Its has been announced tonight that Stephen Rochford appointed Mayo manager. He has been appointed on a three year term, with a review after each year. Stephen takes over the Mayo management position from Noel Connelly and Pat Holmes, who stepped down last month.
Stephen Rochford has been officially ratified as Manager of the Mayo Senior Football Team for an initial 3 Year Term reviewed annually! #gaa
Rochford has brought together a fairly impressive backroom team. Donnie Buckley will be staying on in his position as team coach/selector and will be joined by former All Ireland winner with Armagh Tony Mc Entee (coach/selector). Dr Sean Moffitt stays on as head of the medical team. The team physio’s are Liam Moffitt and Martin McIntyre.
Barry Solan who recently signed up with Arsenal football club in London, will also be staying on in his position as head of strength and conditioning of the team. Barry will be joined by former Ireland and Connacht rugby player, Gavin Duffy, who himsef is also a former Mayo GAA minor player.
Maurice Horan who is a former Limerick manager joins the team and will be looking after stats, analysis and video review. Stephen has also recently drafted in a former footballing colleague Sean Carey as a selector. Carey played on the 1995 minor team which was captained by Roachford, and is a former club player with Kiltane GAA and Junior player with Ardagh GAA club.
Caroline Brosnihan Dietician and Stephen’s brother Eoin Rochford (who is an army captain) will be in charge of Logistics are also named as part of the backroom team.
Rochford has said recently;
“There’s a great, great bunch of lads there,” said Rochford a few weeks ago. “There’ll be new faces, I’m sure coming in, whoever is the new manager. But I think there’s good days ahead for Mayo GAA, and if I’m lucky enough to take up the position, we’ll do all in our endeavour to get them across the line in 2016.”
We wish Stephen and his back room team and all the players all the very best for next year. On we go again on another roller-coaster of a journey in 2016!
Edit 01/12/2015;
Stephen Rochford was interviewed earlier this evening on Newstalks Off The Ball programme. Interview can be heard on the podcast below.
Pat Gorham from Belmullet has taken his skills to the other side of the world but when he cruises down the streets of Kuala Lumpur there is no doubt where he is from.
Check out his Aston Martin Rapide adorned in the Mayo colours as we await the throw in versus the Dubs.
It’s parked outside Healy Macs Pub in Bukit Bintang in Kuala Lumpur and could be there for a few days if we win this evening.
I’m sure, by now, most of you will have seen the brilliant video of Matteo at the match on Sunday. If you haven’t, you should have. So have a look!
I love this, as I love most fan videos as it captures the emotion in a crowd at special moments like TV never quite can. But this one came with a twist. When watching, I thought “this is great!”. My second question moved on swiftly to: “what kind of accent is that?!”. We had to try to track this guy down! And we did, fairly sharpish, with the help of some top-class creeping on Facebook.
See? World class creeping.
Balls.ie did a piece on his video here and the Mayo GAA Banter Page also tracked him down on Twitter! But another video he uploaded seems to have gone unnoticed! And, in fact, it is my favourite semi-final moment (which I covered here): Seamie O’Shea’s point late on against Dublin in 2012, and everything that surrounds it. Great video!
So the man himself agreed to answer a few questions for us about himself. Introducing Matteo Scaccabarozzi (my new favourite name of all time) from Merate, a small town of around 15,000 in the beautiful north of Italy.
Where exactly are you from?
I live in Merate, my hometown, in the province of Lecco, 20 kms South from the Como Lake and 30 kms North from Milan. I’m 22 and I study Chemical engineering at university in Milan.
Do you follow any other sports or sports teams?
Yes! I’m an amateur cyclist and so I never miss the most important stage races and classics. Each year I go to watch the Giro d’Italia on the most important climb. My favourite cyclists now are Nibali and Cancellara but my hero has always been Marco Pantani and I really admire Fausto Coppi too. I support Inter Milan and sometimes I go to San Siro but I don’t follow soccer all that much. During winter I really like watching the NFL, I’m a Giants’ fan but I like almost any team except for the Cowboys and the 49ers. Another sport I like following is rugby but in this case I watch only national teams, since clubs in Italy are very weak.
What is your relationship with Mayo?
I became a Mayo fan before visiting the county. After starting following gaelic football I decided to translate the Wikipedia pages of the county boards in Italian. When I read the story of Mayo the misfortune they had, the legend of the 51 curse I said: this is my team. Besides the waiting is nearly the same Inter Milan had to undergo before winning the Champions League again and the spirit of the team is somehow similar to that of Pantani. He faced many injuries, accidents but he never gave up and at the end he won the Giro and the Tour. Mayo is similar: despite all the losses they suffered they’re always there, fighting for the Sam, they never gave up. In 2013 I visited Mayo, the same week of the All-Ireland final and I really liked it. I stayed in Westport, rode the Greenway and climbed the Croagh Patrick. The view of the Clew Bay from the summit is wonderful. I’ll come again to Mayo because I want to visit Clare Island, the Doo Lough, the Killary Harbour and finally the rock in the Downpatrick Head.
