Blocking out the noise: Why Mayo's biggest enemy could be word of mouth

Falsehoods about unrest in James Horan's camp continue to spread on social media

Aidan O'Shea of Mayo during last year's All-Ireland final. Picture: Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile

The grand auld stretch now stands at over 50 minutes but the winter of discontent prevails in Mayo.

Just when it appeared Oisín Mullin’s best Jordan Belfort impression was going to lift some of the negativity and nastiness that has shaded the county since last September’s All-Ireland final defeat to Tyrone, more of the same circulated this past week.

In the latest piece of idle conjecture, Aidan O’Shea’s future at club and county level was brought into question. His leaving of an old Breaffy WhatsApp group was considered a farewell.

It was further claimed O’Shea didn’t play a recent challenge game against Clare when in fact he featured later in the match. And as for the suggestion Ciarán McDonald’s return as a selector was dependent on O’Shea being axed from the panel? Both men were named in the group heading to Markievicz Park on Sunday to face Donegal.

James Horan might disagree to an extent but it has largely been on his previous captain’s back that the loss to Tyrone and, while they’re at it, the catalogue of near-misses in the previous 10 seasons, have landed.

The campaign to destroy O’Shea’s character has failed but expecting it to go away is as ambitious as believing those leading it will reveal their vested interests.

In a county seemingly intent on eating itself after an 11th straight All-Ireland final defeat, sixth in nine years, and fourth under Horan, the environment was ripe to pick up a pitchfork. And try as they might, the Mayo executive hasn’t been able to rein in the witch-hunt.

Since September, two statements have been issued by the county board pertaining to the negativity enveloping the county. The “end of season position statement” released eight days after the final condemned the “number of personal attacks on both players and team management that are completely unnecessary and unacceptable to all involved with Mayo GAA”.

Upon succeeding Liam Moffatt as chairman in December, Seamus Tuohy sent out a joint statement with Horan in which he said the management team had “earned their trust” and “we must all give them the space and full support to do their job”.

He continued: “Negativity or untruths that may have been generated in the past must stop and, as the new chairperson of the board, I ask for full support from within the county for both players and management as they embark on a new season, and I look forward to working together in reaching our goals.”

Horan concluded the statement by stressing how important it was “that we move forward together for the betterment of Mayo Football”.

In October, he had also spoken to local media to counter what had been written in the mainstream and social media about him and his management team.

Spawning the recent claim about his relationship with McDonald, he addressed the rumour the Crossmolina man had left the set-up. “Ciaran Mc has been in my house, I don’t know how many times, and we talk maybe four or five times a day, plotting and planning on what we can do. To me, it’s bonkers. It’s bonkers how people... that was published then and people ran with it based on absolutely nothing.”

Kerry and Kilkenny in 2020 can speak to the excessive and inaccurate reactions on social media that can often follow crushing defeats. But when final disappointment feels as chronic as it does in Mayo, when there was never as much expectation as there was prior to facing Tyrone, the frustration is engrained.

Horan knows himself that highlighting the over-the-top criticism aimed at him and his players’ way these last four months can’t detract from what was arguably his worst final performance. Substitutions were slow and switches never happened.

In the fourth and final year of his current term, it is understandable that the season is being described as “make or break”. And yet Horan deserves ample praise for the rebuilding job the last three seasons. The material was there — he wouldn’t have returned if the class of 2012/13 couldn’t be replaced — but his refinery work has been exceptional.

As Jason Doherty makes a welcome return to the team for Sunday and word that Cillian O’Connor is slowly but surely working his way back to full fitness, Mullin’s U-turn isn’t the only piece of good news emerging from the camp.

On the other hand, having to train at times outside the county, never mind play home games beyond the border, and strong speculation MacHale Park might not even be ready for the Connacht quarter-final against Galway in April doesn’t help. The board have to carry the can for that, but secretary Dermot Butler had a point in October when he asked: “Will we ever cop on to ourselves in this county?”

The latest indications are that wish wouldn’t become reality any time soon.