Photo: Sky Sports
James Horan was tonight confirmed as the new Mayo manager, returning to the position he previously held for four seasons up to the end of the 2014 championship campaign. His appointment was ratified tonight at a meeting of County Board club delegates, on foot of a recommendation from the County Board Executive which met beforehand. The appointment is for a four-year term.
Details of James’ backroom team were also unveiled tonight. Martin Barrett (Kiltane) joins the management team as selector, with Daniel Forde (Ballycastle) and James Burke (Ardnaree and Ballymun Kickhams) as coaches, the latter assigned to the Dublin-based contingent.
Here’s the official announcement from @MayoGAA:
At tonight’s Co Board meeting James Horan was ratified for a 4 year term as manger of the Mayo Senior Football team, along with his management team of Daniel Forde (@ballycgaa), Martin Barrett (@KiltaneGAA), & James Burke (@ArdnareeSarsGaa). #mayogaa #gaa
— Mayo GAA (@MayoGAA) October 4, 2018
According to the Mayo News (here) other names are likely to be added in due course to the backroom team announced tonight.
Statement from James on taking up the position as manager is here.
The best of luck to James and his colleagues as they take up the reins with the senior team. Finally, we can all start to look forward to 2019.
Welcome back James
Alleluia… welcome back JH. Best of luck to you and all teams Mayo
Best of luck to James and his management team. If the second term is anything like 2011-14 we are in for another rollercoaster ride. Consistently competitive in 2019 would be a good start.
In Horan we trust. Looking forward to next year.
I think the pulse quickened abit on reading this, the journey begins again!
Yess. ( I think). Off with the rear view mirrors now. Onwards and upwards. 19 MO. ???
Go James! we go again
Good stuff ,,, Where’d I put that Jersey ??? Let’s go at it again !!!
Anyone have insight on background team?
Good appointment, just hope he can pull together good background team..
not living in the County at present , so could anyone give a bit of background on the three men with him . Notice no Ciaran McDonald a big pity
Brilliant news – mighty days ahead surely for us. And 4 years is great. He will steady things after turmoil since Newbridge. I was worn out with it all! (Where is Ciaran Mac!! Media frenzy earlier). Reading that Liam Sheedy is hoping to get the tipp fans out to matches again- well James wont have that issue anyways!
Brilliant news, still grieving since his departure in 14 , even though Stephen did really well and treated very badly, I’m delighted he’s back. If Midwest reports of another big name inclusion are true, its a huge bonus. Best of luck to all. Looking forward to the future.
Looking forward to next year already.3 north mayo men by his side.
Good to see Horan back. What’s people’s thoughts on the backroom team so far? the 3 named so far have zero experience of senior intercounty football , apart from a couple of brief FBD appearances by James Burke. It’s a huge step up for these three lads to the level Mayo will hopefully be operating at.
Best of luck to James, the team and management team. Sincere thanks to all who went before too. Every good wish to us all for the coming year and let’s enjoy every small step along the way. Thank goodness things have started to settle a little again.
Best wishes to JH. I presume you will give us the lowdown on the backroom team. In due course WJ? Ciaran Mac rumour was obvivously just that…
Delighted this has finally taken place and we can all draw a line in the sand. The bobbles are gone and back to the caps. #AllbehindyouJames
Hon Horan! Hon Mayo! Roll on 2019! (Phew….)
So happy role on 2019.
Delighted this has been agreed and looking forward to seeing a hungry competitive passionate team of old and new Mayo warriors
Delighted that’s done. 4 years too. Hopefully james is looking to the future like he did in 2011.
Happy to see JH give it another go. Wishing him and his team success. Hope he starts a rebuilding process & I hope supporters are realistic in their expectations for 2019.
Best Day ever. Welcome back JH. This is an inspired move. Mayo stands at a crossroads at this instance and we need a leader. In my view JH is a great leader and always has been. Managers are 2 a penny, great leaders are a rare breed.
