Mayo minor manager looking forward to year ahead as season looms

Yesterday (Thursday March 19), the Mayo minor football manager Diarmuid Byrne sat down to speak to the local media as the Connacht Championship looms.

Byrne confirmed that this year’s panel of players are relatively fresh although there are some experienced personnel within the squad. “We have a handful of last year’s squad, so probably, in the region of four or five guys that were involved in the panel, and maybe one or two more that were in and out of it for a period of time. So, I suppose, in my eyes, that gives us a lot of experience. Those guys kind of knew what was coming ahead, the conversations would have been from those guys to the remainder of the panel of what comes ahead and experience at this level is huge.”

When asked what are the skills Byrne and his management team were looking for this year, the Castlebar Mitchels clubman replied “I suppose we were looking for players that didn't really play for themselves, that do the basics well, do the simple things well. We're not really looking for the player that does the spectacular. We're looking for guys that can do the basic skills well, that can play maybe in different positions. If you consider some players that might be the main man and a lot of the club sides might have six centre-half backs, they can't all play centre-half back. You need to be cognisant of their ability to play in a role within a team. Natural ability is important, but that willingness to work is also a huge attribute which we would look for as well.”

When Byrne, a former Mayo player himself was asked about what defines success for the group, he replied by saying “We're in the business of winning. You know, you can say it is development and there is an element of development but I always see that winning breeds a mentality of winning again. Developing players at this level, it's easier to do it if you're winning a couple of games. I always remember an old coach of mine saying, if winning wasn't important, then why do we keep the score? I think success is getting performance out of these players when they go out each day that we prepare properly and that they give a good account of themselves. there's no guarantees, but we'll be putting our best foot forward every time we talk out and represent the country.”

Byrne concluded by confirming his backroom team which will involve Ger Brady (Ballina), Michael Smyth (Swinford), Paul Keane (Hollymount/Carramore) and Neil Douglas (Castlebar).

The Mayo minors get their Connacht Championship campaign underway on Friday, March 27 in Carrick on Shannon as they face Leitrim. That clash will get underway at 5.30pm.

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