James Horan

So I feel we definitely have a stronger squad, but that in itself then gives great competition for the team and it's a good position to be in going into the final.

How did James Horan get involved then? Was it through someone?

Yeah, I actually reached out to James myself just through mutual contact.

And, you know, my feeling in terms of bringing James in, obviously, we all know his experience and expertise is well known.

He was the head of the Mayo GAA Strategic Review Committee.

He worked as a spin master for both James Horan and Kevin McStay, and he watched the All-Ireland final from his vantage point of the HoganStand this year.

He's gonna chat with us this evening about his new book, which is called I Can See It Still, and it's released this Friday, the 16th of October.

We're absolutely delighted to welcome him to the Mayo are Back studios, the one and only Liam Horan.

Liam, how do?

How do? And I want to firmly deny at the outset that I was a spin master for James Horan.

I was a spin master for Stephen Rochford.

[laughs]

Good number of years now, I would say.

And I know James Horan has joined the Backroom team there, the former Mayo manager, in recent months as well.

So he's going to bring a good depth of knowledge to that.

Desi Keneally.

Powerful, strong, you know, he's just tackles hard, aggressive in the tackle.

Um, and do you know what's funny? You can see James Horan's, uh, stint and a stamp on Mike Cullen when they're intensely in the tackle.

If you watch the way they tackle, it's real aggressive tackling.

It's a bit like the old Mayos that was playing, you know, the good Mayo teams.

Now, in their defense, Donegal are doing some very similar moves in this game as Barry Moore in his back here.

He's really, been detailed to mark Michael Murphy it's a very very clever move from Homeli I must say we recently watched the Mayo versus Kerry semi-final from Limerick where Ciarán Donaghy caught 75 or maybe even 95 highballs in around the square and the manger James Horan did nothing about it so it's great to see that Mayo are adapting here

Well, James Horne, of course, fell on his sword in the off-season and was replaced by not one, but two great mangers.

Back at the ranch, Cillian O'Connor shafts one on the near side.

Such were the absolute levels of total unwellness displayed by TJ Fatlari et al.

One man who's missing, of course, from proceedings today is our captain and future All-Ireland winning manger, Randy Moran, who has been shunned by Homelli this year.

They have deemed him not worthy of starting.

They've thrown him onto the bench and they've given a chance to a number of other young up-and-coming players.

And Mayo are playing a beautiful brand of kicking the ball in.

A lovely ball from Seamus O'Shea, but Donald Vaughan, on the edge of the D, not able to handle it on this equation.

And indeed in the opposite dugout today, of course, is the legendary Donegal manger, Remy McGuinness.

Remy, of course, who...

And I could feel that reading through the book.

It's just that sense of, okay, now onto the James Horan era.

And you just don't have that same dread as you go into those chapters because it feels like it's all building blocks towards what

was an incredible

We had all this bizarreness happening and then we had a football match to play afterwards.

James Horan gets the first point.

And the halftime position here is Mayo 1-6, Meath 1-2.

As the game was going on at halftime and all that, it wasn't really what the score was in the match or what their chances of winning are or what they should be doing.

Brady, on for James Nolan.

Strong defence there by John McDermott.

And it comes towards James Horan.

And Horan has kicked it over.

We've got simply all of our big men out.

James Horan has decided, yes, a blatant black card.

He was clipped.

Andy Moore.

Aidan O'Shea doesn't know what day of the week it is, but that's nothing unusual for Aidan.

So he's going to be allowed to re-enter the fray.

James Horan is just telling him that He's from Braefe.

He's a football player.

He has time to take one last 45.

James Horan looks unruffled and uncurfuffled on the sideline.

He's certainly not a man to get his nipples in a twist over something like this.

No, and Stephen Cluxton is going to flick it in here.