Latest news with #StephenRochford
The Irish Sun
09-07-2025
- Sport
- The Irish Sun
‘Time for something different' – Mayo GAA set deadline to appoint new manager as top candidate rules himself out
MAYO GAA have their ideal deadline set for the appointment of the next senior football manager to replace Kevin McStay. McStay was 2 The 63-year-old had spent three years as the Mayo manager 2 Horan brought Mayo to four All-Ireland finals but failed to win any of them The decision came after Mayo's disappointing group stage Championship exit following the The Ballina native Stand in head coach Stephen Rochford has also moved on from the Westeners having According to are hoping to have a new senior football team manager in place within the next five to seven weeks. Read more on GAA The Executive also stated that they had planned to have the new management in place for the early rounds of the club football championship. One of the front runners for the vacant position has ruled himself out of contention. Speaking on the He said: 'I won't be going for the Mayo manager position. Not at all. It is not for me. Most read in GAA Football 'I had a go at that and I think it's time for Mayo to look at someone different or something different." The Green and Red county have a history of recycling former managers. 'Jacqui Hurley is excited' jokes Des Cahill as RTE pair put out call to arms to Cork & Tipperary fans Pat Holmes, John O'Mahony, John Maughan and most recently Stephen Rochford - albeit for unfortunate circumstances - have all had two stints at the helm. No Mayo manager has had three separate tenures in charge and Horan does not want to be the first. The two time All-star believes a new face should be the target for the Mayo county board. There are plenty of options to choose from with big names such as Ger Brennan, Robert Galligan, Dessie Farrell, Tony McEntee and Paul Shankey all stepping down from their roles this season. Despite resigning from the Mayo job on two occasions, Horan remains a fan of the Westeners. He is quite happy to remain on the opposite side of the barriers and away from the whitewash where he spent so much of his time. The Ballintubber man added: "I'm just a supporter and happy in that position, going to the games with my young fella, cheering them on. "Where I am at the moment, I've had a chat with Seamus Tuohy on that just to clear it up, because I don't even want my name associated with it in case there is any confusion. Absolutely not.' Mayo are not alone in their search for a new manager however as Dublin, Cavan, Louth, Sligo, Antrim and Waterford are all also in the market.
The 42
09-07-2025
- Sport
- The 42
Former Mayo manager Stephen Rochford to coach Tullamore senior footballers
FORMER MAYO MANAGER Stephen Rochford has been appointed as coach of the Tullamore senior football team. The Offaly Express reported that Rochford was ratified at a Tullamore GAA committee meeting on Tuesday evening, and the appointment has since been confirmed to The 42. Advertisement The highly-experienced Crossmolina man will work under manager Paul McConway and alongside coaches Niall Smith and Kevin O'Brien. Rochford has most recently been involved in Kevin McStay's Mayo management team. The assistant manager and coach took charge this summer when McStay stepped back due to health issues. They were 'relieved of their duties' — as Mayo GAA put it in a controversial statement they later apologised for — after their All-Ireland SFC group stage exit last month. As a player, Rochford won an All-Ireland club senior football medal with Crossmolina in 2001. He managed Galway's Corofin to All-Ireland success in 2015, before serving as Mayo senior manager from 2016 to 2018. Rochford led the Green and Red to the '16 and '17 All-Ireland finals, where they lost to Dublin by the minimum. Former Tullamore player McConway has been in charge this season following the departure of Niall Stack. Stack guided the team to three Offaly senior championship titles in four years (2021, 2023 and 2024), as well as their first Leinster club win since 1977 last season. Tullamore are now looking to repeat their Offaly three in a row feat of 1924-1926. *****
Irish Times
25-06-2025
- Sport
- Irish Times
Mayo county board relieve manager Kevin McStay of his duties
Kevin McStay has been relieved of his role as Mayo senior football manager. McStay was appointed in August 2022 for a four-year term but Mayo will now have a new boss at the helm in 2026 after a county management committee meeting at MacHale Park on Wednesday night opted for change. Mayo GAA stated: '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. [ Kevin McStay to step back from Mayo for 'personal health issues' Opens in new window ] 'We would like to sincerely thank Kevin and his management team for their time, effort, and commitment to the Mayo senior football team during their tenure. Their dedication to the players and the jersey has been greatly appreciated by all involved with Mayo GAA. 'We wish Kevin and his management team every success in the future, both on and off the field. An update regarding the future management of the senior football team will be provided in due course.' READ MORE McStay stepped back from the position after Mayo's defeat to Cavan for health reasons, with selector Stephen Rochford taking charge for the latter stages of their campaign. Meanwhile, Andy McEntee has stepped down as Antrim senior football manager after three years at the helm. Antrim GAA stated: 'We would sincerely like to thank Andy and his entire backroom team for their service and commitment to our Senior Footballers during their term.'
