The curtain came down on Mayo’s involvement in the All Ireland series last Sunday as Tony Duffy’s brave and battling minors bowed out in the All Ireland semi-final. But 62 days on from Pearse Park in Longford and their senior counterparts’ exit from the championship in the first round of the qualifiers, how far has the shaping of the future of Mayo football gone since just after 9.30pm in the underbelly of the stand in Pearse Park, when John O’Mahony announced that he was standing aside after four years?
The county board acted swiftly in releasing a statement on July 1 which said: “Coiste Chontae Mhaigh Eo is taking this opportunity to undertake a review of the state of the game in the county. To do this in as complete a manner as possible, a series of meetings will be arranged in the coming weeks and months where clubs and their delegates, and members of the senior football panel, will have an opportunity to express and articulate their views.”
The statement said the board felt it was more prudent to have “those involved at all levels of our games in the county to be given the chance to voice their thoughts through the medium of this review process.” The statement also hit out at the comments made by some members of the public who voiced their views and opinions on local radio previously that week. The statement concluded: “With the review subject to take place in the coming weeks, it has been decided to defer the appointment of the next senior manager until after this process has been finalised.”
The job of senior manager however remained a hot topic of public discourse on the airwaves, with local radio running a text poll the day after the statement asking listeners who they wanted to be the next Mayo senior manager. The results put Kerry native and current Wicklow manager Mick O’Dwyer at the top of the listeners’ wish list with 27 per cent of the popular vote. He was followed in second place by former Mayo captain and joint manager of the 2006 All Ireland winning team Noel Connelly, with either Peter Ford or Pat Holmes in a joint managerial role. Other people to feature on the poll were Ray Dempsey, Peter Ford, and John Maughan.
Things went quiet on the scene until a county board meeting held on July 28, when it was announced that clubs were being asked to send in nominations for senior team manager by last Friday, August 20. The review process, which is supposed to be have been finalised before the appointment of a new manager, was also discussed at the meeting. Clubs were asked to bring their proposals for the review to their divisional boards, which will then bring them forward for discussion at the county board meeting to be held on September 6.
The county board received a number of nominations from clubs by last Friday’s deadline, with the names of James Horan, Denis Kearney, and Anthony McGarry all have been nominated by clubs and to have accepted their nominations. Mayo Advertiser columnist John Maughan was also nominated by at least one club.
While those four were nominated by clubs, Mick O’Dwyer has also been approached by the a high ranking offical on the county board about an interest in the position.
The county board executive met last Tuesday and will meet again next Tuesday night. At next Tuesday’s meeting it is expected that the county board executive will draw up proposals for a committee to be set up, and the composition of that committee, which will oversee the appointment of a new senior manager. Those proposals will then be put forward to club delegates at the county board meeting which will take place on Monday September 6. At the county board meeting it will be up to the delegates to make the decision how to proceed county board secretary Séan Feeney told the Mayo Advertiser, “We’ll bring the nominations and suggestions to the delegates, it’s up to them then to decide how to go. Perviously we have had a selection committee set up before who interviewed and selected the candidate. But we also had the situation before when John Maughan was first appointed we had two nominees and both addressed the delegates and a vote was taken after. It’s ultimately up to the delegates how to proceed when we meet.”
While the nomination deadline for clubs has now passed, it does not mean that only those who have been nominated by clubs can be considered for the position and executive officers of the county board can make nominations. It is now 62 days since Mayo exited the senior championship, and 58 days since the strategic review was announced by county board executive. While there has been progress made on the appointment of a new senior manager, it will be 68 days, and into the third month since the review of the game in the county was announced, before any kind of progress is announced or discussed. And there are only 45 days to go to the FBD league final in New York on October 10.
