Personal information | |||
---|---|---|---|
Irish name | Caoimhín Ó Maoilsté | ||
Sport | Gaelic football | ||
Position | Left corner-forward | ||
Born | Castlebar, County Mayo, Ireland | 5 April 1962||
Height | 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) | ||
Occupation | Army Officer | ||
Club(s) | |||
Years | Club | ||
Ballina Stephenites Ballymun Kickhams Roscommon Gaels | |||
Inter-county(ies) | |||
Years | County | Apps (scores) | |
1983–1990 | Mayo | 17 (1-46) | |
Inter-county titles | |||
Connacht titles | 2 | ||
All-Irelands | 0 | ||
NFL | 0 | ||
All Stars | 1 |
Kevin McStay (born 9 May 1962) is an Irish Gaelic football manager, commentator, analyst and former player. He has been manager of the senior Mayo county team since 2022.
McStay was educated at St Jarlath's College in Tuam during the 1970s, playing for the school team. [1] In retirement from playing McStay became an analyst with The Sunday Game ; however, he remained involved as a manager and coach.
Born in Castlebar, County Mayo, McStay was introduced to the game by his father, a former player with Tuam Stars. His brother, Paul McStay, and his brother-in-law, Liam McHale, also played with Mayo.
McStay was an officer in the Irish Army from 1982 to 2013. He reached the rank of lieutenant colonel. He served in Lebanon twice as part of the UN’s peacekeeping forces and had a NATO-led stint in Kosovo. [2]
McStay played some Gaelic football at college level with St Muredach's College and St Jarlath's College; however, he experienced little success before coming to prominence at under-age levels with the Ballina Stephenites club.
A two-time championship medal winner with the Ballina Stephenites senior club, he later won a championship medal with Roscommon Gaels.[ citation needed ]
McStay also lined out for Ballymun Kickhams.[ citation needed ]
McStay made his debut on the inter-county scene at the age of sixteen when he first linked up with the Mayo minor team. A two-time Connacht medal winner in this grade, he later won one All-Ireland medal with the under-21 team. McStay made his senior debut during the 1983 championship. He went on to play a key role for Mayo in attack during a successful era and won two Connacht medals. McStay was an All-Ireland runner-up on one occasion.
Throughout his inter-county career, he made 56 appearances and scored a total of 7–122. [3] 17 of these appearances were in the championship.[ citation needed ] McStay retired from inter-county football after breaking his leg while playing against Castlebar one week after Mayo's exit from the 1990 championship. [4]
McStay won an All Star as an inside forward in 1985. [5]
As a member of the Connacht inter-provincial team on a number of occasions, McStay never won a Railway Cup medal.
McStay went on to become an analyst with The Sunday Game .
However, he remained involved as a manager and coach. At inter-county level he led the Roscommon minor team before guiding the Mayo under-21 team to a Connacht title in 2001. As a club manager he steered Roscommon Gaels to championship success in 2004, before guiding St Brigid's to the All-Ireland title in 2013. [6] [7]
McStay was appointed joint-manager of the Roscommon senior team on 5 October 2015 along with Fergal O'Donnell, and took over as sole manager in October 2016. [8] [9] He led the Roscommon team that won the 2017 Connacht Senior Football Championship, beating Galway 2–15 to 0-12, in Pearse Stadium, Salthill. [10]
McStay got himself into bother while his team were playing Donegal in the 2018 Championship, involving himself in a number of different incidents with match officials, shoving a linesman in a chest and hurling a football at full force in the direction of another. A lengthy ban resulted. [11] [12] However, he resigned as Roscommon manager before the ban was completed. Announcing his departure on 5 September 2018, he stated that he could bring the team no further. At this time, a vacancy had arisen in his native county following the earlier resignation as Mayo senior manager of Stephen Rochford, and McStay was linked with the job; however, McStay announced, on 5 September 2018, that "today marks my retirement from senior inter-county football management". [13]