Grear appointment, the man needs 5 years though this year one last trow with the older crop and build after that.
I don’t think anyone should be getting too excited about the backroom team to be added to, they will be probably just s&c stats etc.
The self belief and confidence has just been put back into Mayo football. Great news. Looking forward to 2019.
Hon Horan. Hon Mayo!
Glad all that’s over. Its the not knowing that gets me!
So releived now its official. A great leader, and sure to have learned tactically since he left. When you see the mess Roscommon are in trying to find a manager, makes me think how lucky we are to have a manager the calibre of Horan leading us again. Roll on the FBD.
I’m also not living in Mayo, only one name I recognize in the backroom team, Burke, he was on the Mayo panel when James was manager, I saw him play for Ballymun Kickhams a few times, a good wing back.
Time to renew the season tickets now!
The best of luck to James and his team. He’ll need all the time and space to rebuild. Time to take Mayo out of the news for a while and get on with it nice and quietly. Hopefully James will get every chance to do it. Much more positive about Mayo now than I did when Stephen Rochford walked away!
Great news that manager is appointed without too much fuss. Best of luck to James and his team and to all the players. And a thought at this time for Stephen Rochford who gave us such great days. Can’t wait for 2019.
Great that it’s finally announced. Glad too to see that it’s a 4 year term. While these ‘terms aren’t really worth the paper they are written on I believe it being 4 rather than 2 or 3, shows that this isn’t just about managing the senior team. Horan has made several references over the past few weeks to the structures, training a d development at underage and thru all club levels. This to me says that his role is not merely confined to the senior team but rather that he’ll also play a part in bringing together all the levels of Mayo football, from schools up thru to adult so that mayo gaa has a working structure and that it’s all linked up. This has to happen if we are to have any kind of success in the future. Mayo must also strive to become a leading county in terms of financial revenue. We have the supporter base to allow this to happen. It just needs to be tapped into.
I don’t know much about the backroom team. It seems a bit underwhelming but then they could be excellent guys. Can anyone give us a background on them?
Where’s Peter Canavan!??;)
It’s great to see all the enthusiasm flowing back now that the the appointment is official. There is a large amount of emotion wrapped up in this chapter of the story already – whether that’s a good thing or not remains to be seen. But it certainly keeps things interesting for the outside observer.
My own thoughts still are that Mayo shouldn’t be focussed on Sam19 too much, and instead should focus on building repeatable, consistent excellence. The 4 year term is a good sign in that regard.
I see Donie Buckley is going to be part of the Kerry setup. There is a case for a formidable threat building in the south west too.
Finally, thoughts still turn to Rochie who was very poorly treated. Thank you Stephen for all your efforts and please don’t go to any rival county like O Mahony did. Stay in Mayo GAA.
Roch would be an excellent guy to get into Westport or any senior club with ambition.
Just want to add to other posters re Rochy: him and his backroom team gave it their all – over and above the call of duty. So thanks to him and his family. Us fans appreciate your efforts.
Thank God that’s settled without any fuss or drama. Onwards and upwards now. And good luck to Rochy, hope you stay in Mayo football, Rochy. There are many clubs who would love to have you and hopefully you could have an input in thhe coaching acadamy players too.
Best wishes James
A lot of work ahead but a true professional manager and gentleman leading the way
So Horan replaces Rochford. Daniel Forde replaces Donie Buckley and James Burke replaces Tony McEntee an improvement on the trio just gone? we shall wait and see…
A big welcome to James Horan and his back room crew and best of luck with all in the coming years.
MayoDunphy what mess are Roscommon doing to find a manager? From what i hear they are going to appoint a local manager that led them to U21 AI Ireland finals. A sensible appointment after McStay retired from management.
Congrats to James and his team, looking forward to the new season,best of luck to all involved hon Mayo!
Chuffed to have James back. Best of luck to him and his team. I can’t lie. I expected a bit of a wow factor to his backroom. I hope the chosen lads are ready – I expect they are. One suspects Horan has been thinking this through for some time for when the opportunity did arise
Does anyone know what the guys in the backroom team have done previously ie have they coached senior club teams to championships or colleges .
