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Extra.ie
a day ago
- Sport
- Extra.ie
Clinical decision leaves Mayo in a familar state of flux
After a three-month review into the 2024 campaign, Mayo County Board eventually confirmed Kevin McStay as manager for the following season late last September. Ten days after that 2025 campaign concluded, by startling contrast, McStay is gone, and with him one of the best-stacked management teams in the country. Stephen Rochford took Mayo closer than anyone to a first All-Ireland since 1951 in his own time in charge. Donie Buckley is among the small band of football coaches with a national profile; Joe Canney is a highly regarded figure who has emerged through the celebrated Corofin culture; and there were figures in Mayo who insisted that another selector, Damien Mulligan, would one day manage the county. Kevin McStay has been axed by the Mayo County Board. Pic: Sam Barnes/Sportsfile All are out, relieved of their duties, to echo the sentiment in a county board statement that dropped shortly before 9.30pm on Wednesday, and which carried the cold and clinical message heretofore confined to Premier League dismissal notices. Perhaps the Mayo executive was trying to avoid the mistakes of last summer, when the months-long interregnum between the team's exit on penalties to Derry in the Championship and confirmation that McStay would be there for year three of his four-year term gave rise to rampant speculation. Much of this was aired from the floor of a county board meeting by delegates. Gossip about player unhappiness and unease was publicly uttered. Derry goalkeeper Odhran Lynch saves a penalty from Mayo's Ryan O'Donoghue during last year's shoot-out. Pic: INPHO/James Crombie Whether much or indeed any of it had a foundation in reality never became clear, but what the entire farrago meant was that the management team started the year at a significant disadvantage in public perception terms. A middling Allianz League campaign didn't assuage doubts, especially when it concluded with a thorough beating from Kerry in the final. The Connacht campaign hardly fired either, with stumbles against Sligo and Leitrim countered only by a rousing third quarter against Galway. Drearily familiar failings cost Mayo that day, when, after levelling the match, they didn't have the attacking edge to kick on. Aidan O'Shea at the final whistle against Donegal. Pic: INPHO/James Crombie It was eventually the same problem that did for them against Donegal in the group series game, which saw them leave the Championship almost a fortnight ago. Turning possession into points has been the besetting failure of Mayo teams for at least a generation, and while managers can't magic up the fabled 'marquee forward', the ongoing difficulties of squeezing more points out of the possession they did win was a major problem for McStay and his coaching team. The transformation in football this summer exacerbated Mayo's difficulties, given their inability to land two-pointers while all around them, the main contenders for Sam Maguire did so. There was an ominous early portent of this in the League when Galway devoured them in MacHale Park, winning by 10 points, their tally bloated by seven two-pointers across the 70 minutes. Kevin McStay. Pic: Seb Daly/Sportsfile There was a grim symbolism in Mayo's last act of the Connacht final being a two-point attempt from Matthew Ruane drifting wide. But it wasn't the only area of the new game that Mayo struggled with at times, with their kick-out a point of weakness in the spring but which tightened up considerably as the summer progressed. Scoring was the issue, with Ryan O'Donoghue carrying an enormous burden. It wasn't the only problem, but it was more often than not a decisive one. It's not the only frustration McStay, a palpably decent man who considered managing his county a pinnacle achievement, should feel. Ryan O'Donoghue carried an enormous burden when it came to scoring. Pic: Seb Daly/Sportsfile The way in which his departure was announced was shoddy, via a statement that was both unfeeling and clunky. It has only been a matter of weeks since he had to step aside following health concerns, with Rochford taking over for the group games against Tyrone and Donegal. The former brought a famous win in Omagh, the latter ended with dramatic late defeat. But neither of these games are the reason Mayo footballers will watch on this weekend as the Championship enters a thrilling turn. Stephen Rochford and Kevin McStay. Pic: Sam Barnes/Sportsfile Their dismal defeat at home to Cavan in the first round of the group series is what did for them, an outcome that was as abject as the performance that preceded it. And it was that tendency to fall apart that was crucial, too: Mayo's floor was always potentially alarmingly low, just as their ceiling sometimes felt promisingly high. And now the search begins for the next saviour, the next soul willing to take on the oppressive hopes of a people stone-mad for football. The way McStay's departure was announced was shoddy. Pic: Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile There is a presumption that the county board has a man in mind, but that theory is mainly borne of the circumstances in which the last man was packed off: if they were that brutal in getting rid of McStay, goes this line of reasoning, then they surely must have someone they'd like to step up. It's a generous analysis, and if it doesn't come to pass, then local unhappiness will only grow. A significant number of Mayo supporters may have been demanding change, but more again will understand McStay's years of service to the cause, and the impact that Stephen Rochford has had, too. Debate is already underway, as it should be, about who gets the gig, about whether it should be an outsider or a native, about what went wrong and what must come next. The pursuit is endless — but events of the past 36 hours have seen the dream darken.
