MAYO GAA COMMENT: Solan may have the edge on Horan in head-to-head

AFTER weeks of speculation about who would replace Stephen Rochford as the new Mayo senior football manager, it is now down to two candidates, James Horan and Michael Solan.

When the nominations for the position from clubs throughout the county closed on Wednesday at 1 p.m., only Horan and Solan had given the go-ahead to go for the job.

While clubs could nominate any person they felt right for the position, their nomination had also had to have a letter from the person they were nominating, saying they were prepared to enter the race for the job.

While it was widely expected that Solan would be going for the job there were questions marks over James Horan, especially after his immediate comments when the position became available.

On August 30 he told the Irish Independent: "To be honest, a return to the inter-county game hasn't been on my short-term radar. My name has been mentioned in relation to the Mayo post since Stephen Rochford left, but I've had no approach nor have I approached anyone."

He also said in another interview when asked would he be interested in going back right now he said: "At some stage, of course I'd love to get involved again but is the time right for me, for the county board? I don't know if it is. There's so much stuff there."

"At the moment, I would say for me personally, no. I've so much going on at the moment."

However, he has now done a U-turn and is now prepared to enter the race to succeed Rochford.

Of course Horan (rumoured that he will have former Tyrone star Peter Canavan on his back room team) will have his supporters, and many will see him as the favourite to get the job.

But the burning question is will he be able to make the tough decisions regarding the present panel of players, a panel of players he still is very close with.

A lot of things have changed since he was last in charge four years ago, including Mayo winning the All-Ireland Under 21 title in 2016, and getting to the Under 20 All-Ireland final this year.

Will Horan be able to make eight, nine or 10 changes to the existing panel and give the good young talent we have at the moment in the county a chance?

Regarding Michael Solan, he too will have plenty of supporters. While he has not Horan's experience as a county senior manager, he has come through his apprenticeship an Under age with flying colours.

He managed Mayo to the All-Ireland Under 21 championship in 2016, beating the likes of Galway, Dublin and Cork on the way. This achievement was done against all the odds. This year, he guided the county Under 20 team to the All-Ireland championship final.

What we have learned from over the past three years is that he is a very strong manager, not afraid to make tough decisions and, by all accounts, got huge respect from all the players he had under him.

I suppose Solan's big advantage going into this head-to-head contest with Horan is two-fold.

One, he is the best person to know what the best young players there is to make the step up to senior level following his exploits with the county Under 21 team in 2016 and 2017, and the Under 20 team this year.

Secondly, Solan, unlike Horan, is an All-Ireland inter county winning manager. Maybe the Ballaghaderreen clubman has the knack on how to get over the line in an All-Ireland final.

It all adds up to a very interesting battle and one which will be debated far and wide before the appointment of a new manager is announced, which could be done by as early as next week.