McStay finally confirmed to remain as Mayo Manager for 2025

After the announcement that Kevin McStay is to remain the Mayo senior football manager for 2025, the question for everyone connected to Mayo football is why has news about the position of the Mayo boss taken so long to clarify?

Review Drama

Mayo exited the Championship on June 22nd, with a disappointing defeat on penalties to Derry, but by allowing this end of season review which would appear to be common practice across most teams to rumble on and on for three months, it allowed old issues in Mayo football to start rearing their ugly head once again.

There are clearly issues within the Mayo County team that must be resolved ahead of the 2025 Championship, but had this review been done swiftly after that exit from the Championship no-one would have batted an eyelid about any review taking place. Instead, what another Mayo manager had to put up with for three months were more rumours and speculation about his position moving forward.

Over the course of this protracted review, questions about the management team and reported unhappiness within some of the playing squad were reasons reportedly given for doubt to be raised about McStay’s position as Mayo manager. Funnily enough All Ireland winning manager Kieran McGeeney had to put up with similar issues at the end of the 2023 campaign when he survived a heave by some to remove him from his position as Armagh manager. He obviously survived that vote and within 12 months had delivered Sam Maguire back to Armagh for just the second time in the County’s history. Might Kevin McStay be able to do something similar?

Mcstay’s Time in Charge

Since taking over as Mayo boss after James Horan’s departure in 2022 McStay has managed Mayo 28 times over the course of National League and Championship. He has won 16, drawn 3 and lost 9 of those games in charge. He brought National League glory in his first season in charge in 2023, beating Galway in the decider before losing to Roscommon in the first round of the Championship just a week later.

Issues over the scheduling were raised, (with some validity it must be said) and used as a reason for the loss to Roscommon just a week after the high of beating your biggest rivals in a national final in Croke Park, but there is no escaping the fact that what happened over the course of those two games has become a recurring theme of the Mayo team over the course of Kevin McStay’s reign. When it really matters in the heat of Championship football, Mayo have shown themselves to be unable to put good performances back-to-back and really kick on under their current manager.

Mayo’s 2024

Mayo exited the 2024 Championship at the Preliminary quarter final stage, an earlier round to when they departed from the Championship in McStay’s first year in charge in 2023, when they lost to Dublin in the All-Ireland quarter final. The manager himself has declared that 2024 has been a disappointing year for the county, made worse by the fact that the 2024 Championship became one of the most open competitions, Gaelic Football has seen in several years. The margins in top level sport are always small but Mayo let three wins slip through their fingers during the 2024 Championship, victories that could have changed the complexion of any end of season review that the County Board undertook.

They led Galway by two points in the Connacht Final as the match entered injury-time, but lost by a point. They were up by a point as their match against Dublin was ending, only to allow Cormac Costelloe fist over an equaliser in the 73rd minute of their Group Stage match. That result put Mayo into a Preliminary quarter final against Derry and once again a late leveller denied a Mayo victory. The match would ultimately go to a penalty shoot-out, in which Derry would emerge victorious.

In Conclusion

These performances and failures that have cost Mayo over the last few years mean no-one can have any issues with any reviews that are had, to find out what exactly went wrong. The issue with this review and what’s occurred is the length of time it took to communicate what was happening with the management team which unfortunately allowed a vacuum to be created with rumours and speculation once again swirling around another Mayo manager.

At least some clarity has been brought with the news that McStay is staying and can now start planning for 2025, but he will know that ultimately, it’s the performances and results on the pitch that will decide if he’s around for 2026.

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