He applied for the Mayo managerial vacancy in 2014 but was surprised when Pat Holmes and Noel Connelly became joint managers ahead of the 2015 season. McStay spoke about the experience in April 2021: "The interview I did, perhaps, I might have been too honest at it. When I say the interview, it wasn't really an interview because I had the job, because I was the only candidate. Yet, 24 hours after that interview, one or two friends of mine in Mayo were able to tell me 'you are not going to get the that job'. That there are other people who are in the race but not saying it. That was very disappointing for me. People I knew, that I had had played with, was on panels with, were saying publicly that they had no interest in the job and were actually talking about the position while I thought in my head that I was actually crossing Ts and dotting Is. I have a sense that perhaps at the meeting I said too much in terms of what my vision for the team was. That there might have to be some changes, and that was leaked to certain players. I would say that that was an issue. It was a very difficult time for me personally. I had put all my hopes and dreams on [that job]". [14] [15]
McStay was appointed manager of the Mayo senior team on 22 August 2022. [16] [17]
In 2002, McStay commented on Mayo's lack of clinical finishing and tendency to amass high wide tallies in games: "We are not clever up front, we haven't been for 30 years and I would include my own vintage. I wouldn't say we have had a forward line that would frighten you since the '60s." [5]
Team | From | To | FBD League | League | Connacht | All-Ireland | Total | ||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
G | W | D | L | G | W | D | L | G | W | D | L | G | W | D | L | G | W | D | L | Win % | |||
Roscommon | 5 October 2015 | 5 September 2018 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 8 | 0 | 5 | 61.5 |
Mayo | September 2022 | Present | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - |
Sean Rice of The Mayo News named McStay on his "Best Mayo Team Since 1960" in 2010. [3]
MacHale Park is a GAA stadium in Castlebar, County Mayo, Ireland. It is the home of the Castlebar Mitchels GAA and Mayo GAA Gaelic football teams. Built in 1931, as of 2022 the ground has a capacity of approximately 28,000 and is named after John MacHale, Catholic Archbishop of Tuam from 1831 to 1881. It is the twelfth-biggest sports stadium in the Republic of Ireland by capacity and the second-biggest in the province of Connacht after Pearse Stadium in Galway; which is the home of Galway GAA.
St Jarlath's College is a Catholic secondary school for young men in Tuam, County Galway. The college was founded in 1800 and in 2009 absorbed St. Patrick's College, Tuam. The College, which operates under patronage of the Archbishop of Tuam, is named after Jarlath, or Iarlaith, who founded a monastery in the town when, as legend has it, his chariot wheel broke. The enrolment numbers in 2022 are 595.
The Mayo Senior Football Championship is an annual Gaelic football competition contested by the top Mayo GAA clubs.
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Eamonn O'Hara was until 2013 the longest-serving Gaelic footballer at senior level. He first played in 1994 before officially announcing his retirement from inter-county football on 14 May 2013.
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Fergal O'Donnell is an Irish former Gaelic football manager and player. As a player, he captained the Roscommon county team to the 2001 Connacht Senior Football Championship title. He also won a Connacht Minor Football Championship in 1989.
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Stephen Rochford is an Irish Gaelic football coach and former manager and player. He was manager of the senior Mayo county team from 2015 to 2018.
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The Galway county football team represents Galway in men's Gaelic football and is governed by Galway GAA, the county board of the Gaelic Athletic Association. The team competes in the three major annual inter-county competitions; the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship, the Connacht Senior Football Championship and the National Football League.
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Martin "Marty" McDermott is a former Gaelic footballer who played for the St Brigid's GAA club and at senior level for the Roscommon county team. He has also managed Gaelic team. He is a bank manager by profession.
Gay Sheerin is a former Gaelic footballer and manager. He played as a goalkeeper for the St Ronan's club and at senior level for the Roscommon county team.
Kevin McStay, former Roscommon manager and a football analyst with this newspaper, remembers the past when he began playing in the 1970s and things were simpler and more clear cut... 'when I was at school in St Jarlath's I was on a team that never played subs. It wasn't until the end of my time there in the late 1970s that Jarlath's started using subs.
The same thing happened in 1990. This time we were trying to improve on an All-Ireland senior final appearance. And Galway did us in the first round. The following week, I played against Castlebar in the championship, got my leg broken and never played for Mayo again.
McStay, an All Star inside forward in 1985, agrees.