Courtesy of the Banter Page
What was the first Mayo game you saw?
The first game I saw was the semifinal we lost against Kerry in 2011.
What was the first Mayo game you attended?
It was the semifinal Mayo-Dublin we won in 2012. It was my first time in Croke Park, I saw the game from Hogan Upper I really liked the atmosphere. In 2013 I watched the final agains the Dubs just outside the stadium, because it was impossible to find tickets.
How many games have you been to?
I’ve been only to those two games, but I’ve never missed to watch one since 2011.
Do you have a favourite moment following Mayo?
Obviously the comeback against Dublin this year, the semifinal of 2012 was heart-breaking and we won but it was not so exciting. Even the comeback against Roscommon in 2014 was great.
Do you have a favourite player?
Andy Moran. He scores with class and when it really matters.
Are we going to win on Saturday?
In Italy we are very superstitious so I won’t answer the question. I think we can do it, it’s 50-50 both teams are really good.
Will you be at the match this Saturday?
Unfortunately my holidays ended on Monday, I’m in Italy now. I will watch the game on the net and be sure that my neighbours will notice it! I’m very envious of those of you that will be there!
Will you wave a flag for us at the final?
Unfortunately I won’t be able to come to Ireland, but for sure if we go through, the day of the final I will do it. That day in the morning I will have a bike ride with some friends on the Ghisallo, which is the holy climb for the cyclists of Lombardy and Como Lake in particularly. Despite some parts are really steep I will ride it with the green and red flag!! Maigh Eo Abu!
So there you have it! Mayo’s only (that we know of) Italian fan. Enjoy the game on Saturday Matteo. If we had 20,000 Matteos, we’d certainly rock Croker to its core!
After Sunday we may have to do a new part 3 to add a few moments to our great semi-final moments.
While you are catching your breath and preparing for Saturday please select a moment from MayoMarks selection in part 1 or Bobby’s selection in part 2and vote in our poll.
And once again we are begging anyone with footage of the Kerry game in 1996 to get in touch on mayoclub51@gmail.com
The scene on the sideline at about 6.30 next Saturday
Have your say. Vote on our poll here;
Sorry, there are no polls available at the moment.
The second post of our semi-final special series … this time delving a little bit deeper into the archives. Enjoy!
Ciaran McDonald vs Offaly 1997
Needless to say this maestro hits the list twice , he served us long and he served us well. We really had a good team in 97 and Mac was just 22 but already a star. His point here just sums him up , he flicked it up in full flight with the right , solo’d with the left , dummied, left a few Offaly men on their rear ends and then pointed from the tightest of angles. McDonald a shot – McDonald a point.
David Brady vs Fermanagh 2004
DB was a man who spent a lot of time on the bench in the green and red but you could never doubt his commitment and he is a joy to listen to on Newstalk when talking about his beloved Mayo. This was a monster point at a tipping point when we had let Fermanagh back into the game and needed scores.
Padraig Brogan vs Dublin 1985
This was the beginning of the modern era for Mayo football. We drew with a brilliant but perhaps ageing Dubs team and although we lost the replay Padraig Brogan left us with one of the great memories. Sadly we were to lose Padraig as well as he faded away and then took up with Donegal. He even came back to Mayo again but we can only wonder what might have been had we had him at his peak.
But we have this wonder goal , a thing of beauty and a joy forever. Pick that one out O’Leary.
Willie Joe Padden vs Tyrone 1989
Neither a goal nor a point but rather an injury. After a head injury had to be treated Willie Joe re-entered the fray with a bandage that made him look like a Viking about to lay waste to a village . Or at least that’s how it felt to me at the age of 14. Wille Joe is our iconic player , no matter where I go in Ireland or abroad his name is mentioned with reverence. This was his iconic moment.
James Horan Vs Kerry 1996
Not a bit of footage is available for this goal so if you don’t remember it you’ll just have to trust me , it was class. The result itself was seismic. We hadn’t beaten Kerry since 1951 and we haven’t beaten them since. Due to this fact Kerry fans have removed all traces of highlights of this match from the internet. Contact us at mayoclub51@gmail.com if you have this one in any format. We wont be able to enjoy Horan’s goal because of the RTE eejits who didn’t film it but we could at least share a bit more of the game than the below link*
EDIT: A massive thanks to Nodlag O’Neill-Forde, who since this post has sent us on some footage of the All-Ireland Semi-Final of 1996! Thanks Nodlag!
So there you have it. Here’s to making more magic semi-final memories on Sunday!
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