BIG MATCH INTERVIEW

GAA News 7 August 1996

MAUGHAN'S MISSION

MAYO MANAGER JOHN MAUGHAN TALKS AT LENGTH TO LEADING SPORTS WRITER TOM KELLY IN A REVEALING INTERVIEW

John Maughan has given a revealing insight to his job as manager of the Mayo senior football team.

In his first major interview since taking over the position last October, he talks candidly about his role and the challenges which lie ahead. He tells how he has introduced his own code of discipline which has put an end to the kind of accusations made in the past about various Mayo footballers not behaving as they should.

In describing his players as having an absolutely fantastic approach, he insisted: "There is nobody acting the maggot."

Maughan added: "I could never understand how players went out and drank a week or so before a big match. It is something I certainly won't tolerate."

The 34-years-old boss made it clear that he did not go around 'cracking the whip.' "If a guy is not prepared to give the commitment that is required of an inter-county footballer, then he should not be in the team."

He admitted there were a couple of players in his squad who 'could not hack it' and had since left. "There was no point in them wasting my time or, more importantly, their own time."

The Castlebar-based Army officer hit out at cynical supporters who tried to drag down the Mayo team. "I call them the knockers. They try to drag you down to their level. I am not interested in what those people think. What is important to me is what the Mayo team as a group is trying to do."

Looking forward to Sunday's All-Ireland senior football championship semi-final against Kerry at Croke Park, he acknowledged he would be 'exceptionally disappointed from a personal point of view' if his charges were defeated.

"If we can get our minds right then we are on our way to winning the game.

"The six inches between the two ears is the most important part of a footballer's preparations for a game at this level."

The former Clare supremo, who in 1992 guided the Munster county to their first provincial title in seventy-nine years, also launched a verbal salvo in the direction of the national media. "If the standard of football is not good, it is Connaught's fault, according to the national media."

In the space of less than ten months, you have taken Mayo back from a depressing drop into Division Three of the National Football League to the forefront of the game as All-Ireland semi-finalists. What has that journey been like?

It's been a good journey. I have enjoyed it immensely. The team has responded very well to the challenges presented to it. Life in Division Three was tough. Without being over-spectacular in winning the division, we were learning how to win.

We had a number of particularly hard-earned victories in the league, most notably against Wexford, Antrim and Monaghan. All of the time we were winning games, many of which were closely fought. Whether you are in Division Three or Division One, you must get into the winning habit. It was something that had not been happening in the past.

When I took over the position as manager last October, I sensed the confidence of the players was low. That was understandable considering the heavy defeats they had suffered, not only in championship football but in league football. I think Mayo had dropped from Division One to Division Three of the National League in consecutive seasons. Obviously the players involved in that situation would have been suffering from a confidence crisis. In similar circumstances, I would myself.

You are credited with having instilled a fresh sense of self-belief in the Mayo team. Have you worked on this specifically, or has it developed over the course of the last number of months?

Self-belief comes in tandem with winning games. During my tenure to date as manager, we have played 30 games. That includes championship matches, National League, F.B.D. League, the Protom tournament, and other challenge games. It's a lot of football. We have won 25 of those.

Our consistent, winning form was bound to bring about a sense of self-belief, as well as improving confidence.

I am not taking the credit for instilling those qualities. They have come from winning games. This entire matter is one we have talked about with the players. We set ourselves realistic targets at the start of the year. There is a great sense of fulfilment when you reach your targets, which we have done. Anything from now on is a bonus.

How would you describe your style of team management, and has it altered in any way from your successful spell with Clare?

I would describe myself as a hands-on manager, and lucky to have two good assistants.

Tommy O'Malley has been involved in football much longer than I and possesses a wealth of experience. He's a terrific guy. A great worker and very enthusiastic. In fact his enthusiasm is infectious. Players respond to that.

Peter Forde is a very shrewd selector. He thinks a lot about the game and manages to distance himself from becoming emotionally involved. I think this is important in getting the correct balance when sitting down to pick the team.

From my own point of view, I like to get involved. I take all the training sessions myself. I am in there mingling and mixing with the players. At 34, I am of an age where a number of players in the squad are older than me. I can understand their problems. I can understand their highs and their lows. It is good that I am able to do that. I was not able to do that to a large extent with Clare because of the distances I had to travel to training and so on. I was living in Galway for three years of my tenure there, and lived in Castlebar for my last year as Clare manager. So it was difficult to communicate with players. Here I can pick up the telephone and arrange to meet a player within a half an hour.

Down through the years a lot of accusations were made about various Mayo footballers not behaving as footballers should.

If that was happening now, I would get the vibes back as one living in the county. But I have to say that the group of players we have involved have been absolutely fantastic. They are tremendous and they really want to win. There is great morale and comraderie within the squad. There is nobody acting the maggot.

