Rochford predicts ‘good days ahead’ for Mayo GAA

Daniel Carey
Westport

STEPHEN Rochford has predicted ‘good days ahead’ for Mayo GAA, and says he’ll do everything in his power to ‘get them across the line in 2016’ if he becomes the county’s next senior football manager.
The Crossmolina native confirmed his candidacy for the position at a health and wellbeing seminar organised by Westport GAA Club last night (Thursday) which was held in the Castlecourt Hotel.
Interviewed before a large audience that included Mayo GAA Board chairman Mike Connelly and vice-chairman Seamus Tuohy, Rochford said he was ‘delighted’ to ‘put it on record’ that he had ‘formally accepted a nomination to go ahead for the Mayo senior job’, adding: “Over the next number of weeks, we’ll see how that plays out”.
Rochford – who was interviewed for the ‘Minding Yourself’ seminar as a representative of AIB, one of the event’s sponsors – confirmed to The Mayo News that he had been nominated by two clubs.
One was Crossmolina, with whom he won an All-Ireland club title as a player in 2001, and the other was Ballinrobe, where he now lives, and a side he managed to a Mayo under-21 B title in 2007. The candidate added that his nomination had been accompanied by a letter of acceptance, as required by the County Board.
Asked by Master of Ceremonies, Pierce O’Reilly, about the current state of Mayo football and what he could bring to the job if his candidacy was successful, Rochford replied: “I think firstly, we’ve been banging on that door over the last number of years. I think we’re very, very close, and been unfortunate on a couple of occasions, maybe, not to get across the line.
“I’m looking to bring a freshness and an energy that I feel that I’m capable [of]. The guys that I would be looking to bring in will obviously bring that element of freshness as well. We’re very, very near. I think it’s early days to be … going into ... tactics or anything like that.
“There’s a great, great bunch of lads there. There’ll [also] be new faces, I’m sure, coming in … whoever is the new manager. But I think there’s still good days ahead for Mayo GAA, and if I’m lucky enough …to take up the position, we’ll do all in our endeavour to get them across the line in 2016.”
There were light-hearted moments, too. MC O’Reilly framed his enquiry about Rochford’s intentions regarding Mayo as ‘the six million dollar question’, prompting the 37-year-old to reply that it was the ‘six millionth time’ he had been asked about it.
The bulk of those requests came in the wake of Corofin’s two most recent victories. Rochford managed the north Galway club to an All-Ireland club title last March, and is currently preparing them for a Connacht semi-final with Sligo kingpins St Mary’s next Sunday.
And when O’Reilly (CEO of Irish TV) asked if Rochford could ‘tell us a little bit’ about who he had ear-marked for his back-room team, the manager of AIB in Castlerea replied: “To be blunt, no!” prompting laughter in the audience.
“I think to be respectful to the County Board and that, they should be the first people to hear about that,” he added. “Not all things have been nailed down, and there’s a couple of other chats to be had. But hopefully we’ll have them wrapped up in the next couple of days.”
Stories in two national newspapers identified former Armagh player Tony McEntee, Donie Buckley (who has coached Mayo for the past three seasons), ex-Limerick manager Maurice Horan (a native of Ballinrobe now based in Tralee), Ballaghaderreen’s Barry Solan (who was Mayo’s strength and conditioning coach this year) and former Ireland rugby international Gavin Duffy as possible members of Rochford’s back-room team should he get the job.
The father of one was the only candidate to be nominated to succeed Pat Holmes and Noel Connelly, who resigned from the job on October 2 after the Mayo senior squad passed a vote of no confidence in them.
Former manager James Horan indicated last week that he would not be seeking to resume his place in the hot-seat.