‘I want to see Mayo at the top’ - Stephen Rochford leaning on past experiences in quest to end Sam Maguire drought

Stephen Rochford did not need much arm-twisting. The Donegal years were over so when the green and red clarion call went up again, he was prepared to listen.

Kevin McStay’s hunch, and hope, was that Rochford would be prepared to join his Mayo backroom team, just four years after the Crossmolina man had himself stepped down as manager. For Rochford, the proposal was immediately appealing and his decision was arrived at quickly.

“It wasn’t long and hard by any means,” says Rochford. “A quick reflection just as regards the role Kevin had set out for me, but I think within 24 hours we were sitting down planning ahead.

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“Being involved with Mayo (a few) years ago, it was a big job but I loved every minute, even with difficult times I really loved it. The opportunity to come back and work with Kevin and seeing the plans that he had in place made that decision quite simple.”

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There was a sense from McStay at Tuesday night’s media gathering in Castlebar that Rochford was the key ingredient in bringing the recipe together for this management team.

“I had some people in mind,” admitted McStay. “Particularly this man to my left, Stephen, and I teased it out through a third party and you had a sense this could happen. I had a list of backroom guys I wanted to have with me and there wasn’t a plan B on that list.”

Of course, even the best laid plans can fall apart. Rochford managed Mayo between 2016-2018, leading them to All-Ireland finals in his first two years at the helm. He had wanted to remain on for 2019 but ultimately stepped down citing a lack of support from the board.

It set in motion a series of events, which led to Rochford becoming coach with the Donegal footballers. Rochford spent four seasons with Donegal, but Declan Bonner’s decision to quit in July of this year brought an end to that particular chapter. Rochford’s role now with McStay’s Mayo is as assistant manager and coach.

“I’ve been on a learning journey as such in Donegal, I had to plenty to learn up there and the Ulster championship is enlightening in terms of what it brings,” says Rochford.

“And I’d like to think I’ll bring some of that back to the group as well and I’m looking forward to pivoting the role from being not as deeply involved in the coaching when I was here last to now being in deep and I’m really looking forward to that.

“The fit for me was into the role as assistant manager and coach and I’m more than happy to be in there.”

The only constant in county panels is change, so the dressing room dynamic Rochford enters will be different to the one he left behind in 2018. However, although they might not be articulating it widely beyond the sanctuary of that dressing room, the end-goal remains the same. In Mayo it is still all about whether Sam Maguire can finally be wrestled back to the county, though Rochford says it is not a sense of unfinished business that brings him back.

“I wouldn’t necessarily say unfinished. Each year is its own year, you move on. It’s a new squad, there’s new people to it, it’s a new management team. Mayo are still a top team in my eyes, they are competing at the very top and Kevin’s wider plan was the type of vision I was attracted to work with and we were very much on the same page on where we wanted to go with it, so they were the things.

“No more than what Kevin said, the only business - not necessarily unfinished business - is to get to the work that’s in front of us now, which is the club games and the squad and taking that step by step heading for the pre-season.”

The mania that surrounds the Mayo footballers is not often present within other counties and while that brings its own pressures, Rochford looks on it as simply part of the gig.

“Look, I as a Mayo man want to see Mayo competing at the very top. If you are at the top there’s going to be pressure, it just comes with the territory. I’m happy to share that pressure, it comes with the territory. I hope we go long into the seasons and if that cranks up, so be it. But our focus is really the next six or eight weeks. It’s only around the corner really in terms of the National League.”

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Just like Rochford, Donie Buckley is also returning to the Mayo management team. And it is unlikely either man has come back to achieve less than what they did during their previous incarnations. So, in reality, that leaves just the big prize. And Rochford believes he returns as a more worldly coach.

“There’s no doubt that [past] experiences in Croke Park and those championship games and the rawness of that is, good days and bad days, there was loads of learning in it. Kevin used a phrased that he’ll be a better manager next week, next month, and I believe that that’s what the last seven years in my intercounty experience have been about - being better from session to session, week to week and year to year.

“If I was to say it in one word it’s support. To support Kevin, there’s a lot to the role and I suppose my experiences in Mayo and Donegal will help alleviate a bit of that to ensure that the whole team machine runs smoother.”