James Horan: The amount of really top quality coaches in Gaelic football is small

“Time is your biggest enemy in intercounty management because you don’t have enough of it," said former Mayo manager Horan. 

James Horan believes there is a "handful and a lot of very good budding young coaches coming through" in Gaelic football. Pics: Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile

The challenge in putting together a management team can be just as difficult as finding a new inter-county manager, according to former Mayo boss James Horan.

Speaking on the Irish Examiner’s Gaelic football show, available to all Examiner subscribers, Horan said part of the problem is the small pool of elite coaches in the country.

“I think the amount of really top-quality coaches in Gaelic football, in my opinion, is a small number. I mean now, talking about Paul Kinnerk, the guys up at the top. I think there are a couple, a handful and a lot of very good budding young coaches coming through. Sometimes you need to look externally to get one of those. But the top level is in huge demand.” 

A theme of this off-season has been a host of counties making internal appointments. Cavan, Sligo, Clare, Roscommon and Mayo are just some of the counties who opted for natives in recent weeks. That can extend to the backroom team as well.

“To your point, I did it the second time I came in, I went with all Mayo people in the backroom team,” said Horan.

“There were a couple of reasons for that. My first stint involved trying to get the best you can get in the country. We had brilliant people, Cian O’Neill and many others. But a huge part of it over time is that the backroom team can be quite large with medical staff, physios, doctors, coaches and data analysts. If you have a lot of those from different stages of their career or different counties, their motivations can be very different to the team.

“They can still be right, some of them might be trying to make a name for themselves or grow their career, do whatever it is. Bringing all those dynamics together in a backroom team can be very challenging. Believe it or not, I know they are small, but there are microcultures between different counties in how things operate.

“What is acceptable in one county isn’t acceptable in another. The way you talk to some players is different from others. There can be so many different dynamics going on there when it is so many people from different counties.

“Time is your biggest enemy in intercounty management because you don’t have enough of it. Working with yourself, working with players, working with the management team, so sometimes you look around and look local. If the quality and skillset you are looking for is there, it can be the best and most logical place to go.”