Stephen Rochford has not become an All-Ireland winning manager by being just a nice guy.
The Mayo manager is a very pleasant man to deal with on a personal basis, but at the top level of GAA, nice guys come last.
Perhaps there has been too much ‘nice’ about Mayo over the last number of years, and that’s why there should be no surprise that some well-known names have been cut from the Mayo championship football panel.
Rochford knows exactly the expectation in Mayo, and according to the Irish Independent, the county manager has cut some big characters from his championship squad with several U-21s set to take their place.
Mickey Conroy was one of the oldest members of the current Mayo panel having made his debut in 2004, but he has been deemed surplus to requirements, while Mark Ronaldson and Mickey Sweeney are also two other players whose links to former Mayo regimes have been severed.
It’s believed Conroy has not fully recovered from the shoulder injury suffered last year, while Ronaldson and Sweeney have been let return to their clubs permanently as it was understood they would not be seeing any significant game time this summer.
Mayo’s recent U-21 All-Ireland success is likely to see Rochford draw heavily from that panel as he looks to increase intensity ahead of the Connacht champions opening game of the summer later this month.
It’s understood ten players in total have been let go by Rochford, with several Castlebar Mitchels players, including Neil Douglas, Danny Kirby, Eoghan O’Reilly, Donie Newcombe and Ger McDonagh cut from the panel.
Mayo begin their provincial campaign against London on 29 May.
