They Said It ....

March 2007

"There’s a lot of talk about how we will do this year. A lot of it is wild talk to a certain extent. I think it’s important to realise that nowadays you don’t get anything soft in Connacht. The big, big day for us is May 20th (against Galway). It’s important that we keep an even keel on it.”
Mayo boss John O’Mahony is keen that the county’s football followers don’t get too carried away with his team’s form in the NFL

"A lot of people told me it was a poisoned chalice, and a lot of people told me to stay away, but the reality is I am really looking forward to the challenge. It is going to be tough and I understand that but I’m going to give it my best shot and hopefully the players will as well. In Kerry you literally get asked to do this job once in a lifetime.”
Kerry boss Pat O’Shea says he had no intention of turning his back on the offer to train the county footballers

“There should be promotion and relegation there every year, that’s the carrot to try to win games and to win the league. It’s a bit annoying the way the situation is. I would always feel that in a league situation you should have promotion and relegation. The relegation aspect to Division Two is there this year but there’s no promotion."
Laois boss Damien Fox bemoans the fact that the winners of this year’s NHL Division 2 final won’t earn promotion

"Curtail the colleges’ football instead. You don’t see too many 18, 20 or 21 year olds on the teams in the big successful colleges. These players they (colleges) are bringing in are mostly senior intercounty players already so it is hardly a stepping stone for them. If you ask a player which means more to him, playing for his county at under level or playing colleges’ football you could guess the answer."
Dublin U21 football manager Paddy Canning reacts to calls for the abolition of the grade to protect players from burnout by stating that colleges’ football is a bigger problem than the U21 competition

"There’s no turning back now… the hurling public will reserve judgement on what we’re doing until later in the year, but we’re realistic about our targets and we’re not going to build a team capable of winning an All-Ireland in a few months."
Offaly hurling boss John McIntyre on his intention to stay the course with a new look Faithful County side that will take time to gel together

“I want to finish off with a bang before I go on to my next chapter in life. That’s the way I see it. I want to make my last years as good as possible. I don’t want to finish up in three years time being beaten in the first round because people have short memories. They could easily remember you for what you did in your last year instead of maybe what happened in the more successful years."
Cork’s Sean Og O’hAilpin admits that he wants to be successful in the years before his intercounty retirement or else some people might associate him with a poor spell in the county’s fortunes