MAYO BOSS STEPHEN Rochford last night dismissed rumours that Donegal All-Ireland winning manager Jim McGuinness was involved in their pre All-Ireland final preparations.
Last Friday, pundit Martin Carney claimed on Today FM’s The Last Word programme that McGuinness had addressed the Mayo players at a training camp in Limerick.
On Saturday, ex-Mayo player David Brady on Newstalk’s Off The Ball expressed his reservations about McGuinness getting involved before later stating on the same programme that the story was not true.
McGuinness labelled the story ‘totally untrue’ when speaking on Sky Sports on Sunday afternoon at Croke Park before the drawn clash.
And last night Rochford at a press event in Castlebar ahead of the replay, stated he had ‘huge regard’ for all that McGuinness had achieved during his spell in Donegal, but had ‘never spoken to…or met’, the 2012 All-Ireland winning boss.
“If somebody wants to say the Pope is training us next week, so be it!” stated Rochford.
“It won’t distract us from what the task is on Saturday week.”
The Corofin All-Ireland winning club boss also spoke about how Joe Brolly’s description of the Mayo team as ‘celebrity losers’.
“I don’t think it’s necessarily fair language, but that’s a choice for that pundit to make. It certainly didn’t keep me awake.”
One of the key talking points from Sunday’s game involved the scuffles involving players from both teams when they emerged from the tunnel. The GAA’s Central Competitions Control Committee are set to investigate the incident.
The Crossmolina native reiterated a point he made in Sunday’s post-match press conference that it was ‘totally coincidental’ that the two teams had entered the field of play at virtually the same time.
“There was no [case of] ‘Dublin are coming here, let’s get out’ [or] ‘Dublin aren’t here, let’s wait for them’,” he added.
“There is a lot more to be dealing with. I know we got a direction to be second out onto the field. With us being a minute or two late I don’t know why Dublin were four or five minutes late.
“That is probably a question Dublin need to answer.”
On the injury front, Alan Dillon is Mayo’s major doubt before the replay after suffering bruising to the front of his foot in a collision with Dublin defender Cian O’Sullivan.
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