MARTIN CARNEY: Mayo's new management team deserves time and space

IT’S difficult to believe but there are only a matter of weeks to go until the beginning of the new GAA season.

For Mayo, January 14 is the date on which action will commence when they face the winners of the Galway v Leitrim tie in the semi-final of the FBD League at the University of Galway Connacht GAA Airdome.

Fourteen days later, in the opening round of the Allianz National League, in Hastings Insurance MacHale Park, Galway are the visitors for what begins the season in earnest.

These games herald the start of Kevin McStay’s reign as manager of the Mayo senior football team. Already the mix of established and prospective are addressing their fitness work and if we are to believe the whispers, much emphasis has focussed on hard running. Nothing revolutionary or surprising there, and it is certainly won’t do any harm at this time of year!

With a widespread audition in mind, management are affording opportunities to as many as 50 players prior to a healthy cull before the start of the league. For many of the new and younger faces, the process and speed of acclimatisation can vary. The time taken in familiarising with new squad members, learning the dos and don’ts of the dressing room and developing an understanding of what it is to be a county panellist can vary.

There isn’t a formula that will help blending the shy with the outgoing, the quiet man with the ‘talkaholic’ and the ‘know-all’ with the diffident. It simply is a process that takes trial, error and time – and one that, for some, can create confusion and frustration. Good man management will help and here I believe Kevin McStay will shine.

OBSERVER

McStay’s appointment was broadly welcomed. Seen as an excellent observer of the game, a shrewd analyst and one with a vast experience of both playing field and dressing room, he has an immense amount to contribute.

Few possess the experience he has garnered over a long involvement in the different and demanding strata of the sport. An underage career that culminated with victory in the 1983 All-Ireland Under 21 final was followed by stellar service to club and county senior level. Top ranking displays in the mid to late '80s, where he won three Connacht senior titles, culminated in him lining out at corner forward in the 1989 All-Ireland final.

Though the big prize remained elusive, he managed in that time to win an All-Star award due to his consistent excellence. A leg break in 1990 finished his playing career but he put his experience to good use managing Roscommon to a Connacht title, Roscommon Gaels to a county championship and St. Bridget's, Kiltoom, to an All-Ireland club win.

In looking for personal qualities, one hasn’t far to go. As you would expect from one with an army background, demanding and maintaining high discipline standards will be the norm. Players should benefit from the agreed organisational norms. An excellent communicator and with a good understanding of what the modern game demands from all, I believe he will have little difficulty in getting the dressing room onside.

This inevitably raises the issue of the backroom team he has surrounded himself with in order to face the challenges of the next four years. I recently read comments by the newly appointed Meath manager, Colm O’Rourke, in relation to the size of backroom teams. A sceptic before his appointment, he, like Kevin, has discovered that to compete with the best (the Kerrys, Dublins and Tyrones of this world), it is necessary to surround yourself with the best in terms of fitness, medical, coaching, statistical, logistical, and whatever else is needed. In Mayo’s case it comes to a support staff of 22, all of them tops in their particular fields of expertise.

DEVIATE

Allow me to deviate for a moment and recount the bones of a conversation I had recently while a guest at Brian Mc Eniff’s 80th birthday.

Naturally the footballing clique there were curious as to the state of all things Mayo and were keen that I’d tell them, insofar as I could, about recent developments.

The conversation ebbed and flowed, and just as an indicator as to how times have changed, one of those present told me of his experience in the 1963 Ulster final – the first ever contested by a Donegal senior team. On the same day, as luck would have it, the minor team were playing Down in the curtain-raiser. Both senior and minor outfits had the same selectors so at half-time in the minor game, as the selectors had gone to the senior changing room, the minors were left to fend for themselves!

But back to the present day. Who will constitute the new playing panel and who from the old guard will be retained are two of the questions that are intriguing fans. Over the last decade, a hardcore group have provided the anchor on a team that has provided thrills and memorable moments for Mayo people worldwide. In that time, summers rich in quality and excitement became the norm.

From James Horan’s first championship game in 2011 against London, the names of Robbie Hennelly, Aidan O’Shea, Kevin McLoughlin, Cillian O’Connor and Jason Doherty were still around earlier this year and haven’t, as far as we know, given an indication as to their intentions. By the time they exited the championship later that summer to Kerry, a young Lee Keegan had begun to make ripples and appeared as a sub in their All-Ireland semi-final defeat.

Whether or not McStay wishes to retain their services is still unknown but I sense he will be loath to strip the dressing room of such collective experience. What has come as a blow to the new management is the decision by Oisín Mullin to try his hand at Aussie Rules football for the short to medium term. His combination of youth, ability and real promise were assets that Mayo could have done with retaining. Were Keegan to ‘up sticks’, that would rob the project of another that, in my book, is still in the irreplaceable category.

Over the next few weeks matters will become clearer. In the meantime, Mayo’s new management team under the baton of Kevin McStay deserves all the space it needs, the support it can get and the good wishes of a Mayo public that bay to see Sam make a long-awaited return to the county.