James Horan weighs in on rumours linking him to the Mayo job

Former Mayo manager James Horan has said that he has had no approach over the Mayo senior football manager's position following the resignation of Stephen Rochford earlier this week.

Rochford resigned as Mayo boss on Monday following a meeting with the Mayo County Boad Executive Committee with the former manager citing a lack of support from the county board as the reason for his resignation. Horan, who guided Mayo to All-Ireland finals in 2012 and 2013, is among the favorites to succeed Rochford but he admitted that he's in no rush to jump back into intercounty management.

"To be honest, a return to the inter-county game hasn't been on my short-term radar," Horan told The Irish Daily Star. "We're in the quarter-finals of the Mayo championship and are also top of our league. There's a great bunch of young players there and that's what has been occupying my time. "My name has been mentioned in relation to the Mayo post since Stephen Rochford left, but I've had no approach, nor have I approached anyone."

Similar to Rochford, Horan was also not happy with the county board following his resignation from his role as manager in 2014. Horan left his post following an All-Ireland semi-final defeat to Kerry with the 47-year-old telling the Irish Times in 2014 that the May county board did not do enough to stop their semi-final being moved to Limerick to accommodate an American Football game between the University of Central Florida and Penn State at Croke Park.

"I couldn’t believe it at first. Croke Park is the place where everyone wants to play – it’s the place where the big games should be played and suddenly we were packed off to Limerick.

“Kerry had played there regularly and were well used to the place and we, rightly, questioned why it hadn’t been scheduled for Thurles or another venue if it had to be taken out of Croke Park.

“But the most unbelievable part of the whole matter was the fact that our own county board didn’t come out and say something when the President of the GAA told Mayo to stop complaining and concentrate on the game if they knew what was good for them.

“I can’t understand how they didn’t stand up for the team at that stage. They should have, but there was no comment whatsoever and that was very disappointing.”