BBC News
25-06-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
McStay relieved of role as Mayo manager
Kevin McStay has been relieved of his role as Mayo manager after a meeting of the county's board on former Roscommon boss succeeded James Horan as boss in 2022 and led his native county to the Division One title in his first term at the had been given a four-year term which has now been cut short with his backroom team that includes former Mayo boss Stephen Rochford, Donie Buckley and Damien Mulligan also leaving with immediate May, the 63-year-old stepped back from his role for the immediate future to deal with some personal health issues, with Rochford taking over in the interim and McStay stating his intent to return to his role when he had were eliminated from the All-Ireland SFC at the group stage after a late defeat against Donegal a fortnight won two Connacht titles and an All-Star with the county as a player."We would like to sincerely thank Kevin and his management team for their time, effort, and commitment to the Mayo Senior Football Team during their tenure. Their dedication to the players and the jersey has been greatly appreciated by all involved with Mayo GAA," a statement from Mayo GAA said."We wish Kevin and his management team every success in the future, both on and off the field."An update regarding the future management of the Senior Football Team will be provided in due course."
Irish Times
15-06-2025
- Sport
- Irish Times
Mayo exit championship in most Mayo way possible after survival instincts let them down
Survival. That's what the weekend was about. At a certain point, style means nothing and staying alive is the only substance. Sixteen teams started out, 12 are left standing. Mayo, Roscommon, Derry and Clare are the counties who couldn't escape the guillotine's blade. Mayo went out in maybe the most Mayo way possible. The clock in Dr Hyde Park read 69:43 when Fergal Boland drew them level with Donegal. The crowd bounced in the stands, as a draw would mean Cavan were gone and Mayo were through. With Tyrone 12 points up at the time, Donegal could do nothing to improve their lot. Draw the game, win the game – it didn't matter. They were finishing second regardless. All that was left was for their goalkeeper Shaun Patton to boot the ball into the stands. He did not boot the ball into the stands. READ MORE Instead, he aimed one last long kick-out at Brendan McCole, overhit it with the wind behind him and saw it bounce into the arms of Ciarán Moore. The hooter went as Moore gathered the ball and the young Donegal wing-back skinned Seán Morahan, cut inside Jack Carney and scored the winner. And so Mayo were beaten, sent out of the championship by a point that didn't even do Donegal any good. They paid the highest tariff possible for losing to Cavan three weeks ago. 'When you play a league format, you get what you deserve,' said Stephen Rochford afterwards. 'Over the course of the three games, the league table doesn't lie.' Mayo's Jordan Flynn tackles Michael Murphy of Donegal during Sunday's All-Ireland SFC round-robin clash at Dr Hyde Park. Photograph: James Crombie/Inpho The championship is feral and suffocating. Of the eight games over the weekend, six were decided by four points or less. Tyrone's 13-point hammering of Cavan and the nine (!) points Meath had over Kerry were the only outliers. Everywhere else, it was scratch and claw and scrabble all the way to the end. Even Clare, lowly Clare, forgotten and dismissed by everyone, presumed an easy mark for Louth, even they hauled it back to a two-point game as time ran dead. Ger Brennan's side survived but they were ragged and frayed by the hooter's blast. You want a sense of how tight this all is? None of the provincial champions are guaranteed a spot in the All-Ireland quarter-finals. The fortnight's break that comes with topping your round-robin group will be enjoyed by Monaghan, Meath, Armagh and Tyrone. The latter two are among the favourites for Sam Maguire, despite having been beaten twice in the championship already. Every county has lost at least once. That's how it goes. On a weekend like this, everyone starts out like a school student with a brand new copybook, all neat lines and tidy writing. By the end, everything is covered in ink blots and scribbles and Tipp-Ex, and you're hoping against hope that you've poxed the right answers. Fortunes flip in the time it takes to update the ScoreBeo app. Cavan's Ciarán Brady goes shoulder-to-shoulder with Michael McKernan of Tyrone. Photograph: Ryan Byrne/Inpho On 54 minutes, Mayo were bottom of the table and going out. On 55, they were top and heading straight to the quarter-final. On 56, they were in third and going away next weekend for a preliminary quarter-final. On 57, they were bottom again. Ultimately, they danced on the knife-edge one too many times, sunk by their terrible display at home to Cavan the first day out. They end the group stage with a points difference that is 32 points superior to Cavan's but go out on the head-to-head record. Given that they were able to match strides with Donegal and Tyrone, it is a deeply careless way to exit the championship. Survival is all. You have to find a way. Mayo and Derry are better than probably four of the remaining teams and a match for the rest on their day. But their game-management let them down when it mattered most. Derry should have seen out their game against Galway last week. Mayo only needed to play one more pass before their equaliser and there wouldn't have been time for the kick-out. But both made a mess of it and so the season is done. Shane Walsh of Galway is congratulated by teammates after the Tribesmen's come-from-behind victory against Armagh at Kingspan Breffni Park. Photograph: James Lawlor/Inpho Others got busy livin'. Galway are the most dangerous third-placed team in Monday morning's draw and will be going to one of Ballybofey, Killarney or Newry next weekend. Armagh had them on toast for the first half on Saturday night but Pádraic Joyce's side found their way back and won . He summed up the game – and the whole weekend – perfectly. 'Yeah, look, the objective, obviously, was to get out of it. You try and get out in as high a position as you can. The way the last two weeks went for us, we happily settled for third to win the game tonight. We're happy to just get out of it. 'We were eight down at half-time. Could have been more down actually as well. In saying that, we fought back. We knew at half-time that we were fighting for our lives. The lads showed great character and I'm really proud of them, the way they played. It was great. We're on to next week.' The only thing that matters.