What are their backgrounds of success or failure
Wishing James Horan all the best in his 2nd stint as Mayo manager. I always thought he would return for a 2nd term. While I’m aware it was nothing to do with JH, my joy at his appointment remains tempered at how SR was treated in the end. Bittersweet I believe is the term. Up Mayo
I hope things go well for the new managment.
It’s back to the future.
I’m not as excited about the appointment as much as most people I see posting. James’s last term showed some areas he is very good at developing, but it also showed areas where he didn’t measure up too well.
The proof of how good an appointment this is, is still in the wind. The proof will come on big days in Croke Park and I wish James all the best and hope we go on to win Sam under his reign. That’s the goal. The bar is high but that’s the bar we want to get over.
Yes, have to say the back room team looks a bit underwhelming – to me anyway.
That’s that thankfully done let’s hope the mayo ladies can sort things been a rough few months
Glad to see that James has shown from the beginning that he’s the boss by insisting on a four year tenure.
Hopefully, we’ finally get a forward coach when he announces the rest of his backroom team. Look what Jason Sherlock has done for the Dubs’ forward line! It would be too much to expect to get Peter Canavan but Ciaran McDonald would be my nrxt choice.
Martin was on the ’85 All Ireland minor winning team, played in the half back line I think, and managed Kiltane to All Ireland Intermediate final a few years back, smart guy, very organised and reads the game well. Best of luck to all the backroom team, huge commitment required, just like the players. A big name backroom team is no indication of success but need to have different attributes that complement each other. Only time will tell if this combination will bring us success.
I understand a Conor Finn and Joe Doyle are also involved.
Anyone know anything about them ?
Delighted to see James back though I have to admit I am a bit underwhelmed by backroom team. Don’t wish to judge them too soon but I was hoping for a Canavan type person. Kerry backroom team seems quite impressive by the way. Having said all that I am still thrilled with the return of James Had some super days following Mayo during his tenure. Cork 2011, Dublin 2012 Donegal in 2013 and even Kerry in draw and replay 2014 were never to be forgotten days.
Conor Finn is an S&C coach. Has been involved for the last 3 or 4 years alongside Barry Solan.
Conor Finn is strength and conditioning worked with barry solan.
James Burke played minor and u21 for mayo but plays club football with Ballymun. Am I right in thinking he was on the same minor team as Paddy Durcan? That would make him 24 years old.
@wideball no Burke is older than that early 30s I would think .
@wideball it prob he younger brother your thinking off.cian I think.he was with ballymun also but back with Ardnaree now
Glad to see James Horan back in charge.He is the right man to bring us forward.As regard the backroom Daniel Forde has coached in Breaffy,Claremorris & St Gerald’s school.He was also involved with the Mayo minors under Enda Gilvarry.Martin Barrett managed Kiltane to the All Ireland intermediate final in 2013 and managed them this season and is well regarded.James Burke is 31 currently playing for Ballymun.He would have played with a number of the current squad at county u21&senior level.I believe two more appointments are to be made to backroom team in coming days or weeks.Good to see Horan is planning to run trials in the coming weeks also.
That makes sense Aidan, cheers!
I think James Burke played under James if I’m not mistake…
I would like to congratulate James and his team on the job. I just read his acceptance statement on the RTE website. I love his strong approach to giving each player in the county a chance. We have had a great few years under Stephen Rochford who did a great job but James will renew us next year , maybe not win anything big next year but build us right up again. Best wishes to all the team and management
Anybody know anything about Balla’s Connacht Club fixture? I presume that they have a fixture but I cannot find any mention of it in the Connacht website. The other four counties are mentioned even though Leitrim haven’t taken part in Connacht Junior for several years now. They have, I think, only one fully Junior club in the county.
