In the wake of last night’s announcement that James Horan will be leading us into 2014, Terry Reilly has a good piece with the boss in today’s Irish Examiner. In it, James has a fair bit to say, both about all the stuff that’s been swirling round in the aftermath of last month’s All-Ireland final but also about his plans for the coming year.
As regards all of the rumours and speculation, James has this to say:
Every rumour I heard was completely and utterly untrue. This was upsetting for both the players and management. Yet it has to be accepted for what it was — complete nonsense.
Those who have been happy to peddle rumours here on the site over the last few weeks would do well, I reckon, to reflect on the above statement. I’ll say no more on that and I’d advise others to follow suit.
In terms of preparing for next year, James confirms that they’re already a good bit down the road with their planning for 2014. According to the report, this will involve a review of the season just gone and a targeting of the areas that need to be improved in the coming year. There’ll also be some new faces coming in on the playing side and, of course, the yawning gap left by James Nallen’s departure from the backroom team also has to be filled.
I know there’s still a palpable air of despair out there over our missing out on yet another chance to win an All-Ireland but it is nonetheless good to see that James is so enthused about the challenges that await in the the year ahead. Terry’s piece concludes with this quote from James:
Right now, we just can’t wait to get cracking. It’s a pity the season is so far away because we can’t wait for it all to begin again.
Personally, I think it’s good that there’s a long enough gap until the serious stuff starts again but start it will and when it does there’ll be no point in continuing to mope about what might have been in the past. There’s no guarantee, of course, that 2014 will provide a happier ending for us than this year or last year did but it’s good all the same to see that James is, once more, up to the challenge of leading us into the battles that lie ahead.
Good piece WJ, absolutely delighted that James is staying on, and also its great to hear some fighting, positive talk from him. Yes there were some poor decisions made on and off the field in the final, and yes there are some valuable lessons to be learned from the game v Dublin, but its not up to us outside the squad to learn these lessons. We have to trust that the Mayo team will be stronger from this years final experience, and that the dozen or so players who played in the final with 5-10 years of intercounty football left in them will improve on the back of the last 2 years. There has been far to much negativity and counterproductive rumours swinging around since the final about who will/will not be involved next year, but then again it is the GAA silly season I suppose.
Lets just wait and see what happens regarding the make-up of next years panel, and enjoy the county senior final this weekend.
Like Horan says, roll on next season and the first round of the FBD, its only about ten weeks away!!
Enjoyed that WJ – no point dwelling on the past. Life in too short. It is though important to learn from past mistakes and that goes from the Manager to players to even us fans.
Christmas is only around the corner and then its the start of the FBD (can you believe it). County management and players commitment is unreal these days and is practically professional when their day jobs on top of it.
Mayo deserve our patience and full support.
Hi Willie Joe – I think you should post the link to the piece, because the whole article is well worth reading.
One of the points everyone commented on in the immediate aftermath was the likely difficulty with motivation.
I think this interview lays that to rest.
Thank god. Some fighting talk at last. We should have heard all this two weeks ago, but respect Horans way of doing things. He sounds bullish and why not? Are we still not one or the top teams in the country.
So back to basics with hopefully some new talent coming through in the league and a big push for Connaught next year.
Let everyone be patient and have a bit of belief in the lads.
We will win this thing, its only a matter of time.
Thanks, Catcol, I’d meant to include the link when writing the post but obviously forgot to do so. I’d agree that Terry’s piece is well worth a read.
That piece and interview both feel like a breath of fresh air. Roll on January.
Amen to that! I for one have had an overdose of analysis and criticism since Sep. Time to move on. Great to see that the team and management are up for another rattle at it. They have too much invested at this stage to fold the cards and walk away from the table. They also have a vast amount of experience, skill and fitness under the belt at this stage……….time now to build on that and become unbeatable in 2014. Can’t wait!
Fantastic article, badly needed to dispel the rumours and get it going again. JH is unquestionably the man to see this through.
We will endeavor to persevere………..
Delighted!!! Great news, we’re a top 4 team, and we will get there…roll on the fbd!!!
Good news that James is continuing the job, it is impprtant that James Nallen’s replacement is carefully chosen
J Nallen has been a wonderful servant to Mayo and we all should be grateful for his services and loyalty to his club and County
I wish James Horan and his team the best and I am quite sure that further improvement will ensue as a result of the last 2 years in particular
I watched a recording of the A I the other night I couldnt bear to look at it until then, and what struck me apart from missing easy.scores was our lack of physicality in the fotwards, we were just too nice.When Dublin forwards were introduced they banged in to all and sundry.I noticed one Mayo sub coming in and immediately shook hands with the Dubs fullback instead of sticking him into the back of the net just like O Gara when he came on
You wont win matches by being nice particulaly All Irelands the ref let a lot go and it was up to the players to take advantage of this.a I have to say that most of our backs were tremendous and this is the type of play that you want to permeate through the whole team.We are up there with the best and I firmly believe that our day is very.close provided we get a few good tough scoring forwards even if we have to raid our excellent minor team and introduce one or two of them just like Davy and Clare. Cillian and Aidan started early
At least give them some exposure in the leagues
He was gutted the night of the final in citywest , he looks to have gone home , picked through it and is raring to go again , now if that isnt the definition of a winner..
