rob.
and Mike. After listening to it, two things came to mind. One, a goalkeeper, more than any other player on the pitch , as well as having the physical attributes to perform, also needs to be strong mentally to succeed. You seldom, if ever have anyone covering your back if you make a mistake. Secondly, Rob doesn’t make any mention of engaging with the team phycologist in the interview. I would have thought she would have been a good support to him during some of the situations he found himself in. Maybe she was, and it just didn’t come up during the interview..
Best of luck to Rob on his county retirement and enjoy many more years with Raheany.

@No white feather: "I would have thought she would have been a good support to him during some of the situations he found himself in. Maybe she was, and it just didn’t come up during the interview."

We didn't really have one in '16.

We'd a performance coach, Ballina woman originally but I'd rather not name her as it certainly shouldn't fall at her door step - she'd have been helping as best she could so I'd be looking well over her head, from a business background rather than anyone from a Sports Science or Sports Psychology one.

You'd have to imagine or at least hope Rob would have received a lot more support has Kieran Shannon or Des Jennings still been on board. Though I'd happily suggest the manager, coaches and even fellow players could all have taken a more active role there - psychology degrees not needed with empathy or kindness to understand someone is going to be under pressure and helping them out (from a coaching POV the lack of work on specific kicking routines involving Rob and the A setup is almost as alarming as the lack of psychological support stuff - you'd have thought it'd be a primary focus of the 2 weeks as it was so often a main weapon of Dublin. I still feel shudders and flashbacks of Croker whenever I hear "44" from their war cries for the 444 press).

TsuDhoNim, I agree with most of what you said. I would just add that even though Rob’s biggest crisis occurred at the 2016 replay, it wasn’t plane sailing in the following years. In May 2017 Mayo acquired the services of Niamh Fitzpatrick, generally regarded as one of the finest people in her field. I think Andy Moran in particular spoke very highly of her. Hopefully, Rob was able to get some help from her in the following years.

@No white feather: Yup. I'd imagine in the future we'll hear plenty of lads praising Niamh's work in the same way they did Kieran's years before, despite some near misses in both their times. At the very least, I wouldn't expect to hear of someone having the ordeal Rob faced during those periods.

It'll be interesting to see how this year pans out in that line. Nollaig O'Sullivan's work last year with Clare (winning an All Ireland) should buy her an awful lot of credit with the team. That can be worth its weight in gold for buy-in with that type of psychology or motivational role.

On paper PJ Wilson looks a solid addition to the backroom, assuming we don't hold the rugby or soccer against him, so fingers crossed the S&C side of things look good for the year too.

TSU. Is Nollaig in with our lads this year or am I misreading you.

@Nephin: Yeah.

Well, 99.9% sure that's her in the Broadhaven picture shared a short while back. If it's not her, she's got an absolute double in with the lads this year.

At the 16 replay, I could 100% see rational. And had no problem with Rob starting. However think it was such a big call, and looked like it wasn't working early on. Don't think Rochford could take Rob off, as almost admitted God got that wrong. Was sitting beside a man from outside westport. And conversation was, we could win game, but only if Clarke was brought back on. Ironically if Clarke had saved penalty, I believe we would have won that day. But on saving that Rob was a fabulous goalie, and we were so lucky around that all ireland to have probably 2 of top 5 goalies in country. So enjoy retirement

Thanks TSU. I saw that photo but I wouldn’t know who she was. Hopefully she can make a difference.

I knew Robbie's brother through work pre 2011 so always took a keen interest in Rob's fortunes. The stick he took in 2016 was beyond inhumane and I felt so bad for him at the time and remember being genuinely worried for his well being. So much so I took the time to send him a message of encouragement so he knew that there were still people out there who had his back. It wasn't my place to do so but I just felt I had to let him know. I never regretted hitting send and after listening to the podcast I'm even more glad I did. Happy retirement Rob!

@Nephin: John Fogarty in the Examiner had flagged her as imminent to join us back in September. Hat tip to him on that one. As a super casual Mayo hurling & non-hurling fan in general, I'd never have twigged it without the fore-warning.

@Tsu is PJ Wilson from the photo as well, or was there an announcement on that?