Thrilled. About the best we could’ve hoped for as the script was being written. Get on the bandwagon while there’s still room! Looking forward to seeing all of you in NYC next May! I’ll continue to be optimistic until I’m not.
My condolences to Martin Carney and his family on the sad death of his wife , it certainly puts things into perspective.
Best wishes to James Horan on his appointment
Don’t know anything about his backroom team all North Mayo men, sadly at a time when football is at such a low ebb in the North
Bellmullet a fine
interrmediate team are the best team in the North, and should have at least 4 players on the panel
All – please hold off on announcing other names who might be involved in the new backroom team! The only ones confirmed so far are those mentioned in last night’s statement so let’s stick to the facts as we know them.
One change that would help our senior team. Two teams should be relegated from senior and two teams should be promoted from Intermediate. Belmullet and Kiltimagh are both better than the danger of relegation teams.
Teams have been senior while operating out of Division 3!!
One area I think James Horan can build serious depth is at midfield. If we put plenty patient work into the young midfielders 19-24.
Willie Joe, as a statement of fact, Mid West Radio tweeted last night, that Horan’s backroom team also includes Conor Finn and Joe Doyle.
Does anyone know anything about them ?
Fair enough, Observer2. They weren’t mentioned in the Mayo GAA statement last night but I can see now that Mid West did indeed include them in their tweet.
Conor Finn has been one of the main coaches on the fitness side at various Mayo grades including senior. Also helped with St. Colmans. Continuously involved at various levels for a few years. Most the panel have worked with him at some stage including young players coming in.
Horan needs to bring in a defensive coach. it was the big failing of his teams in the big matches.
Also Goalkeepers across the county need to be looked at with Clarke pushing on in age and likely needing replacement in the coming years.
Goalkeeper, fullback, midfield cover and corner forward are positions that need reinforcements if they can be found
Yes by all accounts Conor Finn has been the main coach on the ground with seniors since Barry Solan went to Arsenal a few years back. Was in charge of S&C for Michael Solans under 21 In recent years also including 2016. Martin Barrett is very well thought of also. Daniel Forde I believe was former mayo minor coach and would have worked with Gerard’s college and Breaffy so should know a lot of the younger players.
When I heard that James is getting a 4 year term, I couldn’t help thinking that the Panel he is taking over now, will bear very little resemblance to the one he will have in 4 years time.
So many of that panel (his players) will bow out between now and then.
People talking about Horan getting a forwards coach forget how unmarkable Horan was in 1999. Leading up to the semi v Cork people were talking about his outrageous exploits in training. Cork couldn’t handle him at all and I think we raced into a 6-0 lead but that game completely turned on its head when Ciaran Mc turned on his ankle meaning he couldn’t chase Ciaran O Sullivan who set up the 1st Cork goal. James destroying a good Cork FB line was moved out to wing forward when Ciaran went off and our inside threat was greatly reduced. Mc was a star too but that year Horan was even more so who everyone was talking about.
-Fair play to James Horan for making himself available again to manage Mayo with all of the pressure and commitment that involves.
– 4 years is key as he knows a major re-building effort is required which will take time. Make no mistake though he has only one target in mind.
– An all Mayo backroom team is good, we have to have confidence in our own to select, train, coach and manage.
– Best of luck to Michael Solan/U20s and hopefully there will be some link official or unofficial between him and JH to ensure continuity down the line.
-The conspiracy theories proved to be just that – theoretical and unfounded and really added nothing to the debate aside from mild amusement even if the constant vilification of the CB started to grate in the end.
Joe Doyle, father of Westport player Ben Doyle. Behind the scenes operator, very capable, no worries there. Strong on organisational skills, good communicator, obviously works well with JH.
Goodluck to James and his backroom team. A 4 year term and probably fresh faces needed to bring Sam home. Its a positive to see him holding trials for club teams across the county. Hopefully unearth a full back, a midfielder and a couple of scoring forwards.
Have to say slightly disappointed in the low profile backroom team. The thought of Peter Canavan as a forwards coach was exciting.
