James Horan in for Mayo job

There are apparently three men in the running for the role.

Is it a poisoned chalice or is it an attractive post? Stephen Rochford's abrupt release would appear to suggest the former, but there are a number of pulls with the Mayo job too. The most primary of those is undoubtedly the fact that Mayo have the most equipped squad in the country to take on the might of Dublin. Even though 2018 was a write off, the substantial number of injuries received during the year is a valid enough excuse. On top of that, the Mayo players have finally got a bit of a break for themselves, with Diarmuid O'Connor and others off in America for the summer - the hope would be that they'll come into 2018 rejuvenated and starving for success. Now the Mayo county board are plotting a replacement for Rochford and they took a step closer to that on Wednesday when they closed nominations for the job at 1.00. According to various reports, Horan has been put forward by his home club Ballintubber - crucially, these nominations don't go forward without his approval. Others in line for the job include Michael Solan and former All-Ireland minor winning manager Enda Gilvarry. Bizarrely, were Horan to take the job, it would make him the fourth manager, after John O'Mahony, John Maughan and Pat Holmes to come back to Mayo for a second bite of the cherry. An interesting week lies ahead, as always, for Mayo football.