The James Horan era is still young but already it is safe to say he has changed something fundamental in the county team's attitude. KEITH DUGGANreports

The crowd had long deserted Fr Tierney Park when James Horan and his selectors finally made their way towards the narrow tunnel that leads to the dressingroom. This was in Ballyshannon on the last Sunday in March, a sunny day on which Mayo had just been decimated by Donegal on a scoreline of 0-17 to 1-7.

The manner of the defeat was all the more shocking to western eyes as Mayo had begun the game by ripping into a 1-3 to 0-1 lead.

Then, they fell apart. So for a long time, the Mayo management held conference down near the East Rock goal while a small group of press men loitered.

“We didn’t know whether to come down or not,” one of the Mayo journalists said when Horan made his way over. The Mayo manager laughed.

“There was a kind of stand-off going on there,” he acknowledged before going on to give a calm and frank verdict on the meltdown his team has just suffered. And just like that, any notion of crisis seemed to disappear.

Horan is not even two years into his term as Mayo manager but already, he has had a profoundly calming influence on the mood of the most volatile and passionate of football counties.

Coping with the general hunger and impatience for an All-Ireland title that brings out the best and worst in the Mayo football public is part of the brief for any Mayo manager. In the league, the team’s form fluctuated but Horan remained the same: calm, implacable, sticking to the same plan and reiterating the fact his focus was twofold.

Horan pays attentions to small details and to the big picture. He was never going to allow the result of a single league match to convince him things were not working. A week later, Mayo blew a handsome lead against Cork and suffered a one-point defeat. The mood of disappointment around McHale Park touched on distress, something Horan acknowledged afterwards.

“It is surprising how quickly we go from highs to lows and players aren’t living in a cocoon. What we need to do is to make sure we are improving playing football. I am not sure where all the doom and gloom is coming from.”

And then Dublin, the All-Ireland champions, came to McHale Park and Mayo put on a show, winning the Saturday evening game by 0-20 to 0-8.

Suddenly, all was right with the world again but Horan didn’t sound much different. He just does his thing. The Horan era is still young but already it is safe to say he has changed something fundamental in Mayo football.

From a national perspective, Horan’s potential as manager showed up on the radar after he guided his club Ballintubber to their first county senior title in 2010.

The vogue for young managers had begun and here was someone who fitted the bill: the two-time All-Star and the smoothest scorer of points Mayo had produced in years taking an unheralded club through the thorny path of the local championship.

Once John Maughan stepped aside, it was impossible to look past Horan’s potential.

But in a strange way, Horan had achieved something even more significant three years earlier when he led Ballintubber to their first intermediate title. That 2007 final was against Kiltimagh: it took a late point from Kevin McGuinness, a substitute, to seal it and afterwards, Horan was incandescent with delight.

Back then, nobody outside the club understood just how hard the squad had worked for the honour.

“We had a lot of young skilful players when James took over and they were asked to maybe sacrifice some of their flair and what not and to play in a system that was organised,” said Michael Duffy, who became involved with the club just when Horan was taking over.

“He made it clear it was going to be a tough station and guys who weren’t committed to the training programme soon dropped off. The funny thing is James was never the greatest for training himself. I think he would admit that. And maybe he realised if he had approached it differently, he might have gotten even more out of himself or extended his career. But that is one thing he has always emphasised to our players: don’t let it pass you by.

“So that win was hugely significant for us. The victory was so narrow and it set our trajectory for the next few years. Kiltimagh, for instance, went back to junior after that. It shows how tight it can be.”

The big surprise within Mayo was how fearlessly Horan’s Ballintubber then set about tackling the big dogs. They held Ballaghderreen to a draw in the All-Ireland quarter-final the following year and frightened the favourites so much they flew Pearse Hanley home from Australia for the replay.

For the next few years they continued to push and Duffy was among a delegation that had to persuade Horan to stay on for another season prior to their historic senior win. “He had given a tremendous effort and had a young family and was reluctant at first. Thankfully, though, he returned and it paid off.”

Horan has hardly had a chance to pause for breath before transferring himself to the Mayo dressingroom, bringing with him the same clear-headed, practical approach.

Slowly but surely, Horan’s Mayo have become a bit cagier and defensively-oriented. Their tackling started with the forward line and became persistent and smart. He found new roles that suited players. Aidan O’Shea looked in danger of turning into a disillusioned former child star: now he is a juggernaut of a player.

Michael Conroy was brought back from exile. Kevin McLaughlin wandered so far into half-forward country Horan decided to leave him there. Mayo became stingy about goals. They won games playing badly.

They won games playing well. The one certainty about Mayo teams of old was you could never be quite sure what they would do.

They delighted and broke hearts with abandon. That was no longer the case on Horan’s watch. And his ability to deflate controversy would make political spin doctors weep. In other eras, the decision by Conor Mortimer to leave the panel would have rumbled on and on in Mayo. Horan offered one brief statement which did not preclude the Shrule man’s future involvement and that was that. He got on with it.

It was the same when Andy Moran suffered the terrible injury that has ended his season. Horan has refused to allow Moran’s absence to become any kind of excuse. They just got on with it.

At the heart of this, there is a slight irony in the fact as a footballer, Horan was associated with the very essence of Mayo football – a bright, open, attacking player who thrilled the masses – and has subtly changed that very characteristic as a manager. After he was appointed, Kevin McStay made the notable observation that Horan was the first “home-grown” Mayo manager to have played in the forward line since Gerald Courell and Jackie Carney coached the last All-Ireland winning team of 1951.

But while Horan has added his own touch to Mayo’s forward play, the biggest emphasis has been on protecting his own house.

Just as he made Ballintubber hard to beat, he has made Mayo hard to beat.

“There are definite similarities in the approach,” Duffy agrees. “And maybe that came from his own playing days too . . . a realisation that Mayo might have been that bit too open and we needed to change things according to the teams we are playing.”

So Mayo return to Croke Park on one of those days of clamorous expectation: a full house of singing Dubs, Mayo the darling outsiders and both teams closing in on another September appearance. It makes for a fascinating game and it won’t be lost on Horan or the Mayo players that most commentators are, at best, politely acknowledging the fact Mayo have a chance of winning the game by dint of the fact that they are playing in it. But few sound like they believe it.

Mayo fans were stunned and delighted to hear Ciarán McDonald, the enduring and silent folk hero of modern Mayo football, speaking wisely and fascinatingly on Newstalk radio on Thursday night. McDonald’s description of his fabulous point in the electric finale of the 2006 semi-final against the Dubs sent pulses racing.

That was a typical Mayo victory: stunning, theatrical in its conception and out of the blue. That was then. If Mayo are to press for the dreamland this year, it will surely be different. It will be methodical and patient and smart and earned with honesty and poise. The James Horan way.