Still playing, now managing: The double life of Mayo’s new ticket

New Mayo manager Andy Moran has drafted in former county teammate Colm Boyle, right, to his backroom team. Pic: James Crombie/Inpho

The unveiling of a new management team tends to follow a familiar script. 

Questions about philosophy. Questions about who might be coaxed back, or quietly moved on. With Mayo’s new ticket, there was an added twist: the men in charge are still players themselves.

New boss Andy Moran, along with backroom team member Colm Boyle, knew their club commitments would come up at their first press conference in Castlebar. 

How would they balance the task of assessing the county’s players while also trying to beat them?

“Well, the fixtures for the first two rounds fell nicely,” said Boyle with a grin.

“Friday night games, which was great. So it freed up Saturday and Sunday for me. I was around the county the first weekend and it will be the same the second weekend. We make it work. We make it work, absolutely.

“That is the joy of Mayo GAA TV as well. It’s funny, I actually had this conversation with Andy earlier on. Sometimes you learn as much about playing against a fella as you do from standing on the sideline, or even more sometimes. There is that little aspect to it as well, which is interesting.” 

There is something endearing, even encouraging, about that. 

The modern game of Gaelic football could use more images of county management togging out with their clubmates. It is frankly a good thing that the line between club and county, still so often stretched, is being bridged rather than severed.

On Friday night, Boyle lined out at six in the Mayo intermediate championship against Parke, alongside a bright prospect from the county’s 2025 campaign, Fenton Kelly. 

He will likely appear on sidelines across the country in the subsequent days as Mayo continue their process of what the grapevine suggests will be a significant shakeup of the senior panel.

It will be worth keeping an eye on Ballaghaderreen’s clash with Charlestown this Sunday in the Mayo SFC for a similar reason. 

In 2022, the club presented stalwart Andy Moran with a jersey after he scored 3-3 in his final game to help them avoid relegation. They relegated Boyle’s Davitts that day, something he can smile about now given the new chapter both men are entering.

Despite that, Moran made his return for the club in the Division 2 league final earlier this month as they overcame Aghamore in MacHale Park. 

He missed the first round of championship due to a holiday but could feature this weekend. If he does, he would not be the only current intercounty manager still playing with his club.

Down’s Conor Laverty came off the bench for Kilcoo in their Ulster SFC final defeat against Errigal Ciaran last November. When Monaghan announced the appointment of Vinny Corey in 2022, it was made clear that the highly-respected coach would continue to play for Clontibret, with and against his own players.

Corey stood down last year and is currently managing Cavan giants Gowna but he came off the bench in the Monaghan final against Scotstown.

Aside from club commitments, the Mayo management team are likely to work with players they previously togged beside. The potential for conflict of interest is obvious: one month you’re marking a man, the next you’re managing his minutes.

Sure, that carries a hint of unease, but navigating that sort of thing is the essence of management. Some bosses take on their own county; others manage their own friends and family. For all the awkwardness, there are successful examples of both.

For Boyle, all of this is simply part of the job.

“To be honest, I don’t see it as an issue. I suppose if you go through backroom teams in any county over the last couple of years, you are bound to come across lads that have played with players in the squad at some stage either inter-county or club or whatever. I absolutely do not see that as an issue whatsoever.

“If I felt it was an obstacle coming into this, then I wouldn’t have committed to it. If anything, I see it as a positive. Knowing some of the guys in there, knowing some of their strengths and their weaknesses and maybe where they can get better.” 

In a county so often burdened by expectation and the pursuit of Sam Maguire, it helps to be reminded that this is still a game, one meant to bring enjoyment as well as glory.

Such sentiment only stretches so far. That won’t suffice if this new regime falls short. Of course, nobody will point to their club performances as an excuse for poor selection calls or results. The only thing that will matter is whether they deliver. Moran knows that. His answer left no doubt.

“The way I look at it, I think it’s a really fair question,” he said.

“I genuinely think it is a fair question. But every manager has to come from some club, from some region, has played with the players. Managers in Mayo, we seem to give two chances for everyone. The manager who comes back has already coached the fellas before.

“There is going to be some time between everyone. Obviously we’ve a tiny bit more ties than other players but at the end of the day, we need to pick the best 15. You need to bring down the best 20. No matter if you have played with them or not played with them, you have to pick the best players. You guys here, along with our supporters, if you don’t feel that is the right call, you give us plenty of grief. 

"At the end of the day, we don’t have a free shot at this to pick whoever we want. You’re going to get judged for everything you do. Listen, people can find that as an issue. For us, we have talked about it length, we don’t see it.”