The pain of last Saturday's All-Ireland final defeat still lingers for Mayo players and supporters. It's back to the drawing board for James Horan as Mayo come to terms with a sixth All-Ireland final defeat in 10 years. It'll be interesting to see how much Horan changes his coaching panel as Mayo regroup for another quest for the mountaintop. To that end, there have been reports in the past 24 hours that Ciarán McDonald will depart the Mayo management ticket for the 2022 season.
Midwest Radio reported the news yesterday evening and received a 'no comment' from the Mayo county board when they enquired about McDonald's future role.
McDonald has been a part of James Horan's management team for the past two seasons.
Ciarán McDonald lives, sleeps and dreams about coaching and tactics'
The Crossmolina forward is a gaelic football icon and a cult hero for Mayo supporters. It was brilliant to see Ciarán McDonald with his parents and Mayo players after Dublin were finally defeated in the All-Ireland semifinal.
Speaking to the Irish Times before the All-Ireland final, Mike Connelly spoke about McDonald's passion for coaching and developing young talent.
“I wouldn’t have known a whole pile about him, directly or personally, but of all the coaches we would’ve brought on board, and they were all good, Ciarán was hugely, hugely impressive in a lot of ways. He lives, sleeps and dreams about coaching and tactics and all that sort of stuff.
And the other huge quality he has is that he’s brilliant with young fellas. He’s a great understanding of their current life situation and what they have to endure, whether it’s social media or school or college or whatever.”
At 46, Ciarán McDonald appears to be in savage shape and as he proved many times during his time with the Mayo management team, he could still do a job for many counties in the half forward line.
Ciarán McDonald still has it! Get him in the 26 @MayoGAA 🏐 #GAA pic.twitter.com/bKZCMXn2dk
— Daithí Boland (@dots_b) November 15, 2020
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