Irish Examiner
a day ago
- Sport
- Irish Examiner
Diarmuid Connolly: 'Armagh just don't seem like they're going to falter'
Armagh winning convincingly is the Diarmuid Connolly verdict for Sunday's All-Ireland quarter-final between the title holders and Kerry. Dublin's seven-time All-Ireland winner knows it would be foolish behaviour to write Kerry off but simply cannot back a team ravaged with injuries and who haven't performed in championship 2025. 'Armagh just don't seem like they're going to falter. I know they were beaten in the Ulster final, but they still got to the Ulster final, and a very hard road they went down to get there,' Connolly began. 'With Oisín O'Neill coming back, he just offers a little bit of magic. I think he's the star man of this team, and if he can get hot, just like David Clifford, he could kick two-pointers and run away with this one. 'Consistently, Armagh have been there, have performed. Kerry, you can't say they have. Do they have a massive game in them? Probably, yes. But I'll be going for Armagh by maybe three or four points, and winning convincingly.' In a post-match interview following his 3-7 display against Cavan, Clifford, unprompted, called on Kerry supporters to follow the team to Croke Park this weekend. Connolly didn't interpret Clifford's comments as his focus being somewhere it shouldn't. 'No, I wouldn't say so, but I'd say they're getting a lot of stick back home too. Kerry's a funny place. Football is pretty much like a religion down there. Connolly says no one in Kerry believes Kerry can win an All-Ireland this year. File picture: James Lawlor/Inpho 'I wouldn't say David Clifford is able to walk down the road without talking about Gaelic Football. Whereas in Dublin, we could stick to ourselves, we could stick to our own friends' group, and you don't have to go into that so much every day. 'In Kerry, it's very, very hard to get away with that. And he's just asking for the support, rather than the negative stuff that he's probably hearing on the street. 'Nobody believes down there, and I spoke to a lot of Kerry people, nobody believes they're going to go and win an All-Ireland. But David Clifford has to believe that he's going to go and win an All-Ireland and if he performs to the level he can, there's absolutely no doubt that Kerry can win an All-Ireland.' Turning to his native county's last-eight bout with Tyrone, Connolly said if Con O'Callaghan is 70% fit well then he has to return to the starting line-up after missing the Cork win. Although predicting a draw here, the two-time All-Star sees midfield as the defining battleground and would prefer if Brian Howard partnered Peadar Ó Cofaigh Byrne, with Ciarán Kilkenny moving to the half-forward line. Connolly chose not to add to the wall of criticism directed at Mayo County Board over their statement relieving Kevin McStay of his managerial role. He did accuse Jim McGuinness, mind, of unnecessarily playing mind games with all the various gripes he's articulated over the course of the championship. Closer to home, he was extremely critical of those responsible for the financial mismanagement of the Parnells club following a €22m land sale in 2008. 'To lose €22m over the space of a decade is criminal. I hope justice is served. I hope Parnells can come back. They have no pitch. It is a really sad state of affairs.'
