James Horan says he will reflect before deciding on his future

REFLECTING: Mayo manager James Horan during the GAA Football All-Ireland Senior Championship Quarter-Final match between Kerry and Mayo at Croke Park, Dublin. Pic Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile

James Horan will take time out to reflect on a difficult season before making any decision about his future as Mayo manager.

Horan’s second four-year term concluded with this defeat to Kerry and while there are suggestions he is interested in remaining on he wasn’t confirming anything.

“There is no real looking forward now, we just had a chat in there, it’s never a time to make rash promises or decisions or statements after the end of a season like that, so everybody will take a bit of time.

“Yeah, look it, it has been a tough year. I was just saying out there that if you were designing a year, it would be the absolute inverse of what we had, from no pitches to play leagues into no training pitches to no trainings, we had to cancel trainings, the amount of injuries, it was one of those raggle-taggle kind of seasons but to the credit of the players they kept going and kept battling.

“We were down a lot of games and it would be very easy just for you to call it a night but didn’t, kept going, so huge credit to the lads involved.” 

Horan also hopes that his more senior players will remain on. 

Speaking about Lee Keegan and Kevin McLoughlin in particular, he said: “It’s hard to know that is for everyone to decide, the way the two guys are playing they still have a huge amount to offer and they are brilliant ambassadors for the game in Mayo so it is completely their decision, they’ll take time. Kevin with twins has his hands full out there for sure so he’ll take time to think through it.” 

Horan put this defeat primarily down to the poor shooting in the second half. 

“I think we got four from 16 shots in the second half. I think we'd piles of attacks today, we'd an awful lot of attacks, we just didn't get the return from the possession that we had. I think that's it and they certainly did, so that was the difference.

“I think we'd a couple into the goalies hands at a key time. I think that knocked us a little bit and gave them strength. That was where they got ahead into a comfortable lead and they managed it from there.” 

Horan rued the injuries that prevented Tommy Conroy, Ryan O’Donoghue and Darren McHale from being included. 

“We were probably missing our three highest scorers today that certainly makes a difference in Tommy, Ryan and Darren McHale is our highest returns scorer."