Joe Mc , from our previous discussion , the sarcasm I used was done to voice my complete disagreement with your view that the Mayo team did not have the “hunger”.
you see it one way and I another, how we can say that lads who have given their best years to this team are not hungry enough is in my opinion a simplistic analysis.
the final was dissected here in minute detail , to then come along and dismiss it all as just being due to “hunger” sorry but… nah.
Too nice, for sure!!
Andy Moran was concerned for a dubs health after the dub accidently smashed into Andy in the second half, let him lie and be injured.
A lion eats because he’s not concerned about his victims health, we need to be that lion. We are starved from being nice.
As usual, “Turry” had the scoop!
Glad to see things settling down a bit now and minds turning towards the future with lessons hopefully learnt in the meantime. Someone posted previously about us meeting Kerry next year. Dangerous talk if the All Ireland semi was being referred to. We’re now in the top two bracket and there’ll be plenty of teams out there waiting to ambush us. Or is it the league that was being referred to. Either way you catch my drift? It’s a long way from here to where we got to this year and another big push to get over the line. I have full faith that JH and co. are best suited to get us there though. Onwards……
I will here and now say that I expect Mayo will be in that semi next August. And not by the scenic route either.
Seamas, if its arrogance then so be it, this team is going places.
Great to see James is putting September 2013 behind him with this clear statement of intent which was badly needed. All the players will also, after all we are having a fantastic run and have got young blood on the way. Ok, Sam is the missing ingredient but we have only been a few points shy of one hell of a record!
Hopefully we won’t blow off too much steam early in the league, a slow start is always a better sign.
We will go in to most games as favourites and a lot of teams will have secret expectations of beating us but we will lay waste to them.
At this stage the ‘false’ pity being given to Mayo supporters is feckin terrible, it is just a way of putting our great team down after the fear we have put into them. This is because teams dont mind being flogged by Kerry/Cork/Dublin/Tyron/Armagh/Donegal/Dublin but a beating from Mayo hurts far too much even though some of these teams are past it and others are one year wonders, people do not recognise the fact that we are the most consistent of them all. Bring back the slagging, at least you can defend yourself and enjoy it with a few sobering facts that can’t be put down!
James knows our team and the other big teams better than anyone else, he knows precisely how to beat the defensive game and is without doubt getting to grips with the positional game, there are so many reasons why he is the man for our job.
Come on 2014 and the green and red wave. Lets antagonise and piss everyone off with our confidence and unwavering support and esteem for out manager and players. Pity cannot be given to the confident. A little down right arrogance would be appropriate also.
Did any of ye see the all ireland since am trying to watch it but is hard also is the full game on ytube
Thanks WJ for that. i dragged myself along to the team homecoming in McHale park a few weeks ago. The speeches helped lift the seige. It was an uplifting experience full of fight and motivation. This article has a similar quantity from the same school of thought. Reading from the same hymn book. This the way forward IMO.Throwing in the towel is for loosers
I have it on disc, in the usa. Sure someone in here has it, if not I will get it copied for you
Going off on a tangent here, thinking forward to next spring, is the NFL final definitely in New York? We may be in it, we may not be, just said I’d ask here.
There was talk of it alright, this was all I could find, posted on gaa.ie 20th Nov 2012.
Uachtarán Chumann Lúthchleas Gael Liam Ó Néill says the GAA are giving serious consideration to hosting a significant game in New York in 2014.
It will be the centenary year of the GAA in New York in 2014, and Ó Néill says the celebrations are likely to include a game being hosted across the Atlantic.
“It opens up the possibility of us hosting a major final in New York,” he said.
“After what New York has done for our Association, we would have to look at any request very seriously. The centenary is a huge event for New York.”
He did not specify what match or competition would be involved but said it was important for the GAA to occasionally host matches abroad.
“If we’re ambitious about being international we have to step off the island occasionally.
“It’s something we have been talking about for a while – the idea of playing games here in New York. Far from us contributing to New York, New York contributed to us.
“So we want to recognise that and I suppose there’s no better time than in their centenary year.”
Great news entirely that James is staying on – not that I ever doubted it.
Time to move on now and leave the despair and doubts behind. For my own part I always thought that this years final would be a close thing seeing Dublin’s form from early in the year. That allied to Mayo’s injury problems which left so many players with limited training & game time means to my mind that for all our faults on the day it was a magnificent performance in the final.
Having had some experience as a team mentor I can say that when you lose almost all calls made on the sideline are bad calls whereas bad calls are never made when the team wins.
David, I don’t disagree otherwise I wouldn’t have said we were top 2. Just need to be mindful of banana skins particularly in the QF.
Cat I will post a copy if you give me the addr
PJ/Cat – if you want, I can mail you both with each other’s email addresses and you can take it from there.
WJ That’s fine with me, thanks for all your help
Absolutely delighted James Horan is staying on.
did anyone liston to newstalk on wednesday wth parkinson and david brady is was funny dave brady saying the mayo lads where training with earphones correct me if i am wrong
I dont get how they could train effectively with earphones…cant picture it. JH is the one who needs the headphones IMO 😉
no thanks i dont want the dvd of the match would find to hard to watch thanks though
I don’t know why db would go out and say that, he should know better.
Crazy to reveal any advantage we may have on national radio, he’s one man to keep away from the training sessions