Kevin McStay appointed Mayo senior football manager

After being overlooked for the job in 2014, Kevin McStay has been named as the new Mayo senior football manager.

McStay’s backroom team will include former Mayo manager Stephen Rochford and former Mayo coach Donie Buckley.

Rochford had been considered a contender for the role himself after working under Declan Bonner in Donegal.

Read more: Micheál Donoghue named as new Dublin senior hurling manager

He succeeds James Horan, who ended his second tenure as Mayo boss following the All-Ireland SFC quarter-final defeat to Kerry in June.

It is thought McStay’s impressive managerial ticket, which also includes Mayo legend Liam McHale, helped him get the nod over Mike Solan, Ray Dempsey and Declan Shaw.

However, a number of other candidates had also assembled strong teams with former Armagh star Oisin McConville thought to be included in Dempsey backroom team while his former Orchard colleague Aidan O’Rourke was believed to be on Solan’s tickets along with former Sligo star Eamonn O’Hara.

Former Armagh star and current Inniskeen manager Oisin McConville was set to be included as part of Ray Dempsey's backroom team. (©INPHO/Tommy Dickson)

McStay, who managed St Brigid’s of Roscommon to an All-Ireland club title in 2013, missed out on the Mayo job in 2014 when Noel Connelly and Pat Holmes were appointed.

The RTÉ pundit had previously stated that he was finished with inter-county management after stepping down as Roscommon manager in 2018.

After losing out to Dublin (2020) and Tyrone (2021) in the previous two All-Ireland finals, Mayo endured a difficult 2022 campaign.

They were well beaten by Kerry in the Division One final before they suffered a narrow loss to Galway in their Connacht quarter-final.

Mayo recovered to overcome Monaghan and Kildare in the Qualifiers, but they again found the Kingdom too strong in the last eight, suffering a 1-18 to 0-13 loss in Croke Park.

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