Horan must be part of Mayo future

Billy Joe Padden says it’s essential for Mayo football that James Horan is retained in some capacity by the county board after he departs as manager.

Former player Padden has described as “incredible” the positive change the Ballintubber man has made to the state of the senior team and believes it would be careless were his expertise not called on in the years ahead.

“James Horan has changed the culture of Mayo football completely. He has transformed not only how the team play and perform but how players talk of themselves and people think of them.

“For that reason, whenever he steps away from being manager, I believe it’s vital that he is kept on in some position where he can still offer something to Mayo football. It’s quite obvious he has a lot to give. What he’s done in his four years has been incredible.”

Padden has heard how Mayo players back themselves to come out on top in games, as well as their comfort with the favourites tag. Just one of their three Championship defeats in 20 games has come in August.

“The consistency of performance is greater in this Mayo team than any Mayo team has had,” declares Padden, now an Armagh U21 selector.

“They have been in Division 1 each year without ever going full pelt and then come the summer they raise the performance again, and have won big games.

“To beat Cork in an All-Ireland quarter-final and not play well, despite being favourites — that’s unheard of for a Mayo team. They are favourites for this game against the Munster champions in Kerry, a team that has beaten Mayo heavily in the past, and yet a lot of Mayo fans are going to Dublin not overly confident but they have faith in this team that they can get to another All-Ireland final.”

Padden regards it as inaccurate to group Horan’s 2012 and 2013 All-Ireland final defeats with such as the two Horan was involved in as a player, in 1996 or 1997, or Padden himself, in 2004 and 2006.

“The biggest change in identity of this Mayo team is they are a different team mentally. We underperformed in big games but I feel comfortable saying that when Mayo have got to Croke Park under James Horan, they have performed each time. You can’t say that they have left anything behind.

“Okay, they haven’t been good enough to win the big one and that’s fine. Sometimes team performs and it’s just a better team beats them on the day. Have there been missed opportunities? Yes. Have there been times when if certain players played well, the outcome may have been slightly different? Possibly.

“But I don’t think you could accuse that squad of being mentally weak or not performing on the big day. Look at the consistency they have had in Croke Park under James Horan and their ability to win tight games, like Cork this year and Dublin a couple of years ago. Those were games in the past Mayo maybe would have lost.”