McHale planning to launch new era in style
Liam McHale has described as "remarkable" the level of improvement he has seen over the past six to eight weeks, particularly in some of the new, younger players added to the Mayo panel.
The Liam McHale era begins next Sunday as the Mayo ladies play their first competitive fixture under their new boss when they welcome 2021 and ’22 All-Ireland champions Meath to Ballina.
There will be some welcome attention back to matters on the pitch following a protracted mess in the appointment of McHale as the successor to Michael Moyles, who stepped down following last year’s All-Ireland semi-final defeat to Kerry.
After an independent committee initially recommended McHale for the role, that recommendation was turned down by the Mayo executive via a secret ballot, which meant correct procedures had not been followed. The Ballina man was later allowed to re-enter the process and was eventually confirmed for the post.
The New Year brought its own issues when ladies activity in the county looked to be heading for a halt unless a number of key positions within the Mayo LGFA County Board were filled, which was eventually done following an EGM almost two weeks ago.
With all that off-the-field drama now firmly in the rear view mirror, all eyes turn to how Mayo will look under the former Ballina Stephenites and Mayo star’s management. He’s been impressed by what he’s seen over the past two months following some S&C work in the new gym at St Mary’s Secondary School before the panel went onto the pitch to play some in-house matches.
Liam lauded the work of his predecessor and can see the fruits of the professional approach taken by Moyles and his backroom team.
“Michael and Ger Cafferkey and the boys did a great job and improved the team so much. Michael has been such a great help to me as has Ger,” McHale told the . “The idea was that we’d have a lovely, warm gym in December where we could take our time and walk through stuff and get our message across before we went on the pitch. I think that worked very well and then we went on the pitch after six of those sessions.
“The senior players didn't play until the third [in-house game] so that gave every player a chance to excel on a level playing field. We've pretty much finalised our panel now and really enjoyed it,” added McHale who stepped away from his coaching role with the Mayo men’s senior team last year.
“They're no different to the men, they're no different to Cillian O'Connor, Aidan O’Shea and Ryan O’Donoghue, they're very, very serious athletes. They're in the gym two nights a week, they're training with us three nights a week, they’re doing their conditioning and they’re on the programs.
“I must say it's really enjoyable work. Their attention to detail is top-notch. They're like sponges, they're hungry for learning and getting better. It's really enjoyable,” added McHale.
Among those senior players who remain on the panel include last year’s captain Kathryn Sullivan, Fiona McHale and the Cafferky sisters, Lisa and Sinead. There are a number of absentees due to travelling, retirements and exams, which include 31-year-old Deirdre Doherty who is focusing on club commitments with Charlestown.
Liam McHale says the door remains open for Doherty should she wish to return but is confident of the young stars who can make an impact, like Westport’s Fionnuala McLaughlin (sister of Mayo star Eoghan) and Alana Fitzpatrick of Claremorris, who starred in her club’s run to the All-Ireland junior final in December.
A development panel of twelve to fourteen players with potential to break through in the near future will also work under Kilmoremoy’s Martin O’Hagan.
“I said to [Deirdre] if you're playing really well with the club and you're enjoying your football, just call me. She’s a very popular member of the panel, I talked to loads of players about her. People like that might not be gone for good; I would have no issue and I know the players would have no issue with her coming back in March or April if that was what she wanted to do and she was playing well.”
Liam added: “I know we played Westmeath two weeks ago and we had nine debutantes in that. These challenge games fizzled out in the third quarter, going into the fourth quarter. They all did well and we're delighted to have that young group coming in.
“I remember when I was playing when I got older, when I got to 29, 30, when you see really talented young guys coming in, that gives you a real juice and real energy to come back and make a contribution again. We like the balance of the group.
“The young ones coming in, like young Fionnuala McLaughlin, with pace and energy and enthusiasm, are just really bringing the whole thing forward. The application, the attitude, the body language and the improvement in six to eight weeks for me now, it's been remarkable like how much they're improving.
“Clive O’Reilly, our conditioning coach, has said the GPS readings are going through the roof in the last three or four weeks as well, so really looking forward to the first league game.”
Mayo will be hoping for a good start in this year’s league. Last year saw them keep their place in Division 1 with a win over Donegal in the final game in what was only one of two wins in seven league games, the other coming against next weekend’s opponents Meath.
The absence of a real home ground in the league did Mayo no favours, and McHale hopes James Stephens Park can become a fortress going forward.
“We decided we needed a home. They were playing at the Centre of Excellence, in Swinford and Castlebar. We're going to try and play all our games in Ballina.
“John Healy (Stephenites chairman) has been giving us the pitch, we've been training in Ballina every weekend since we started out on the pitch. The girls are familiar with the dressing rooms, are familiar with the weights room, they're familiar with the warm-up on the top pitch coming back down to the main pitch.
“I think that's very important that if you're going to do well in a league you have to try and make your own place a fortress and it's very hard to make your own place a fortress if you don't have your own place. That's what we're trying to achieve with that.
“Hopefully we'll get nice crowds at these games and we'll develop a strength at home that will make us very hard to beat. That's what we're hoping for.”
Following the conclusion of the league, Mayo will have a near month long break before a Connacht final against Galway, followed by another month long break before the All-Ireland series. Mayo will be taking it one game at a time but if an opportunity presents itself to reach a league final, they will take it, assures Liam McHale.
“It’d be lovely to get into a league final but I don’t know if that’s practical with what we’re trying to develop. We’ve done a lot of work, we’ve played two challenge matches and won them well.
“We're going into this Meath game with a fair bit of confidence now and a fair bit of work done. As a league it's nice to get early wins. We're playing against a very experienced side that won two All-Irelands and we understand that they're one of the top teams in the country.
“We'd be confident going into it at home and we'd be trying to win as many games as we can but it's not the be-all and the end-all now to win the league, but if we get a chance to win it, we'll take it for sure.”
