Rochford raring to go with Mayo
NEW Mayo senior team manager Stephen Rochford has revealed that to land the position was always a huge ambition of his, writes Aiden Henry.
Rochford held his first press conference in Elverys MacHale Park, Castlebar, last night (December 3), where he told the assembled members of the press that he was honoured to be given the opportunity and was ready for the job in hand.
The former Mayo and Crossmolina star, and the man who led Corofin from Galway to the All-Ireland senior club title earlier this year, said: “I am absolutely thrilled to be involved with Mayo. Although it has come a little bit sooner than I would have thought, I now find myself in the job and I am very happy to have been the opportunity to manage my county senior team.
“While there will be big expectations given that Mayo are regarded as one of the top teams in the country, and have been there or thereabouts over the past five years, I am looking forward to the challenge and I will be giving my utmost to deliver the very highest to Mayo.
“I am also very pleased to have assembled a very good management team, whom I am sure are every bit as ambitious as I am.”
With Mayo back in competitive action in just over four weeks, Rochford said that he would be giving 10 to 12 players the opportunity to stake a claim in the panel.
He revealed: “It has been a hectic few days between doing the day job and trying to get a few things fully in place for the job ahead as Mayo manager. It is not ideal but we play our first game in the FBD League in just over four weeks' time. I hope to be able to have a panel of players for this league which will include 10 to 12 new players.
“With club committments I will be unable to call on players from the likes of Castlebar Mitchels, Hollymount/Carramore or Ardnaree, who will all be preparing for their respective All-Ireland club semi-finals.
“There are also a number of players from this year's panel who will be unavailable because of injury, like Cillian O'Connor and Michael Conroy. But besides that, all of this year's panel will be available and hopefully we will be ready for the national league. We have a hectic start to our national league campaign, with Cork (away) followed by All-Ireland champions Dublin at home. But we will try and be ready for these two big clashes.
“As of now, all of this year's senior panel are still in my plans. I haven't heard of players retiring or pulling out. Of course I will be looking to get some new talent in, and if some of the new guys show up well in the FBD League, they will be given a chance in the national league.”