Pat Holmes says he was the wrong man in the right place when he was appointed Mayo senior football manager 15 years ago.

Holmes has been given a second chance at senior inter-county level and he will patrol the sidelines alongside Noel Connelly in 2015 after the pair were appointed to replace James Horan.

Speaking to The Western People at the launch of the new Mayo jersey on Saturday evening, he recalled his first stint in charge.

"I got involved managing Mayo in 1999, when I was 33 years of age.

"I'd never managed an U12 team, and all of a sudden here I was managing a group of players I had played with four weeks previously. I was ill-equipped, at that time, to manage a senior inter-county team.

"Circumstances threw it my way, and I being young and with no fear, I went in and did it. I don't regret doing it, but looking back it probably was the wrong decision for me to be offered it in the first place.

"I believe I've learned a lot over the last number of years. I have experience of working with Noel, which went very well. I don't believe we ever had a cross word in our four years together.

"There's no real perfect time, but this is as perfect as it gets for us. We have worked with with 80 per cent of these players over a four-year period, and if we didn't do it now, it's unlikely that we would ever do it."

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