I’m more excited about young hungry local coaches being involved than outsiders who would simply not know our club scene or have the knock on effect of also being involved with clubs and schools over the next number of years.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but I am convinced the Peter Canavan rumour started on this site, because Backdoorsam had a dream that it happened. xD
Agree fully with that Mark. JP You made a good point Home grown is a welcome move.
Anyone know anything about the keeper on Underdogs?. Mayo lad based in Donegal. They seem impressed..
It’s like we have finally realized the way to land Sam is to concentrate on the conveyor belt moreso than the current panel. The conveyor built creates your current panel. Over focus on the senior team in the short term season to season was never a good idea.
The “doubters” are out straight away.
To me he has ticked all the box’s for “Mayo” content with his first shuffle of the deck.
All of the people mentioned will have a good idea of the talent available within the county
James Burke is based in Dublin and is well got by the existing Panel etc.
Martin Barrett did an excellent job with Kiltane when they had a good panel a few years back.
Daniel Forde will be the S & C coach i think but i hope that Barry Solan can still have some input .
with regards to other appointments i hope to god we dont go for some back name Charlie from the “north”.
Canavan has been a complete failure at management level with fermanagh and also Club level in Cavan and elsewhere.
If ever there was a clone of james nallon its
Daniel forde.
Glad to see james give daniel the chance to show what he can bring.
The Monsignor’s return is the best outcome we could have hoped for in this situation. The backroom team may not be household names but if James thinks they’re good enough then I’m happy to go with that. He’s older and wiser now so I assume he’s not going to appoint anyone that he doesn’t think is up to it.
I feel the Rochford situation was very badly handled and on a personal level I feel very sorry for Rochford as he gave an awful lot and came so agonisingly close to landing the big one. But we have to move on and this appointment will definitely help us do that.
The loss to Kerry in Limerick in 2014, while not the most disappointing loss of this era, is still the one I feel angriest about because we really got shafted that day. The double whammy of hearing that James had resigned while driving home made the weeks ahead even gloomier.
I always hoped he’d come back to manage the team as his last stint as manager didn’t deserve such an inglorious conclusion and I’m glad he has. Unfinished business or whatever, there’s a real sense that we can take off again as a team with a strong panel and a lot of talent coming through. The future looks a hell of a lot brighter than it did 6 weeks ago.
Question was posed online last night and I found it fascinating – who was the last Player to play championship football for Mayo from a junior club?
I looked back on WJs great set of archives, and am open to correction here, but I reckon it’s actually Fintan Ruddy of Cill Chomain, way back in the 2004 Connacht final. Therefore it will be FIFTEEN YEARS next season since a junior club player played for Mayo in the championship. That’s a quite staggering statistic when you think about it. It’s great news to see Horan holding trials and inviting clubs to send new players to them. But this hardly a novel idea? The question is, why on earth is it not done every year??
James comments on the “coaching movement” in the county. Do those on the ground agree with that?
Its the first positive things I have heard on that front in a while, I thought the general consensus was negative…..
AndyD, Balla will be playing the winners of the Sligo/Leitrim QF. I’m not sure about previous years but Leitrim will certainly be competing this year
James Burke was in the same minor team in 2005 as Seamus o Shea Donnie Vaughan and Ger Cafferkey.
His younger brother Cian has also played minor in 2012 and U21 for Mayo and is currently captain of Ardnaree
I would like to know how James Burke became involved, would he have offered his services or would horan have gone after him? Just wondering what attributes he would bring to the party? Although, i’m sure horan will just email him the drills that he wants completed and burke will just put the cones out and blow the whistle. Dont want to come across as been negative but i’d same james will be the trainer/coach/manager/ceo etc etc.
Mayomoose, there was an article on that keeper in the Mayo News a few weeks back – if you go through the Sport section of their website you’ll find it. From what I remember he has already transferred to Donegal so we won’t be seeing him in the green and red anytime soon.