Mayo performance coach reveals All-Ireland heartbreak was barely addressed

Rachel Sheehan said Mayo's previous All-Ireland finals defeats 'might have come up once or twice, but it definitely wasn’t active in any of our conversations this year'

Rachel Sheehan said Mayo manager Andy Moran "empowered" her when she joined the set up. Pic: ©INPHO/James Crombie

All-Ireland SFC winners Mayo’s performance coach Rachel Sheehan says the county’s record of losing finals was hardly addressed in her work with the group.

The Limerick native, who has a doctorate in sports psychology from UL and has been assisting Kerry’s senior ladies football team to a lesser degree, rarely spoke of previous disappointments as so many of the group had not experienced final heartache before such as the previous defeat to Tyrone in 2021.

“Only a very small cohort maybe carried some of that baggage,” Sheehan told RTÉ’s Behind The Story podcast. “For the most part, it’s a new team, it’s a new year and even for myself I know that stuff (Mayo’s final history) but that’s not engrained in my background either.

“So, at the start of the year, you come in with a blank slate and the only time we really look back is at the previous week or the previous match in order to reflect and look forward for the next week, the next match.

“We certainly didn’t start this year by reflecting on five years’ past, on 10 years’ past or 75 years’ past. It’s something that might have come up once or twice, but it definitely wasn’t active in any of our conversations this year.” 

Sheehan came in for a lot of praise from captain Jack Coyne in his acceptance speech and Ryan O’Donoghue. She previously worked with the Dublin and Galway senior hurlers under Niall Ó Ceallacháin and Henry Shefflin respectively.

She conducted about a dozen group sessions with the Mayo panel over the season. Some of those involved only the players. Based in Nenagh, she would have travelled to Mayo to meet with players and management at least twice a week but would have conducted a lot of remote calls with them.

“I’m really strong on building relationships with the lads and trying to make sure there’s that caring approach right from the get-go,” she said. “I’d be very big on doing one-to-ones. Most of that is done remotely. Geography isn’t a barrier.

“Lads wouldn’t really want to be doing one-to-ones before training so I would do those from home in Nenagh via videocall and I could have a handful of them every single week going back as far as October.

"They cover anything from college, partners, furniture shopping, renovations. We get on to football as well, but it’s very important to connect with the lads as young men, so we always start with that.

“Andy (Moran), as the leader of group, has empowered me from the get-go and gave me loads of autonomy, which is a huge different maker when you’re in a sports psychology role.”