Stephen Rochford has been a busy man on his first day as manager of the Mayo senior football team. I was listening to the interview he did on Newstalk’s Off The Ball programme a bit earlier on this evening and I was well impressed with how he came across on it. Judge for yourself, here it is:
RTE also got hold of the new man today and their website has video of an interview with Stephen that was conducted earlier today by their western correspondent Pat McGrath. It’s also worth a listen (and look) and is here.
Best of luck to Stephen.It is a tough tough stint and he has hard acts to follow in many ways.The rewards if he is successful will be the gratitude of a whole conty.Hope to see new approach and maybe new exciting prospects like Douglas and Reilly.
Great to have a bit of positivity back in Mayo Gaa !
Best of luck to Stephen and his management team! Maybe they can guide us to the promised land!
Hi, also liked the Interviews. He came across as a bit of a diplomat as was walking across a minefield. He was already clear as to was was looking after the Dublin side and how many of the panel were there. He acknowledged Donid Buckley’s experience of the players and what he would be doing in the first day in the job. Was not drawn into any contoversary, praised everyone and hoped to leave everything in three years in a healthy position. He only said ‘LOOK’ twice but i am not sure about getting the players back onto the `paddock`next week. No doubt they will be amused.
It will be very difficult to do what is best. I think he is keeping the logistical side in the family and that will help. Between himself and his aides they will get there.
He sure seems to be an organised chap. Ciaran 2
Thinking back to last year and the first interview given by H+C…its chalk and cheese to the way it was dealt with yesterday. That staged setting last year in Machale park with a dodgy camera appeared amateurish and in stark contrast to yesterdays interviews across a range of media outlets where all the tough questions the national media wanted to ask were answered in a professional manner. The optics just came across better. Having Liam Horan on board for media queries/advice is an astute move. Takes a lot of hassle away from the manager.
Two more articles of interest here:
http://www.irishexaminer.com/sport/gaa/new-mayo-boss-stephen-rochford-to-experiment-in-league-campaign-369199.html
http://www.independent.ie/sport/gaelic-games/gaelic-football/mayos-top-three-appeal-too-enticing-for-tony-mcentee-to-resist-34251593.html
I see an interesting tweet from Nolly Campbell with a link to a Belfast Telegraph article by Tony McEntee last August, asserting his lack of interest in county football managerial roles. She asks what has changed his mind.
Assuming he is based in Dublin, he will take the 13 or so (according to Rochy) based in Dublin for the mid week training. That is obviously mutually beneficial. He will travel down for the Saturday sessions. However it’s a relatively light load, compared to what would be involved if he had complete responsibility for, say Down, with whom he was linked last year.
I think it’s great to have a guy like that in the set up. The Nordie mentality, toughness and on-the-edge approach is something I often slag. But, I sure don’t mind us having a dash of it on board as we approach the new season.
BTW, congrats Willie Joe on your greatest hits. Any chance of a nation-wide tour?
Best wishes to the new Mayo coaching setup. I only hope they were watching the match between Nemo Rangers v Clonmel Commercials on Sunday last. The closing stages of that contest should be compulsory viewing for coaches, managers and indeed followers as the outcome epitomised why Mayo has failed to close-out big games.
I have been a lone voice on this blog imploring that ball retention be a central core of Mayo strategy, so its just great to see the lack of that strategy translated into stark reality on Sunday last.
Nemo,took a one point lead shortly before the elapse of full time and following the advent of two minutes extra time (ET) Nemo had possession and played the ball amongst themselves. However in a fit of typical GAA nonsense they played the ball down their left wing, crossed it and it eventuallly ended up going over the bar, giving them a two-point lead,well into the 2nd minute of ET.
Clonmel gained possession following the kickout and launched a garryowen into the Nemo box which resulted in a goal. Not one report, that I read or heard,referenced that goal to Nemo surrendering possession and ultimately the match, in exchange for an unnessessary point. A case of losing because you scored too much – one point too much.
Catcol, Tony McEntee is not based in Dublin. Lives in South Armagh but yes will oversee the midweek training for the Dublin based lads.
Interesting articles Hope Springs Eternal, thanks for posting.
“We will experiment during the league, we will want to maintain our Division One status and if we get more from it then that’s good. But there will be no talk of All-Irelands or anything like that.”
Given the delay in getting things set up and running, I might revise my league ambitions down to match the manager’s 😉
@ Mayo Exile. Statistically taking the point was the correct decision.
– Used up more time in the goalkeeper having to kick out the ball
– Opposition now can only have the option of a goal (scoring just a point was an option up to scoring that point)
– Referees will generally not just allow you run the clock down. In fact it would have been likely a referee would give an over carrying free if a player got isolated with the ball.
