Unafraid to stick up for his team, James Horan has got Mayo to the All-Ireland final by preparing in a thoroughly modern fashion, writes SEÁN MORAN

THERE WAS a moment during the top-table questioning at Mayo’s press evening last week when the limits of James Horan’s indifference to his team’s underdog status were explored. Asked had he a plan for a Donegal defence that had conceded just three goals this championship and one last year, he barked: “Do you know how many we’ve conceded? We conceded two.”

Deftly overlooking the fact that the question had clearly been about the challenge facing his attack, the Mayo manager went on to affirm how happy he was with his defence. But the meaning was clear: why ask me about the opposition’s record when ours is better.

Speaking to media last month before the semi-final win against Dublin, Horan also touched on the issue of what he sees as uninformed opinion in the media.

“I know that there are a lot of players and a lot of people that think there is a lot of lazy journalism out there. Now I am sure that there is none of them in this room, but there is a lot of lazy stuff that goes on.

“Look at what the data says, thats all that I say. That is always a good way to go about it and then form your opinion on that. That is where I am at.”

In a way Horan was an unlikely choice as Mayo manager when appointed nearly two years ago. John Maughan, under whom he played his best football in the 1990s and earned two All Stars, said that his former player’s aptitude had been a surprise: “Did it stand out that James was management material? Being honest, no.”

Even Horan himself doesn’t feel he grew up with a vocation.

“No. I suppose I just got involved with Ballintubber. I knew a lot of the guys here and just happened to get involved, and I suppose it went from there. Id always have an interest when I was a player in what was the best way for a team to prepare or for individuals to prepare, mentally in particular for big games.”

In the end he was an obvious choice, having led his club Ballintubber to senior status and then its first county championship. His philosophy was simple and translated to the county.

“Some players are good at certain things and need to improve on others. Thats not the case for every single player, so youd always be looking to improve each player individually.”

Turning Mayo into a team based on solid defence and attacking to a pattern was at odds with the spontaneity and off-the-cuff ball play associated with the county but you don’t use a rapier, for all its elegance, when going out to face artillery. But modern tactics require modern preparations.

Mayo have a well-staffed backroom of trainer Cian O’Neill, who worked with Tipperary’s All-Ireland winning hurlers in 2010, Ed Coughlan, the strength and conditioning coach from the Research Institute for Sports and Exercise Sciences at Liverpool’s John Moores University and Kieran Shannon the team’s sports psychologist.

“A lot of the chance and a lot of the hoping is taken out of football now,” says Horan of the contrast with his playing days. “It’s analysed very well and very scientifically, and players conditioning and their ability is optimised a lot more. So youve a very good idea of how players are developing or playing, as opposed to seeing how they get on in a big game.”

That is not however, he emphasises, the same thing as believing that football was better in the old days.

“I was in the gym a few weeks ago, and the TV was on and (All-Ireland Gold on TG4) was on, Kerry were playing Dublin, I dont know what year it was, and Pat Spillane was actually playing sweeper in that game! It was a fact.

“But if you go back and watch those games, and just count the amount of unforced turnovers, that would give you a good indication. To me its a much better game, its a much faster game, it’s a much more exciting game. You know, its a better spectacle in my opinion.”