John O’Mahony expressed his delight with the faith shown in himself and his management team by the county board following the extension of their term to 2011, to the Mayo Advertiser this week. After two unsuccessful years since he took on the job, O’Mahony is looking forward to the third year of his rein and pushing the county on to bigger and better things on the field. “It’s a great honour for me to be asked to stay on for three more years by the county board, it was something that was put forward by one of the delegates at a previous board meeting and when the executive of the county board asked me I was only too happy to do my bit for the county. It shows that the people in the county have faith and belief in what we are trying to do and that we are going about it the right way to build for the future.”
Manifesto in place for the future
The Mayo boss hopes that next year will see a marketable improvement in the county sides performance on the inter-county stage. “Everyone knows last year was a very frustrating year for everyone involved in the side, of course were looking for a better next year as this side continues to evolve into a winning team.” Despite two campaigns which have failed to deliver and silverware at a national or provincial level, there will be no wholesale clear out of the current squad, because you have to find the right balance of youth and experience, according to O’Mahony. “There has been some talk in quarters that we should cut players loose and just go with a young inexperienced side. But in my experience you have to have the older players on board who have been there at the top level to help the younger lads come on and learn how they play at that level of football. There are a lot of young lads coming through, but the old heads are still needed on the field.”
Little time to prepare for the league
O’Mahony also called out for changes to be made in relation to provincial league set up so he can have more time with the players before the league starts. “We had two end of season run outs last weekend and we have one more this weekend and that’s it then until the new year. Then it’s into the FBD League without the students, which is another hobby horse of mine, because people have to understand that the first time that we will have everyone back together is the week before the first national league game; it’s not much time to blend a squad back together into a winning side, I do think that it’s something that has to be looked at seriously.
Looking forward to the Railway Cup final
This weekend sees a Connacht side managed by O’Mahony go in search of their first inter-provincal title since 1969 a honour O’Mahony would like to add to his collection. “I think it’s a great competition as do the players, you only have to look at the quality of player that was on display in Kiltoom last weekend. There were lads who for a better word beat each other up in championship football playing side by side and really enjoying it.” O’Mahony was also impressed with the quality of football that was on display at the tail end of autumn. “You can’t just judge the quality of a competition on the numbers of people that come to watch a game, anyone who was there will tell you that it was a great game off football with a lot of very high quality football on display. In my opinion the football was of a far superior standard to that which was on display in the first test in the international rules series last Friday and in some ways it was far more entertaining that a lot of championship matches. Because your putting out 15 of the best guys in each province against each other and there is none of the defensive tactics you see in some championship games and everyone tries their best to win the games playing pure footballing ability.
