Stephen Rochford won’t leave Corofin short in battle to retain their championship title

Assuming the Corofin footballers justify their money-on favourite’s tag and retain their AIB Connacht club championship title on Sunday, Stephen Rochford will almost certainly be ‘double jobbing’ over the next few months.

Rochford is expected to be ratified as the new Mayo senior manager inside the next 10 days, and he dismissed speculation this week that he would be stepping down from his Corofin post after next weekend’s provincial club final against Castlebar Mitchels.

“I’ll be managing Corofin for as long as they remain in the championship,” says the 37-year-old Mayo native.

Rochford won’t need reminding that Corofin’s journey from Galway giants to Connacht kingpins to All-Ireland champions received a significant setback two years ago when they were turned over by Castlebar in the provincial semi-final at Tuam Stadium.

Less than a year into his role as Corofin coach, that defeat gave the former Crossmolina All-Ireland club winner plenty to reflect on, and played an integral part in Corofin’s subsequent successes.

“That game will inform our approach from the point of view that this is a team that knocked us out of the Connacht championship two years ago,” says Rochford matter-of-factly.

“There may have been some talk back then that we took them lightly, but I can assure you that nothing could be further from the truth.

“I think we’ve gone on to better our performances from then. We had a good 2014 and 2015, so far, and we’re a more experienced group now.

“Guys like Martin Farragher, Micheál Lundy and Daithí Burke didn’t play in that game against Castlebar, and there have been a fair few changes in personnel in the squad since too.

“Our team and our panel has evolved. And the same goes for Castlebar.” After beating Slaughtneil eight months ago to deliver a first All-Ireland club title to Corofin since 1998, there was plenty of debate around the north Galway club about whether or not their upwardly mobile young manager would commit to a third season with them.

At the time there were no shortage of admirers seeking to tempt Rochford with another coaching challenge, while his day job as an AIB branch manager in Castlerea is also a demanding role.

But as it turned out there was no decision to be made.

“I have a great loyalty to Corofin,” he explains. “When they approached me to take over as manager, they took a punt on an unknown quantity really. And they’ve always been very supportive of me and the entire management team in terms of helping us to reach our peak performance.

“I’ve tried my best to raise the standards and to make sure we go as far as we can.

“The lads have very high standards and want to better them and improve them all the time. As a group we welcome pressure, and we deal with it.

“Personally, from June or July I was ready and fresh for a new campaign again. In an ideal world you might have a longer break than just a few weeks before you’re back playing league games, but both the group and myself are highly-motivated. It’s about the next game, the next competition.”