Mayo players vote a complete bombshell

THE secretary of the Mayo County GAA Board has described the vote of no-confidence by a majority of the senior squad in the team's management set-up as ‘a complete bombshell’.

Vincent Neary confirmed the board is due to meet the two players’ representative.

Speaking on Newstalk earlier, he stated: 'The meeting is scheduled for next Thursday and we’re just awaiting confirmation of that from the two players’ representatives.

'Obviously, that has become more urgent than ever because we need to tease out this total bombshell.'

He added that there has been 'no reason given as to why this has happened'. 'The management haven’t been told why they have a vote of no confidence in them and that’s disappointing.'

On the same radio show, former Mayo player Billy Joe Padden said the events leave little room for going back.

'When it breaks down like this, it’s completely fractured. The management's position is untenable. It’s sad for Mayo supporters. You don’t want to see this happen.

'If you look at it purely from a footballing point of view, Pat Holmes and Noel Connelly did a lot of things right this summer.

'Aidan O’Shea's positioning at full-forward was successful for a period, they played a blanket defence that we hadn’t seen before against Donegal. That worked.

'Alright, there were mistakes in the Dublin games and in some of the league games but just if you’re looking at it purely from that point of view, you think they’ll learn from that as they go on into next year. But it’s obvious the players feel so strongly about whatever way the squad was run.

'I definitely think it’s the case with this Mayo team. The window of opportunity is closing for these lads. They don’t want to free-wheel through another couple of years. They’re probably thinking ‘What we have to do, we have to do now’ and now is preparing for next season.

'If they don’t think Noel and Pat give them the best chance to achieve what they want - because another Connaught title means nothing to these lads - they’re only interested in an All-Ireland - if they feel that Noel and Pat can’t help them achieve that, then they feel they have no other option.'