You would wonder what caused such a shift in James Horan's thinking regarding the Mayo job.
As late as the All-Ireland final on September 2nd, Horan was telling Sky Sports that he would be interested in the job at some point in the future but now was not the right time.
Jump forward 17 days and he's being nominated - by his club Ballintubber - to succeed Stephen Rochford.
There was the possibility that he might just be buying some time - the nomination deadline was 1pm last Wednesday - as he contemplated whether or not to take up the role for the second time.
Any uncertainty regarding his desire for the job was eliminated on Sunday after Westport, managed by Horan, were eliminated for the Mayo SFC.
Horan is excited by the talent and potential in Mayo right now.
"I’m a Mayo man, I love coaching, I’m involved in coaching for a number of years now," Horan told the Western People.
There’s a very good team there and I just think it’s a very good time in Mayo football.
We have a Centre of Excellence being developed, we’ve some very good underage players coming through. You saw Colm Moran and a few of them that I’ve been involved with in Westport [as manager], so I’d be very excited about what’s coming through as regards the youth talent that’s in Mayo.
If you squash that in with the experience that’s there, I just think that there’s possibly exciting times and I’d just love to help them in some way.
Horan's first stint as Mayo manager ran from September 2010 to 2014. In between, he took Mayo to two All-Ireland finals.
Since it became known that his name would be going forward for the job, Horan has received CVs from "high calibre people" all over the country wishing to be part of his coaching ticket.
Photo by Matt Browne/Sportsfile
