Mark Ronaldson’s A to Z of (mostly) Mayo GAA in 2025

A is for Andy. His dream job and the right man at the right time.

B is for Boyler. One of the best players we ever had, a football anorak and a straight shooter. An ideal number two.

C is for captain Jack Coyne. Mayo’s best performer in 2025 and captain for the coming season.

D is for distances from Mayo’s proposed Centre of Excellence in Bohola. Belmullet’s pitch in Tallagh to Bohola is 91.6km, Louisburgh to Bohola is 57.4km, Shrule to Bohola is 62.2km and Ballaghaderreen is 38.1km. It’s not a perfect location but Mayo is a big county so you’ll never please everyone. Who knows if it will ever come to fruition.

E is for Evan Regan. Three-in-a-row winner, top scorer in this season’s club championship and the scorer of a heroic 2-14 in the county final, yet he has not played for Mayo since 2019. Riddle me that.

F is for the FBD League. It was pulled from this year’s calendar and it was a miss, particularly with the introduction of the new rules in January. It’s never vintage football and performances should be taken with a pinch of salt, but it serves a purpose.

G is for Gate and streaming receipts. A strong club championship, a county final replay, a big Connacht rugby crowd in MacHale Park in March and a shorter intercounty campaign combined to deliver a €500,000 surplus for Mayo GAA.

H is for Heartbreak in the Hyde. The Roscommon venue has been a happy hunting ground for Mayo in recent times, but our season cruelly went up in smoke in Roscommon town after a late, lung-busting Ciarán Moore run and finish.

I is for “Immediate Effect”. The crass phrase that stuck in the craw as Mayo GAA callously relieved Kevin McStay and his management team of their duties. It read like something generated by AI, stripped of empathy and humanity.

J is for Jim Gavin and a tale of two halves. From January to July he was hailed as the messiah who had saved our beloved game. From August to December, he was persona non grata with a reputation in tatters. A year is a very long time in football and politics.

K is for Kilmeena. Wonderful intermediate champions. Given their performances across the grades, both inside and outside county bounds, they are pound for pound Mayo’s club of the last decade.

L is for Louth. A sickening late All-Ireland defeat for a promising Under-20 side at the hands of the Wee County. I enjoyed watching this young Mayo team play though and was impressed by the depth of forward talent.

M is for McStay, Kevin. A gentleman and a Mayo legend. His tenure did not pan out as he would have liked, but he was treated shabbily in the end.

N is for Not a dry eye in the house. Conor Loftus expertly dispatched a last-minute penalty to give Crossmolina Deel Rovers victory in the All-Ireland Intermediate Final. For him and his colleagues to deliver such a gutsy performance after a harrowing few weeks deserves enormous credit. Heroes all.

O is for Oz. Once a place where the British government sent convicts in the 18th and 19th centuries, it is now where Ireland sends prodigious athletes with generational talent. Mayo and Kerry have suffered most, leaving us all wondering, “What if…” 

P is for Pre-season in Portugal. A far cry from Belleek Woods or the sand dunes of Lacken Strand.

Q is for Quiz question. In the last ten years, how many teams from Galway or Roscommon have the Mayo senior club champions defeated in the Connacht Club Championship? The answer: zero. An embarrassing statistic and one that points to fundamental problems in the Mayo club game.

R is for a Reality check in the league final. After an up-and-down NFL campaign, where relegation was avoided by the skin of our teeth, Kerry delivered an emphatic hammering in April’s league final. It served as a warning of a tough summer ahead.

S is for Strategy. Mayo GAA are close to appointing a CEO to drive sustainable growth and stronger governance – a move that can pay dividends on and off the pitch.

T is for Three-in-a-row Stephenites. A serious achievement, but one wonders if their period of county dominance is tinged with regret, having failed to make any real impact beyond county bounds.

U is for U2 and a proud day for their parish of Dalkey, as Cuala claimed the All-Ireland Club title. There was a Mayo angle too, of course, with Austin O’Malley astutely masterminding the SoCoDu side’s maiden All-Ireland football victory.

V is for Vibes. The noises emanating from the Mayo camp were never great during the 2025 season. As well as getting them playing good football, Andy will look to foster a more enjoyable playing environment too.

W is for a Warehouse in Dublin. It emerged that five Mayo senior footballers had been reported to Dublin authorities for living in accommodation not zoned for residential use. A bonkers story and one that could only happen in Mayo.

X is for xP, or Expected Points. Gaelic football analysts use an xP model to quantify the value of a shot before it is taken by assessing difficulty and predicted return. By their nature, two-pointers carry a low xP and are high risk. A cautious Mayo attempted very few all season and had no players in the top ten for two-pointers scored. Rory Beggan topped the chart with 24. Kerry kicked five two-pointers in the All-Ireland Final. In this new game, if you’re not willing to roll the dice, you’re not going to win.

Y is for Young Turks. Kobe McDonald’s club championship wizardry took much of the plaudits this year, but Ben Holmes, Darragh Beirne and Tom Lydon were other young, exciting forwards who caught the eye.

Z is for Zippy. Keith ‘Zippy’ Higgins was installed as Mayo Under-20 manager, with Kevin McLoughlin and David Drake assisting him. Both senior and Under-20 management teams have a youthful look and let’s hope that brings real zest and zeal as we look towards new horizons in 2026.