I have not introduced a new code of discipline. I have introduced my code of discipline. If you play football, you play football. It would be absolutely futile to be training hard all Winter, which we have done, and go and blow all that with a night at the Galway Races or whatever before an important game.

I could never understand how players went out and drank a week or so before a big match. It is something I certainly would not tolerate.

Would you accept that the Mayo team does not possess the same big personalities that it had in the past?

That is true. From a media point of view, I suppose Liam McHale would be the main man. He has been terrific this year and has given a huge commitment. Liam is totally loyal to Mayo football. But there is a perception out there which kind of annoys me and frustrates me from time to time. People tend to run down Liam McHale. But I would say he is one of the reasons why we are where we are today. He travelled long distances, like from Killarney to Antrim on one occasion and from Killarney to Monaghan on another occasion, to play National League games. This was not easy for him. I am talking about somebody having to travel through the night for five or six hours, arriving at four or five o'clock in the morning to play a game the following day. That's a terrific effort.

We have not got a team of stars. We have a team without the stars but one with a great team spirit.

If we go on to win the All-Ireland, we might have a team of stars then!

What qualities are needed to be a Mayo player under the John Maughan regime? What kind of demands do you make of the players? Are those demands greater that the ones made of you by the Mayo managers under which you played?

Irrespective of the manager I played under during my playing career with Mayo, I always gave it one hundred per cent. I feel that as manager of a team, you have got to maximise the potential of the people you are working with. That's the criteria for my tenure as Mayo team manager.

I would feel great self-fulfilment if, at the end of a campaign, I could say that I maximized the potential of my players. For any manager to have achieved that, it is terrific.

When you reach an All-Ireland semi-final like we have done, you try to get as many of the players as possible playing to the best of their ability. If you accomplish that, you are sixty to seventy per cent of the way there.

When you ask what qualities are needed to be a Mayo player, I would say one of the most important qualities is self discipline.

I don't go around the place cracking the whip getting guys to do this, that or the other. If a guy is not prepared to give the commitment that is required of an inter-county footballer, then he should not be in the team.

I have painted the picture of what is required, and it is up to the players to meet those requirements. There has been a couple of guys who could not hack it. There was no point in them wasting my time or, more importantly, wasting their own time.

There are those who feel that Mayo have not proven anything yet, and that their first real test will come against Kerry?

One thing I have noticed from being involved in Mayo football is that we have some tremendously loyal supporters who realise what kind of work is being done. We have trained three or four nights during the Winter in all kinds of conditions. Only a small number of people see that work being put in.

On the other hand, there are the supporters who appear at the All-Ireland semi-final stage. I would call those the knockers. They will knock and drag and pull you down to their level. A lot of these people would not have achieved a lot themselves. They see somebody trying to do something positive, and they try and knock them. You have them in every walk of life, be it in your work, my work and in sport.

I am not too interested in what those people think. What is important to me is what we as a group are trying to do. The team is what is important to me. If we can go out, play attractive football, win games and give the county a boost, that would be very, very pleasing.

To say that the real test will come against Kerry is an interesting point. Some people say the real test was against Galway in the provincial final. It was a big test. Mayo had not beaten Galway in a Connaught final since 1969. Winning against them here in Castlebar was sweet.

At the end of the day, I feel we can make an improvement from our performance in that game. We should improve and we will have to improve to beat Kerry.

But I want to make the point that we won't be playing in a fear environment when we go to Croke Park. We realise we have the ability. If we did not think we could win, then there is no way that we would win.

If Mayo win, the county will go crazy like 1989 all over again. But, realistically speaking, is your team capable of going all the way?

Time will tell. I don't know if the county should go crazy if we succeed in reaching the final again.

I can understand from a Mayo perceptive why the county went crazy in 1989. We have had very little achievement on the football field in terms of championship success since 1951.

I can appreciate the county's frustration. I witnessed it in a small way with the Clare footballers in 1992 when they won a Munster title for the first time in seventy-nine years. We saw the effect the success of Clare hurlers had last year. The provincial title which Wexford hurlers won two weeks ago was a tremendous lift for their county.

Here in Mayo, getting to an All-Ireland final won't create the same buzz this time. It would take the winning of an All-Ireland final to recreate the kind of atmosphere which existed in 1989.

The feel-good factor, of course, will be there if we reach the final, as well as the great sense of expectation. There is no doubt it would be great for us to get to the final again. Everybody needs a lift from time to time.

The team is capable of going all the way. Of course it is. You have to be optimistic. If you don't think you can achieve something, there is no way that you will.

I have an old saying that I often use when talking to players: 'Shoot for the moon. If you come up short, you are in the stars.' If you set low expectations, you won't get anywhere. I think maybe in the past teams representing this county might have been content with mediocrity. You played well, did well, and, tough, you only lost be a point. But that day is gone. I mean it is all about winning now. We saw it with Sonia O'Sullivan in the Olympics. Getting to an Olympic final is no longer acceptable.

