Mike Quirke: To know what is right and not do it is the worst cowardice

The Mayo footballers and Galway hurlers are taking a bit of a public relations battering in the last week or so for the manner in which they seem to have ousted, and are attempting to oust, their respective management teams.

Whatever about the honesty of their motives and genuine concerns about maximising their potential, the situation in Mayo has been handled poorly and treated with all the discretion and sensitivity of a fire alarm.

Doors have been around long enough in Ireland for people to have learned how to close them and handle their business in a private and more dignified manner. This is a story that should never have become such a public drama, and the Mayo management team should have been spared the public indignation of being dropped like some contestant with a croaky voice on X Factor who didn’t get enough votes.