Frustrated Horan meets Mayo board

James Horan last night met with county board executive members to iron out logistical issues that have reportedly compelled him to consider his position as Mayo manager.

The Ballintubber man is understood to be frustrated with a number of areas such as the availability of training pitches, access to MacHale Park and the team’s match weekend bases in Dublin.

Mayo secretary Kevin O’Toole last night stated the executive would be briefed on the discussions.

Ahead of the meeting, Mayo PRO Aiden McLoughlin said he fully expected Horan to attend the launch of the football development academy at the Castlebar venue this Saturday evening.

According to McLoughlin, Horan had met chairman Paddy McNicholas last Saturday to discuss the launch.

The Mayo PRO said the county board were fully aware of Horan’s concerns but they also had matters they needed to clear with the manager.

“There were some issues with regards training pitches and setting out things for next year. But James has already made plans for next year and they’re in place.

“There are issues he wanted to address and there are issues the county board feel need to be addressed too.

“James had issues with certain things like the lack of training pitches for the county team. That won’t be sorted out overnight and the meeting was held to discuss them.

“It’s key to work towards finding solutions but for those issues that can’t be resolved immediately, we have to find alternative answers.”

The Mayo board have been hampered financially by MacHale Park’s redevelopment although there were significant fundraising initiatives done for the team’s preparations in the build-up to last month’s All-Ireland final.

On Twitter yesterday, Mayo midfielder Aidan O’Shea expressed disbelief in reports Horan, who led the county to a Connacht title in each of his first two seasons, was considering his future just over two weeks after losing the decider to Donegal.