GAELIC GAMES:ONE OF the more closely watched managerial appointments in inter-county football resolved itself this week with the appointment of James Horan in Mayo. Last week's supposition that former Dublin and Offaly manager Tommy Lyons would secure the appointment faded over the weekend, as Horan took his club Ballintubber to its first senior county final in 100 years of existence.
Horan was twice an All Star and is probably best remembered for kicking three points and five points from play in the 1996 All-Ireland final and replay against Meath.
RTÉ analyst (a colleague of Lyons on the Sunday Game) and Mayo Newscolumnist Kevin McStay, a Mayo All Star in his own career, thinks that this could be an historic appointment.
“As far as I can work out he’s the first home-grown Mayo manager to have played in the forwards for the county since Ger Courell and Jackie Carney were in charge of the team that won the 1951 All-Ireland.”
Aside from this encouraging historical precedent, McStay believes that although the choice is a brave decision, it’s also an entirely reasonable one.
"He has a great presence because he was a great footballer, one of Mayo's best forwards. He's bright, articulate and logical – and very straight talking. He had a column in the Western Peoplefor a few years, opposite mine in the Mayo Newsand it was a very good read with good ideas. He knows the club scene perfectly and got big backing from the clubs.
“There’s a huge media interest in Mayo and, for someone who hasn’t been in charge of an inter-county team to date, that’s very difficult. He won’t be into media speak but he makes good points about where things go right and wrong and has a very analytical mind.
“As a coach his approach is very simple. He sets up his defence on a match-to-match basis. Last weekend he withdrew a forward against Shrule-Glencorrib but explained afterwards that it wasn’t to protect the defence but to create space because he believed his forwards had a strong advantage in pace and he wanted to maximise his advantage.”
Despite these credentials Horan was considered a fairly distant prospect for the post when Mayo launched the process to choose a successor to John O’Mahony with both Lyons and former manager John Maughan rated ahead of him. But McStay reckons the withdrawal of Maughan because of his unhappiness at the composition of the selection sub-committee was a key factor.
“He wouldn’t have been considered as much more than third or fourth in the running three or four weeks ago but the game change was John Maughan’s withdrawal, which appeared to make it very quickly a one-horse race for Tommy Lyons.
“Over the weekend I think there developed a sense here that the county didn’t want to be dictated to by the Dublin media, who rightly or wrongly were perceived to be declaring Tommy the new manager. I think he had a great chance of winning but James was seen as more local even though Tommy has very strong roots and connections in the county.”
