New Ladies boss Diane wants to create more winning memories with Mayo

Player. Captain. Legend. And now Manager.

The next chapter in Ballina native Diane O’Hora’s thus far distinguished story with the Mayo Ladies Senior Team will be in the hotseat as the team’s new manager, taking over the reins from another Ballina native in Liam McHale.

She spoke to the Western People at the Centre of Excellence in Bekan where she was attending the Divisional Cup & Shield Finals, on trophy presenting duties but also to cast an eye on proceedings.

A four-time All-Ireland winner and All-Star as a player, O’Hora wore the captain’s armband as the greatest Mayo ladies team to represent the county lifted the county’s first ever All-Ireland, the first of four in five years, in 1999. She walked up the fabled steps of the old Hogan Stand, interestingly the last winning captain to do so before its major redevelopment that began at the turn of the Millennium.

That team was recently feted during All-Ireland final weekend in Croke Park, marking 25 years since they defended their title in 2000. The occasion brought back wonderful memories for Diane and maybe put the task ahead of her into greater perspective. It seems a long way up for Mayo to reach the summit of Ladies football again but in O’Hora, they have a manager who has been there and done that.

“I was in the most privileged position being part of the 25-year Jubilee team and to play with girls, some of whom I met here today and some are still coaching and some still playing,” she said.

“We have an opportunity to create those memories again. We have an opportunity to develop players and help them win their own All-Ireland’s. Who is to say what will or won’t happen?”

It is a bold statement of intent, O’Hora knows this herself, but she is confident about what lies ahead and intends to set up Mayo’s stall in a way that gets them out of Division 2 early next year.

“That is our first goal. It is not going to happen if we don’t have girls willing to play for Mayo but with the phone calls I’ve been getting from girls wanting to play and with the messages I have coming in, it is a really exciting time,” she said.

“We genuinely hope players can come back in who have been away. We have girls saying they’d like to play who are abroad in other countries at the moment. There’s a really good feeling around the whole thing at the moment.”

“The reality is, it’s not easy to come back and play county or even play county in the first place but ultimately it depends on the attitude you have, what sort of desire and fire in your belly you have to represent your county. There’s probably no point doing it unless you can give it level of commitment it requires.”

To this end, a letter has been sent by the Mayo LGFA executive to clubs asking them to send in names of players they feel have potential to play in O’Hora’s senior team in the next couple of months. She has a backroom in place with Tom Mulderrig (Aghamore) and Noirin Moran (Westport) and has been joined by Brian Noonan, who worked alongside Diane in Kildare. Martin Connor takes charge of Strength & Conditioning.

“By virtue of the experiences I’ve had as a coach and manager, I’ve been lucky to meet people along the way who will be coming into my backroom team, some very good coaches. It is all about planning now, about stability and the key thing for me first is to pull a panel together. It is an open door policy, I really want people to walk through it.”

For Diane, taking on this job means a homecoming after her time with Roscommon and Kildare. She feels the time is right to come home and make yet another mark on her home county.

“I didn’t know if this was going to come up or not. Liam (McHale) had another year left in his tenure and word came out that he was going to be working with another club, I started to think this was something I need to start having conversations about or start preparing for,” she said.

“I think I’m ready for this. I’ve had a lot of experience, things that I have done well, things I maybe haven’t done very well.”

“All the experience I have had, the good and bad have given me the building blocks and all of them had to happen to help improve me as a coach and manager.”

“There is something special about being able to come home and get this opportunity that I’m so grateful to have. And it is great to kick off the role being here in Bekan today. It is fantastic to see all the talent on display. There is no limit to the talent and potential inside this county.”