I don't know how you do it. They all look like blobs to me :)

Anyone there on the performance side? Iirc from podcasts over the years that was Austin O'Malley's specialization over the years, and maybe it's a bit wishful but hoping he might come on board when Cuala finish up.

And a Hat tip to you too TSU for even picking up on it in September. I hadn’t seen or heard anything.

@FrostTHammer: No, can't spot PJ in the pic (or at least, if he is there I don't recognise him in it - though you'd have thought a new head of S&C would be there that weekend).

I was refreshing my hazy memory of the '16 setup before making an earlier post and stumbled across PJ popping up as a member of county staff on LinkedIn. Didn't recognise the name so clicked through. Looks an impressive background on paper, so fingers crossed all goes well for him settling in there.

"Anyone there on the performance side?"

Haha, is there anyone not at this stage? The titles are starting to baffle me at this point. Everyone I'd have thought was an S&C are all popping up as 'Athletic Performance' coaches at this point. Nollaig's title for her business would be 'Performance Psychologist', so a few of them alright.

Austin has a background/qualifications in S&C & in psychology, so some overlap with both of those new faces. He seems to focus (with the business at least) more on the culture coding & building side of things, so you could carve out individual niches for each... but you'd imagine (and by imagine I do mean wild guess) that's stuff that'll fall under Nollaig's responsibility.

Plenty of whispers around him potentially joining up with Mike Solan in Longford. It'll be interesting to see what happens whenever the Cuala run finishes. You'd expect he'll be in high demand going forward, potentially at the top of a county food chain somewhere. Don't know if there's a playing career in the country that matches the variety of his. It's unique. Fantastic insights from different POVs for a manager/coach to have.

County Board again saying they are trying to recruit a commercial manager?
This is going on for what feels like a decade at this stage.
Get it done for God's sake. The Mayo Hype Train won't continue unless the county teams gets back in the mix

@Frosty we sure do, there's one or two in there with High performance or other fancy titles, forget who the Fella is from last year, but you'd see him in the Instagram reels etc. getting off bus.

@Mayo Focus, reason that's taken so long seems to be the job spec v the salary range is not very realistic from what i could gather.

Its often forgotten that we would not have won the 2019 league final without Robbie Hennelley. That last minute save from Clifford alone was unreal and he was also outstanding that year against Dublin in the league fixture.

I don't think it is realistic to consider a man living in Wicklow as Mayo manager.
Delighted to see both Knockmore and Mitchell's appointing former players.

Thanks Tsu

About 10 changes expected to the Roscommon panel this winter.

https://www.roscommonherald.ie/sport/gaa/the-rossies-whos-in-and-whos-out-for-2025_arid-42094.html

I read Tommy and Aido are out of action for first few league games , paddy still recovering too obviously.

New pod up on Patreon! Mike at today's Mayo media event, in which he chats with Kevin McStay and Stephen Coen.

Yes Aido is off travelling and Tommy injured hopefully not badly.

Chance for new guys to show up.

I think we will struggle first few league games.

Jesus TSU your ear is surely to the ground! Great stuff.

If I heard right on the podcast Aiden and Tommy had procedures done lately to keep them out of the early league rounds..
Paddy Duncan progressing well but no timeframe for his return.
Both McStay and Coen would make great politicians, talked a lot and revealed little.

Jr
Stephen Coens interviews are like his football safe!!
Good to see Mike ask Kevin a few tough questions, but I dont know where he came up with more Division 1 teams losing more players than Mayo.

@JR that's great to hear about Durcan. Knowing him he is doing everything he can to try come back as fit as possible.

He wont be at his best but he is such warrior& a leader.

can't wait for the day he gets back for his first match there will be some cheer for him.

A pure waste of 11 minutes in my mind. All bluster from McStay. Big changes in panel, ( ok ,forced. ) and management???. Why even bother interviewing him.

@Sam og: Imagine he's talking about Roscommon, with 10 leaving last year's panel (he didn't specify Division 1).

@Nephin yeah agree. Big changes where forced 100%. I still don't know what to make of cillian going in a way I get it 15 years and the commute from Dublin&injuries. Though something just still does not feel right about it at 32 opting for a year out in his last years for county obvsiously does not think we will get over the line with current set up.

Then again he may just want a break with injuries & commute so hard to know but there def is unrest in camp I think.