The mistake they made was in not packing their full back line with 11 players. The only option left open was a goal and when you see the goal been taken I counted only something around 4 players in the full backline. Way too few when you know that a goal is the oppositions only option left.
If they had tried to retain the ball, given up a soft free or turnover the referee would have been only dying to allow them play in to get their equalizing point.
JP I have to agree with your analysis on that match. Memo done the correct thing in scoring the point. Poor defending let them down. Save some credit for the full forward it was a great finish, but he should have been crowded out.
Following up my earlier remarks on Tony McEntee – an interview in the Indo puts some of my speculation to bed! He is based in South Armagh, so the Dublin end of the gig involves
some travel. And demonstrating his commitment, the interview continues:
——————————————————————————-
“There were,” he concluded, “a lot of reasons to say no.”
Based in south Armagh, he’s facing a six-hour return journey to Mayo but he has reconciled himself to that.
“It was foremost in the mind,” he explained. “That is the biggest issue and the impact that could have on family life. It is something that I have reconciled in my mind to wanting to do.”
For the early part of the season he will oversee midweek preparations of the Dublin-based Mayo players but, by May, he expects to be making the journey west on a more regular basis.
“A medical rep with PEI, McEntee – Crossmaglen Rangers’ joint-manager when they won All-Ireland club titles in 2011 and 2012 – didn’t know Rochford personally before the call came.
“I didn’t know the man. The initial call was just for a chat. I met him out of courtesy. I was in Galway at the time and it went from there,” he said.
Mayo exile,
As I recall Kerry lost an All Ireland to Dublin recently while playing possession football. And Kerry lost their chance for a 5 in a row in 1982 when playing defensive football. Possession football is all very well if the opposition lack the courage to go hunt for the ball. There is no surefire way to guarantee a win in a tight game. No matter how you pack a defence a fist getting to a high ball into the square can undo all the best laid plans.
Does anyone know if mid week training in Dublin is a new idea?
I know John OMahoney had it previously. Not sure about situation since 2011?
Good question JP.
I have a feeling Kieran Gallagher a selctor in the JOM era may have filled such a role. Was Fergal Costello involved for James Horan? And, going way back to Jack O’Shea’s time didn’t the great Meehaul Ó’Muircheartaigh take the lads for a run around (in more ways than one?).
Would like to know where they might be taking place.
Didnt Brid Rodger’s (Politician NI) son train the Dublin Based players a few years back. Cant think of his first name.
Pretty sure midweek training was happening in Dublin throughout the James Horan era at least … though open to correction of course.
Does one not remember some news outlet tried to make out that James Horan had fallen out with Donie Buckley and that Donie didn’t attend training – only for people to realise that Donie was training the Dublin based players that night?
if you find yourself a couple of points up with time running out simply keep doing whatever you were doing that got you two points up in the first place! Why change a winning formula? That’s logical isn’t it? Or am I missing something?
Delighted with the way SR is coming across. He seems to be a positive and upbeat guy who is well able to communicate. His interview sounded very professional. Best of luck to him and everyone involved. I have no doubt we will have a few good days out in 2016.
Stroke of genius by Rochy, bringing in Liam Horan with his journalistic background,.and more especially considering his link with the ill fated “strategic review”, to which many of the influential members of the so called “outside influences” were associated.
Maybe more than a co-incidence that B/robe is a common factor but a neat bit of footwork nonetheless. If players Liason Person is selected with a similar degree foresight, then we could hopefully be on the way to a unified approach, at last.
Willie Joe, now that Stephen Rochford is in place, can I suggest that you ban contributors from using Rochy, Rockford, Stevie, Steve, and any other contraction or derivative of the mans given names. Let the convention of the blog be Stephen or Rochford or SR or both please!
I think Rochy is acceptable enough, Lionel, but I’d agree it’ll have to be zero tolerance on Rockford, Stevie and the like from here on!
I suggest Conor “The Mort” Mortimor as player liaison representative. 🙂
I get the impression that some contributors are already expecting ALL IRELAND success.
Its a bit early for that .We should wait till the provincial championship is over.
Please can somebody give the list of the Dublin based players.Again ,good luck to all.
I see that Chris Barrett has been named as the Connacht captain for the interpros at the week-end. The other Mayo players involved are Jason Doc, Conor O’Shea and Neil Douglas. It’ll be interesting to see how the latter two get on especially. Best of luck to all of them.
Hogan Stand are reporting that 8 Mayo players are unavailable as they are on holidays this week-end and that Diarmuid O’Connor is out injured too as well as his brother. It didn’t report what kind of injury he has.