James Horan: Ryan is right, all the Croke Park advantages add up for Dubs

Speaking on the Irish Examiner Gaelic football podcast, Horan said there are several small factors when facing the Leinster kingpins at HQ.

Dublin goalkeeper Stephen Cluxton with Cian Murphy after the win over Kildare

Kildare boss Glenn Ryan was “100% right” when he said Croke Park is not neutral when Dublin are playing, according to former Mayo manager James Horan.

Speaking on the Irish Examiner Gaelic football podcast, Horan said there are several small things that add up when facing the Leinster kingpins at HQ.

“In my experience he is 100% right. I think the familiarity that Dublin have with Croke Park. I think there is a bias there that favours Dublin. Some of the officials, some of the mentors around Croke Park don’t even realise. We’ve had many the battle up there with them. When Dublin are there, it is per se their home ground. They know the people around the place.

“Times, dressing rooms, the stuff on the big screen, images shown, the music played, players on the pitch before the game. Some are allowed, other teams are not. Glenn referenced the sideline; I have experienced it myself. Some teams can have more than others, nothing said. It is small in isolation stuff but when you add it all up there is definitely something there favourable to Dublin. This is nothing to do with the Dublin players or anything like that.” 

Horan had several meetings with Dublin as Mayo boss. They came out on the wrong side in their 2019 and 2020 championship matches. In 2021 they defeated Dublin in the All-Ireland semi-final and overcame them again in the 2022 league clash. All of those games were played in Croke Park.

“They are all small things. It does add up to something that can be a frustration. It adds up to something that might be that one attack, that one play or that one bit of confidence that can impact the game,” he explained.

 

“I remember performance analysts, there were additional cameras they had access to that other teams wouldn’t have access to. Little things like that. 

"One last one that I think is worth mentioning. In regard to officialdom, we were playing Dublin. The Dublin team got leaked the day before through a programme. I remember I was having a meeting with the Mayo team that night. I got summoned out of the meeting by a high-ranking Mayo official to ask me to release our team because the Dublin team was released, it would only be fair on Dublin.

“For a start there was a couple of expletives. No was obviously the answer. When you think about it, for a very high-ranking GAA official to ring a very high-ranking Mayo official to ask us to release the team the day before a big game because Dublin’s was, that just showed me the network that was there and how it is linked together.”

Irish Examiner subscribers can listen to this week's Gaelic Football Podcast here