GARY SICE HELPED give Stephen Rochford his first big defeat as Mayo manager last June.
Sice’s Galway stunned Mayo in the Connacht semi-final, derailing their six-in-a-row provincial bid and sending Rochford’s new side into the qualifiers.
Just 15 months earlier, Sice and Rochford won the All-Ireland club title together with Galway club Corofin.
Ahead of Sunday’s Connacht final with St Brigid’s, Sice spoke about what Rochford brought to the group for that famous All-Ireland win in 2015.
“(In) 2014 then we set our stall out and said, ‘Look, this has to change,’” said Sice. “One or two things changed around. Rochy really got his hands on the group, did a good job with us, and we just started performing.
“The first year he was getting to know individuals and creating relationships. The same with any manager. You see it at inter-county level as well. Oftentimes the second year is the best year because now they know the group.
“We really got to know Rochy and he got to know us and a few lads came of age. I won’t say they had been languishing, but they had been in and out of teams and stuff and he really got a hold of them and said, ‘Look, this is what I need from you’.
“Our guys stepped up and provided it and as a team we excelled,” he added.
“He has a lot of fortes. He has a lot of stuff going for him and that was one particular one that we needed in the group and he brought it. In saying that, he had a good group to work with, so it was a good gel.
“He does things a little bit differently and that group will do whatever he asks because that’s the kind of individual he is.”
Under Rochford, Corofin achieved the ultimate for any club side – lifting the Andy Merrigan Cup on St Patrick’s Day in GAA headquarters.
To stand in Croke Park and for a 30 second window to look around you and realise, ‘Jesus, I’m after winning an All-Ireland with my club in Croke Park’, it was just epic, there’s no other word for it.
“But then it gives you a little taste and makes you think the group is pretty young, we’re strong, we’ve got no bad injuries, maybe we can have another cut at it.
“It was definitely a dream I’d be looking to do for a long time and we’d been close but now we’d finally gotten over the line. ”
With Rochford moved on to pastures new with Mayo, Kevin O’Brien is now in charge of his native Corofin.
He received a timely boost before the county final with the return of Michael Lundy from a year in New York. Sice feels the return of former Galway star Lundy to Corofin’s attack has been a benefit for the club, on and off the field.
“He’s flying it,” continued Sice. “He’s a great lad to have home. A huge advantage to us to have him home, you’re dropping an inter-county footballer into the group.
His attitude, the way he addresses himself in training, the way he conducts himself for matches, he’s just a super lad to have around and is going really well.
“(He is) a guy who’s infectious with enthusiasm and energy. When you see him flying around a football field you know what you’re getting.
“He’s going to work hard and if you’re trying to mark him for 60 minutes you’re going to know all about it.”
Corofin take on Roscommon champions St Brigid’s on Sunday. It’s the third Connacht final between the two, with St Brigid’s defeating Corofin in the 2006 and 2011 deciders.
They’re a quality opposition. They have been there on and off. I think they won five in a row in Roscommon, that means they were in Connacht five years in a row.
“(They) took a year out, and obviously they’re back now so they’ve been building very strong. Their minors won the Connacht final during the week so they’re a strong club and fairly like ourselves in ways so it’s going to be a fairly interesting day on Sunday.”
“I think the two sets of forwards are going to be interesting because they’ll both fancy themselves do do some damage. So it’ll be who gets the better ball inside I think, that’ll have a lot to do with it.
They’ve got some big hitters in Karol Mannion and Senan Kilbride, and they’ve got one or two guys coming along like (Brian) Stack who’s their top-scorer at the moment in the Championship. Very little talk about him, but he comes out of nowhere with goals and points.
“So it will be an interesting battle. I can’t see it being cagey. I think we’ll be both ready to rock.”
Sice doesn’t expect there to be any animosity between the teams overlapping from those previous Connacht deciders.
“There’s no history anymore because the two groups have changed so much. They have eight or nine new players and so do we. Some of our younger lads don’t even know about what’s happened five years ago. That seems to be a trend with that age-group at the moment.
Karol Mannion scored a glorious goal to beat Corofin in the dying moments in Dr Hyde Park in 2006 and Sice still feels he didn’t mean it.
“I’m still convinced he wasn’t going for that, I think he let rip and was hoping it lands somewhere and knocks down a break or something.
There’s no way… he was 32 or 33 yards out, Jesus Christ you wouldn’t try it in a schools game. It was a ridiculous effort but that’s Karol Mannion because all through his Roscommon career he was able to pull out something different
“He always looked a bit different with Roscommon. He has that skillset, he has that knowhow. He’s a good baller, a really good footballer.”
