Committee to interview Mayo manager candidates chosen

Denis O’Boyle, Chairperson of the Connacht Coach Education Committee

Committee to interview Mayo manager candidates chosen


Daniel Carey

FOOTBALL The five-man committee set up to interview the four remaining candidates for the Mayo manager’s job has been finalised.
The committee will include three members of the Mayo GAA Board Executive – Chairman James Waldron, Treasurer JP Lambe and Youth Officer PΡdraic Walsh. They will be joined by Denis O’Boyle, Chairperson of the Connacht Coach Education Committee, and Garrymore GAA Club delegate John Farragher.
James Waldron told Tuesday night’s meeting of Mayo GAA Board that members of the Executive had spoken to four candidates – John Maughan, James Horan, Anthony McGarry and Tommy Lyons. He said that Denis Kearney had withdrawn from the contest.
“Each of the people gave an outline of what they had in mind,” said Waldron. “Any of the four candidates, in our opinion, would be well capable of doing the job.” Waldron said the interview process would establish each of the candidates’ prospective back-room teams and “the finer details”.
Waldron recommended that the three members of the Executive in addition to Denis O’Boyle should serve on the interview committee, and expressed a preference that the fifth member be a club delegate.
John Farragher (Garrymore) was proposed by Tommy Goonan (Assistant Treasurer) and seconded by Gerry Bourke (Breaffy).
Aidan Brennan was also proposed and seconded, but the Claremorris delegate said the interview committee should include “at least one” person who had played inter-county football “within the last ten or 12 years”, someone “who knows what’s involved and knows the commitment needed” in modern day football.
Brennan said he had “no interest” in being on the interview committee and would “step back in favour of” any player.
Anthony Egan, a former Mayo player and manager, was also proposed, but the Bonniconlon delegate agreed with Brennan that somebody who had represented Mayo “in the last ten or 15 years” would be more appropriate.
He backed a suggestion from Brendan Byrne (Castlebar Mitchels) that it might be appropriate to have Pat Holmes on the interview panel.
Crossmolina delegate Ray Mulligan proposed “bringing in a professional interviewer” who would be “used to the job” and “knows how to mark questions and answers”.
However, James Waldron replied that the Executive had interviewed senior, minor and U-21 managers in the past and added: “If we’re not capable of doing the job, we shouldn’t be here”.
Aidan Brennan said the interview panel should include “a broad spectrum” and “a spread of skills”. “Pick someone and get on with it,” said Peter Geraghty (Swinford).
The proposal that the interview committee include three members of the Executive in addition to Denis O’Boyle was passed overwhelmingly, with just a handful of delegates voting against. After Aidan Brennan stood down, John Farragher was appointed without a contest.
The managerial candidates are likely to be interviewed later this week. However, there was no date mentioned on Tuesday night for the next Mayo GAA Board meeting.

© Copyright The Mayo News 2010