John O'Mahony - A life of Gaelic football in his own words
Former Mayo, Leitrim and Galway manager, John O'Mahony was among the many figures within the game that contributed to 'Hell for Leather - The Story of Gaelic Football', RTÉ's five-part series that delves into the role of Gaelic football in the sporting, cultural and social history of modern Ireland.
O'Mahony, who had two stints as manager with his native Mayo, led neighbours Galway to a couple of All-Ireland titles and famously masterminded Leitrim's Connacht title in 1994, contributed to the documentary that was over five years in the making.
Below are extracts from O'Mahony's observations on the game as well as his own journey from playing to highly successful manager.
John O'Mahony died in July 2024 at the age of 71.
Football, a way of life
People say to me, 'I am sure you're fed up with people talking about football to you'. I just say to them, 'look, I love talking about it'. That has been my life really. So I never get fed up with it.
I got an O'Neill's football from Santy. There was snow that Christmas Day. I remember it well. We had our own little pitch and it was kind of lost in the snow. I have two brothers and we were all involved in starting the dream.
Croke Park
The first time I attended Croke Park was the first 1967 All-Ireland semi-final between Mayo and Meath. That was a special occasion. Then I played in the minor final of 1971. I'll never forget running out at Croke Park, I had made it kind of, we had made it. Little did we know that there'd be a lot of disappointments along the way, but at the same time, you were part of a journey and the bond that a team group keeps over the years.
Moving into management
I was retired at the age of 23 or 22 but again, the GAA was my only outlet. And while I was very disappointed, it didn't mean that I threw myself back into the club and became secretary of the club and all that kind of thing. It wasn't about walking away from the game or from the ideas. I started refereeing and was doing some inter-county games and so on. Then the management game came up and that was the next best thing to playing and that's where it all started.
I was a fringe player. I was dropped. I felt it gave me an edge when I got in charge of teams myself. I was asked to manage the Mayo Under-21 team in 1983 and I put all those things into effect and we ended up winning the All-Ireland. That projected me into the management game and I was senior manager a few years later.
I played at underage level and won a couple of All-Irelands, but never made it as a senior player, so I felt that management was the next best thing to playing. I remember going to many All-Irelands in the seventies, the Dublin-Kerry rivalry and watching Kevin Heffernan and Mick O'Dwyer. You had your dream. Could I be there someday?
Points of difference
I felt that I could bring something different that would make it more professional at the time. You got food when championship training started and you got big steaks, chips and milk. My wife was a home economics teacher, so we got the diet sheets done out. It was easier to be ahead of the bunch back then, so I bought my own video equipment. I had team psychologists and used them when they weren't being used anywhere else. You were trying to get an edge and I felt that I was always trying to be open to that innovation that would make a difference.
Players want to win things and what you have to do is convince them. I told the players, 'we're going to have salads, we're going to have brown bread' and you had to kind of set the scene of what the benefits were. You had hydration, taking on water, not just on the day of the match, but continually. Flexibility and stretching and all of that.
Teaching
My school journey was hugely important. I went back to teach in the school that I was a student in and was asked to train a team the first day I went in. You are learning the skills, you're learning as well as a teacher, you have probably some of the communication skills. I quickly learned that if we get this unity of purpose as I call it, you can beat teams that are better than you.
You have 30 students in a classroom or whatever, you're connecting with them. You're dealing with the different levels of the highly academic students and maybe the one that needs a bit of help or a bit of a nudge along the way. And it's how you mix up all of that and you bring that to the dressing room as well.
Empathy
As a manager or a coach, if you think that you know it all, you're on the way down because you have to get inside players' heads a little bit and empathise.
One memory that sticks out is where we talked to a player who had a serious issue. All the guys were talking about it in the dressing room, but no one was saying anything to him. So I said, 'Look, let's share this if you feel you can, and I can assure you, everybody will support you in every way'.
And that's what happened, the admiration when he actually spoke in the dressing room, sharing the difficulty that he had. It broke the ice.
It's those little moments sometimes that you remember.
Management
I think that I probably did well at management. Because I was a fringe player, I was always thinking of the fringe player. It's easy to keep the captain or the top scorer or the major leaders happy because they're always going to be in the first 15, but what's important is that the number 26 has to feel that they have a contribution to make.
Management is not a specific science. You make mistakes and wrong judgements about guys. The main lesson there is that you have to make it happen rather than let it happen. And that's a message that you'd be trying to get to everybody.
Any success that I would've had, it would be in the sense of uniting the people involved in the mission. It's a wonderful adventure and you're learning along the way and it's the small little things that make the difference
Evolution
Corner-backs were never the most talented players. They were functional. I was corner-back in the 1971 All-Ireland minor final. We played Cork and the guy I was marking was taken off, but I only got one kick of the ball. In the 60th minute, I kicked the ball out to the middle of the field, the referee caught it and blew the final whistle.
If you look at the modern game, some of the tackles can be ferocious. As a coach, what you want to do is to get people to tackle without crossing the line. The question you always ask yourself: is this helping my team or is it drawing back at my team or negating the advantage? It's a robust game, it's an intense game, but it's important to keep the right side of the line.
Success
I'm often asked the question, what's your biggest victory? Comparing wins with Galway or with Mayo, or even winning an All-Ireland B school title with my school, it's unfair. All of them were treasured memories and you don't compare them because the success is the success of the group, but the challenge of Leitrim was one of my greatest memories in the way that they bought into the mission that we were on.
You tap into the culture of the county that you go to and you ingrain yourself in that. I would've always told teams that I was with in either Leitrim or Galway, 'when I'm finished here, I'll be a Mayo person, but while I'm here, I'm a Leitrim person or I'm a Galway person'. The bond that you have there with the soldiers you have in your squad is something that is there for the rest of your lives.
Mayo
I was born two years after Mayo won the last All-Ireland. In Mayo, we have made up many excuses over the years of not getting to win that All-Ireland, particularly in recent years.
I was in that mission because back in the 70's and 80's as manager, if you won a provincial title, your job was safe. I tried to lift that ceiling a bit. As a result of that, we got to an All-Ireland in 1989 because I believed at the time that we were as fit, we were as talented, but maybe we didn't have the belief systems.
So many players have contributed hugely to the culture of Mayo, to the hope of Mayo and to the belief of Mayo. There is more to life than sports, but when you're engaged in that bubble, you really think that there isn't anything else except what you have to focus on.
When people ask me, will Mayo win an All-Ireland? I always say, of course they will, but I cannot give you the year. There are an awful lot of counties that would love to be in the same place as Mayo.
Reflection
I have been exceptionally lucky and I'm privileged to have been in a position where I managed my native county, I managed Leitrim, a so-called weaker county, and I managed maybe a sleeping giant like Galway and brought them back to where...when I say brought them back, the manager never brings them back. You don't have a magic wand, you get a group that can bring it back and I will be eternally grateful for their talent and commitment to do that. And to be even a part of that made my sporting career.
We're all just passing through. When I try and get that through to players, you need to win as much as quick as you can because it's a passing phase.
Sport is a bit like the circus: one night and one night only. You have to make the best of it. And I am sure that that's what Dublin used in their recent success as well. It's fleeting, it's cyclical. Teams will come and go, but when you get near to the top of the mountain, it's important to get over that mountain.
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