Think we willl struggle as I said first few games of league but doesn't matter much. If we make a semi at bare minimum would restore a bit of faith in mcstay & co but I don't have high hopes for us next year. I did before cillian opted out I just find that so odd and sad if I am honest.

After listening to Rob's reasons for stepping away it's easier to understand Cillian's reasoning behind his own decision,all that effort for at best a few token minutes here and there... it's not worth putting everything else on hold for that. Priorities change. Unfortunately it seems to me it will be more than just a year out.

@Nephin McStay knows how to work the media, years of experience in the media helps.

Hes comparing so against a County who are not in the shake up for Sam Maguire.Players dont leave panels if they think there going to be in All Ireland Semi Final or Final later in the year.

I have PJ Wilson's Mayo bio on LinkedIn. I will post it if you are ok with that Willie Joe.

Sure, Catcol, fire ahead. That’s public information.

Mo2023 I know that of course but we got absolutely nothing from the interview. No update on injuries or panel members. I can understand him being evasive regarding lads leaving the panel, but I thought the whole interview was pointless.

Thanks Willie Joe, here's PJ Wilson's bio from Linkedin:

Head of Athletic Performance - Senior Intercounty Mens Football
Mayo GAA County Board · ContractMayo GAA County Board · Contract
Oct 2024 - Present · 3 mosOct 2024 to Present · 3 mos
Lead and manage an interdisciplinary team focused on the holistic development of athletic performance for Mayo Senior footballers. Oversee all aspects of the Strength & Conditioning program, combining gym-based and on-field training to enhance player speed, agility, strength, and resilience. Collaborate closely with the wider coaching staff to integrate strategies, ensuring peak physical performance and supporting players’ return-to-play processes.

@catcol: Good idea, sorry I hadn't thought of it. Going a bit deeper into the background stuff (probably of interest too)

Setanta College - '22 to present - Progression through Program Director / Head of Education / Academic Director roles
Cardiff City Football Club - 22/23 - Head of Physical Performance
Bath Rugby - '19-'22 - Head of S&C / Head of Athletic Performance
Munster Rugby - '11-'19 - Variety of S&C type rolls, from intern all the way up to senior & (interim) Head of Athletic Performance

Looks to be fantastic experience to bring and hearing Stephen/Kevin talking about would give a fair bit of confidence he'll be keeping high standards.

Gutted I couldn't get in for the 21 final today. If anyone is at it, please feel free to spam updates on how it's looking for match ups or performances. Just watching the scores, it looks like that Mitchels forward line is causing its usual havoc. Goals already for Cunningham, Filan and Walsh, with them 3-1 to 1-3 up on Westport at half-time (in challenging conditions to play ball).

Thanks TSU. Yes, good to posit all. I think we’ve done very well to get a guy like that. The experience he brings from rugby and soccer, in professional set ups such as Munster and Cardiff should be a huge asset. He’ll learn too from Mayo. Would love to be a fly on the wall when he debriefs after the Dublin game.

TSU, had Mayo's past S&C coaches been involved with Arsenal previously or am I mixing them up?

Didn't miss much excitement in the U21, difficult enough conditions mind. Mitchels won 4-7 to 3-4 think in end.

Well done to Coolera/Strandhill giving game to Crossmolina today. After a long season and likely being on beer for nearly 3 weeks solid it's good of them.

@Gizmobobs: Yeah.

Barry Solan went on to work with Arsenal after (well during maybe, I think there was some double jobbing in his final year?) being our S&C just before Conor Finn took lead (we'd in-house replacements from both Ed Coughlan to Barry and Barry to Conor). He relatively quickly went on to become their head of S&C for 1st team squad after joining them, still there to this day... though Saka's hamstring still seems to be causing both of them some headaches. He'd also done some work with Katie Taylor & the Polish National Team too, so a hella impressive CV at this point.

I'd be shocked if he wasn't having some input to GAA in recent years. Between being great mates with Andy Moran, brothers with Mike Solan and business-partners with Conor Finn at Pod1um you'd expect some of his know-how and tricks picked up in London filtering back closer to home.

