Big news coming out of the west.
Stephen Rochford has resigned as Mayo manager citing a lack of support from county board executive.
The Examiner’s John Fogarty put out the statement from Rochford.
Stephen Rochford steps downs as #Mayo manager. Statement: #GAA pic.twitter.com/eWUPk0qKGm
— John Fogarty (@JohnFogartyIrl) August 27, 2018
The statement read:
“After a meeting of the Mayo GAA Board’s Executive Committee last night, held to discuss the management team I had assembled to manage Mayo senior men’s team in 2019, the board issued a statement saying they wished to meet the management team and me about our structure and plans.
“It was apparent from what transpired at that meeting that the desired level of support for me as manager was not forthcoming from the Executive Committee. This disappoints me greatly.
“Accordingly, I see no value in meeting with the officers of the board and am resigning my position as Mayo manager.”
Rochford has been leading the Mayo footballers since 2015 and brought them to two Connacht finals. National Football League campaigns often saw them scrapping to retain their Division 1 status but, under him, they often peaked for the summer.
They reached All-Ireland finals in 2016 and 2017 only to be pipped by Dublin. This summer’s campaign was hampered by injuries and a lack of new faces breaking into the senior squad.
Galway defeated them in Connacht, keeping up their winning run against their old rivals, while Kildare beat them in the qualifiers.
There were ominous signs on Sunday when Mayo posted the following update:
Following an executive meeting of Mayo GAA this evening the officers of the board were authorized to meet Stephen Rochford & his management team on their structures & plans for 2019. #mayogaa #gaa
— Mayo GAA (@MayoGAA) August 26, 2018
It was reported, last week, by Mayo News that Rochford would be bringing Peter Forde and Shane Conway into his coaching staff ahead of the 2019 season.
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