Horan: Mayo need cash now

James Horan has appealed for “a huge investment” in Mayo football to help them bridge the gap to their last All-Ireland title win 61 years ago.

After a sixth final without victory on Sunday, the Ballintubber man told supporters at their post-match banquet that “a huge amount of work” still needs to be done.

“I think there’s an important theme to take out of tonight, and for this year,” said Horan, according to the Mayo News. “For this team, and the group of players involved, it’s only the start.

“As we said during the year, we got a lot of the inputs right and there’s a lot we’re getting right. But we’ve a huge amount of work to do.

“That amount of work requires resources and people pulling together. It requires county board, clubs, people on the ground, ye yourselves, to make sure that club football in Mayo, and inter-county football, gets the best set-up and the best structure that it can.

“If we want to be successful, to get Sam Maguire next year, there’s a huge amount of investment needed. So it’s important we don’t fool ourselves.

“We made huge progress this year, and last year, but there’s a lot more that needs to be done, and can be done. So, hopefully, with everyone pulling together, everyone facing the same way, this group of players staying together and improving themselves, their girlfriends and wives still giving us the same support, great things are still possible with this team.”

In a five-minute speech, Horan said he wished the county knew how much time and effort his panel put into reaching the final against Donegal.

Horan also made reference to Conor Mortimer’s decision to leave the panel prior to the Connacht final in July as well as last season’s first-choice goalkeeper Rob Hennelly’s choice to leave.

“The first thing I want to say is that I hope people appreciate, and acknowledge, the kind of players we have in this county. We’ve a group of lads at the moment in Mayo as good as anyone in the country that have commitment, effort, and pretty much everything else as they have shown over the course of the last year.

“It hasn’t been easy; we’d have ups and downs, good games and bad games, we’ve had defections, we’ve had everything. But, throughout the course of the year, never once did they wane or drop off their efforts. They’re an absolute credit to themselves, their families, and the county of Mayo.”