Shame the conditions spoiled the final a bit. Though after the lights show of last night we're probably lucky it wasn't lightning again along with the wind & rain. Impressive stuff from Castlebar. Crazy to think how many of those are still underage next year, or even how many were still (u18) minor this year. And yet Claremorris, Westport, Cross and others will all (rightly) fancy their chances.

My memory, faulty no doubt, is that Barry Solan combined the Arsenal and Mayo gigs from an early stage.

Ed Coughlin was good. I remember watching him on a one-to-one with Aidan at McHale Park (those were the days), Aidan had a bad CF against London and Ed put him through his paces for an hour - before the training session started!

Our Christmas special podcast show is up now on Patreon. Mike is joined on it by Colm Boyle and Paddy Finnegan and it includes a festive quiz that goes down to the wire!

Pretty sure Barry solan left arsenal a few months ago .

@Sean Burke: Great spot, Sean.

It came out a couple of weeks ago at the end of November that he'd left them in the pre-season, but I'd completely missed it. Best of luck to him in the next adventure. Always came across in his interviews as a fierce nice fella, with the reactions of some of the Arsenal lads suggesting he's still the same today.

@Catcol: I'd say you're spot on for that one.

I remember it being a big deal at the time when he was first announced joining them that he was staying on until the end of the season (which was '15, apparently) but it looks like he didn't leave the role for a good while after (still there in '17 with Conor taking over in '18). Wouldn't have thought he double jobbed for anywhere near that long, amazing how the memory plays tricks like that. So many memories during those years but poor Barry (despite the work he was putting in) not quite front and centre among them.

42 players named in Mitchels Under 21 team today, Huge majority of these players will never play Senior football. Is it time for a 2nd club in Castlebar or to change the boundaries for Mitchels.

Sam Og, with dwindling rural populations it may become a necessity for all town teams to be divided like In other counties.
Be easier logistically than merging geographic areas that would leave kids 40 Minute drives to training.

Credit to Castlebar and Westport for maintaining numbers to though. While Ballina were still involved at senior it beggars belief they didn't have enough 17 to 20 year olds to field a team.

@Sam of I remember a time in the mid Seventies when Castlebar could hardly field a team.
They put their act together to win the county final in 78.
Don't complain about Castlebar , try to replicate it.
In the mid Seventies they got some hammering in the first round of the championship
I am getting old

A few caveats around their 48 named players, I'd not overly focus on it.

5 of the named starters (no idea of the pre-game swaps so potentially didn't start) were still minor and 17 of that panel played in the minor final earlier this year (possible even more were eligible for minor & just didn't feature that day). One of the lads scoring a goal for them is still underage for their minor side next year & at least one other named is in the same boat.

A very real discussion to be had on getting more kids playing more minutes in urban areas, but wouldn't include that 48 as a part of it or aim to single out a side. Claremorris, Ballina, Westport or Ballinrobe could all name similar if they dipped as young in age & included a merged wider training panel.

On Barry Solan, I note that his Twitter handle and Linkedin bio still have him at Arsenal. He may not have updated them of course.

Fair play to castlebar mitchels to have 42 lads interested in playing the under 21 competition. There must be a great buy in to the gaa in castlebar. In other clubs a lot of players give up after minor and they struggle to field an under 21 team. Well done to castlebar Mitchell. Happy Xmas to Willie Joe and all the bloggers on this site .

Eoin Hughes confirmed as the new manager for Ballinrobe (managed The Neale to the '19 Intermediate Championship win), with a backroom team of Kieran Fitzgerald, Paul Higgins, Ruáiri Keane and Conor Keane.

https://x.com/ballinrobegaa/status/1870748992365105354

Best of luck to them. Talented squad there, knocking on the door in recent years under Peter. Fantastic work being done on facilities, at underage and in schools recently.

Shaping up to be another fierce battle for Intermediate next year, even 9 odd months out. A strong case to be made for at least half a dozen sides before we even see how the new rules will shake things up.

Some people are not getting the point above.

https://www.con-telegraph.ie/2024/12/15/what-mayos-changing-demographics-mean-for-gaa-in-the-future/

Thanks Sam Óg; Connaught Telegraph and all that's a very interesting article on the demographic shift in Mayo and elsewhere and its GAA ramifications. Con Moynihan's report would make a very interesting Christmas read.