Irish Times
2 days ago
- Sport
- Irish Times
Malachy Clerkin: Mayo's decision to oust Kevin McStay was fair enough but the way they did it was foul
In one sense, relieved is the right word. When the smoke clears, Kevin McStay and his management team might well find themselves relieved to be out of it . Relieved to be unhooked from the Mayo county board, relieved to no longer have to report to a group of people who can't even find a decent way to announce the end of the tenure of someone who had very publicly stepped back for health reasons. 'A Coiste Bainistíocht Meeting of Mayo GAA was held in Hastings Insurance MacHale Park this evening, Wednesday 25th of June,' read the statement on the Mayo GAA website on Wednesday night. 'At this meeting a decision was made to relieve Kevin McStay and his management team from their roles with the Mayo Senior Football Team with immediate effect.' And just in case you were in any doubt as to what had occurred here, the webpage itself had the headline " Mayo Senior Football Management are Relieved from their Roles " emblazoned across the top of the statement not once, not twice but three (!) times. The Mayo county board evidently don't want any confusion here – they're the boys who put an end to McStay, don't you worry about that. [ Kevin McStay relieved of his role as Mayo manager Opens in new window ] Managers come and managers go in all sports, all the time. But there's a way to do these things. In the Premier League , the world's most cut-throat, unfeeling sports league on the planet, seven managers (excluding caretakers and interims, etc) got sacked last season. Here's a flavour of the statements announcing their departures. READ MORE ' Erik Ten Hag has left his role as Manchester United manager ...' ' Leicester City FC has parted company with Steve Cooper ...' 'Southampton FC can confirm we have taken the difficult decision to part ways with Russell Martin ...' 'West Ham can confirm that Julien Lopategui has left the club ...' Only once, in the case of Sean Dyche getting the bull's rush from Everton in January, was the phrase 'has been relieved of his duties' employed. And he hadn't even had a health scare. The Mayo County Board – sacking people with less compassion than 85 per cent of the softies in the Premier League. Ah Mayo GAA never cease to amaze the good people. Kevin & his backroom deserved better than that 💩 statement 🤯🤯🤯 — Lee Keegan (@leeroykeegan) Were they within their rights not to go forward with a fourth year of McStay and Stephen Rochford and their backroom team? Of course they were. Nobody would argue that the three years so far have turned out the way they or anybody else in Mayo had hoped or planned. When McStay was appointed, Mayo had been to two All-Ireland finals and a quarter-final in the previous three seasons. They got back to the last eight in 2023 but got blown away by what we now know was the last push of the great Dublin team. After that, they didn't make it past the preliminary quarter-finals last year or out of the group stage this year. The results graph has been pointing stubbornly in the wrong direction. Ultimately, that's what has done the damage. Mayo haven't been a bad side under McStay but they made a bad habit of freezing at the most crucial moments and being heavily punished for it. In the past two seasons alone, they have been in position, late in games, to either win or draw against Galway, Dublin, Derry and Donegal. They didn't get it done. Not even once. These were knife-edge matches with everything on the line. They led Galway by two in injury-time in last year's Connacht final and lost. They were ahead of both Dublin and Derry in injury-time later in that season and drew them both. The first draw cost them the week off and meant they had to play Derry. The second led to penalties and they were out. This time around, they did all they could to respond to the witless defeat against Cavan by beating Tyrone in Omagh and fighting all the way back against Donegal. But as against Dublin and Derry, they couldn't win or slow or even interrupt a final opposition kick-out and Ciarán Moore put them out. One last-minute killer score coughed up when the other crowd are on the back foot is a mistake. Three is a pattern. Bad enough that it's so completely debilitating in the moment but there's a knock-on effect too. Everyone knew that Mayo could be chased to the very last drop. They were always gettable. That's on the management. So too is the fact that Mayo don't have a reliable scorer beyond Ryan O'Donoghue. Jack Carney, Fergal Boland, Bob Tuohy, Darren McHale – none of them have progressed beyond the realm of solid intercounty forward. Aidan O'Shea has had some of the best seasons of his career under McStay but it's been as a provider rather than a shooter. Losing Paddy Durcan for a year meant the scores from deep dried up. Jordan Flynn drifted out to become an impact sub. You can blame each of them individually for not kicking on or you can question the environment in which they're developing. Were they given the tactical structure in which to flourish? Was the slow, passive build-up that so frustrated Mayo supporters to blame? Should management have taken more risks with what they had? Of course, nothing is ever easy and you wouldn't call McStay's a lucky tenure. He lost Oisín Mullen and Lee Keegan before his team ever kicked a ball. The Galway defeat last year came down to some dicey enough refereeing calls. They won a league final in 2023 and lost another this year and got credit for neither. Ultimately though, three years without notable progression is pretty damning. For the second year in a row, Mayo didn't play championship football in Croke Park. You have to go back to 2000 and 2001 for the last time that happened. In those circumstances, it's hard to have any massive issue with a county board deciding that time is up. The decision doubtless reflects the thinking of quite a chunk of the Mayo support base. But you can be damn sure very few of that support base wanted it done in such a classless manner. That statement was the work of spivs and McStay deserved better.