The expectations are there. But the expectations from a national point of view won't be for Mayo to win an All-Ireland. As I say, however, why not go for it.

If Mayo are defeated by Kerry, will you regard it as failure or as part of a stepping stone in an overall plan for future success?

If we are defeated by Kerry, I would not regard it as failure. I would not see defeat as being a step in the right direction, either. I saw it written some place that it would take three years for this Mayo team to reach its potential. I don't agree with that. I believe it can reach its potential in year one.

The players there now are good enough. For them, it's a question of 'do you realise you are good enough.' I mean we are not going to get exceptionally fit over the days leading up to the Kerry match. The important thing is whether or not we can perceive ourselves winning. If we can get our minds right, then we are on our way to winning the game. The six inches between the two ears is the most important part of a footballer's preparations for a game at this level.

From a personal point of view, I would be exceptionally disappointed if we are defeated.

What do you pinpoint as the main strengths of your side, and how far short is the team from reaching its potential?

In this year's championship, the players have displayed immense resilience and courage. The heads have never dropped. That, to me, is the important thing.

For a Mayo team to wear the jersey with pride and play with a bit of heart and spirit was, above all, the main criteria which I set out to achieve. I think that is there.

Winning is secondary to that in a lot of ways, although I have stated earlier that winning is crucial in developing self-belief.

But if you get a team that is going to display the attributes I am talking about, such as playing with pride and heart and not letting the head drop, the chances are that you are going to win.

Our main strength is our tremendous unity. We are having good fun. There is great morale within the group. I would not pinpoint individuals because I think this Mayo team is not about any one individual.

Mayo teams have played with pride and heart in the past but paid an expensive price for their lack of scoring accuracy more than anything else. Do you see this as being a problem with your team?

Gaelic football is all about putting the ball between the posts. It is a problem with teams. That was the problem with Dublin in this year's Leinster final.

I mean the national media always look at the Connaught teams as being the whipping boys. They should examine the Leinster and Ulster finals on Sunday week last. I think the media realise now that the Connaught final was the best of the four provincial finals played.

As I say we have always been the whipping boys down here. If the standard of football is not good, it is Connaught's fault. I mean we scored 3-9 in our provincial final, playing in the same difficult conditions as the Leinster final was played.

I don't agree with this idea of looking at weaknesses. If you concentrate on your weaknesses, then you will be weak. If you concentrate on improving the things you are good at, then the chances are that you will get better at them.

What worries you most about this Kerry team, and will your experience as former Clare manager help you in planning for the match?

My experience as Clare manager will help my preparations for Sunday's match. Clare's victory in the 1992 Munster final was against Kerry which proved, of course, that Kerry teams can be beaten.

Rightly speaking, Kerry are inexperienced. There are seven members from last year's under-21 team. A lot of our players have a good knowledge of the Kerry side, having gone to a draw and a replay with them last year in the All-Ireland (Under-21) championship. I am talking about David Brady, Kenneth Mortimer, John Madden and David Nestor. So I think we have a good insight of the Kerry team.

As far as the strengths of the Kerry team is concerned, I see Maurice Fitzgerald as being a tremendously good footballer. If he gets free-kicks within scoring distance, the chances are nine out of ten of them will go over. He's exceptionally talented from that point of view.

What do you say to Mayo supporters who have had their expectations shattered by false dawns in the past? Were their expectations unrealistic in the first place?

I don't believe the expectations were unrealistic. Every time a team gets to an All-Ireland final, like Mayo did in 1989, you must believe you have a fifty-fifty chance of winning.

Our supporters went to Croke Park hoping to see Mayo's first All-Ireland triumph since 1951. Mayo supporters going to Croke Park on Sunday next expect the team to perform with real commitment and, hopefully, win the game.

I would class the game against Kerry as a fifty-fifty game. Talk won't win it for us. We have got to go out and perform, improving on our display in the Connaught final. The performance against Galway will not get us to an All-Ireland final. I know we will improve.

I, as manager, will have to build the players to such an extent that they will use the occasion to bring out the best in themselves. Players going into a pressure situation do two things. They can allow the occasion get to them and they become a bundle of nerves. Or else they can rise to the occasion and the atmosphere and play to the best of their ability.

Regarding the question about Mayo supporters having their expectations shattered by false dawns in the past, there has been nobody more shattered than myself.

I was in Croke Park for our last two All-Ireland semi-final appearances against Donegal and Cork. Those two performances stand out in people's memories. They were particularly disappointing.

In 1992, I had the entire Clare football team up in Croke Park to watch Mayo play Donegal in the semi-final. I can assure you we will never witness the like of that again. I cannot guarantee success. But I can guarantee the team will go out and play to the best of their ability and fight until the game is over. Let is hope that will be good enough.

Connaught Telegraph - News - August 1996

Connaught Telegraph - Sport - August 1996