Kevin McStay has entered the frame to become the next Mayo manager by putting his name forward with a forbidding backroom team which includes former manager Stephen Rochford, former Kerry and Mayo trainer Donie Buckley, former Mayo All Star and coach Liam McHale and Damien Mulligan, who was involved with Crossmolina’s All-Ireland winning team and is a hugely respected figure on the Mayo club scene.
The ticket boasts vast intercounty experience at all grades: McStay has enjoyed All-Ireland success at club level and guided Roscommon to Connacht championships and the Super 8s during his most recent term in office.
More recently, Rochford spent four years working with Donegal under Declan Bonner during a period when the county won back-to-back Ulster titles. McHale, a brother-in-law of McStay’s, is the current Belmullet manager, having replaced Mulligan in that role, and is a vastly experienced and respected coach who has worked with McStay at all levels.
The Ballina man, who resides in Roscommon, previously applied for the position when James Horan stepped down in 2014. On that occasion, the position went to the joint ticket of Pat Holmes and Noel Connelly but that management lasted for just one season, finishing after the players initiated a coup against them. Since then, McStay has managed Roscommon and has also worked as a pundit with The Irish Times and RTÉ.
Horan stepped down after Mayo bowed out at the All-Ireland quarter-final stages against Kerry this summer. It ended an extraordinary decade initiated by Horan who was a surprise selection in 2011 and transformed Mayo’s fortunes to the extent that they have pushed hardest and closest to winning an All-Ireland during Dublin’s six-year reign. Having finally toppled Dublin in 2021, they fell to Tyrone in that year’s All-Ireland final, the first in which they were considered clear favourites.
This year’s campaign was hampered by a number of key injuries but the reformed championship structure and returning players should see a strong response from Mayo next season. The deadline for expressions of interest in the position is Friday evening. Other names linked with the position are Mike Solan, manager of the 2016 All-Ireland winning under-21 side and Ray Dempsey, who won back-to-back titles with Knockmore.
