Football: Political animal O'Mahony already treading Fine line

0 Comments | Sunday Mirror, Feb 4, 2007 | by PAUL KEANE

POLITICS clearly suits John O'Mahony.

Just a few months into life as a Fine Gael candidate and he's already taking swipes at Bertie!

O'Mahony turned up at last week's launch of the Allianz League ready to talk football.

Taoiseach Bertie Ahern did the same before being whisked away to indulge the political reporters.

Like any good politician O'Mahony seized the moment to score a few body blows.

"I had intended to keep my two jobs separate but I see someone else obviously didn't mind crossing the divide," quipped O'Mahony to Irish Sunday Mirror Sport.

O'Mahony's 'second coming' as Mayo manager begins today.

They face Kerry in a repeat of last September's All-Ireland final mismatch which Kerry won by 13 points.

So how exactly has O'Mahony managed to joust with Bertie and prepare a team to face the All-Ireland champions all over again? Delegation of course.

O'Mahony revealed: "I've got great people around me in my backroom team.

"Tommy Lyons and Kieran Gallagher are my selectors, Martin Carney is there as advisor and Jim Kilty is the trainer.

"They're a great bunch and having expert people like that around you makes life a lot easier."

Lyons led Ballina Stephenites to All-Ireland club glory in 2005 while Gallagher was a Mayo selector under Mickey Moran.

Carney's credentials as a TV pundit are well known and Kilty is, arguably, the jewel in the crown. The renowned athletics trainer is best known for turning hurdler Derval O'Rourke into a world champion.

Suffice it to say O'Mahony can trust those around him to take the reins whenever he's dealing with affairs of the state.

"It's all very time consuming but it's balancing out OK," said O'Mahony, Galway's All-Ireland winning manager in 1998 and 2001.

"For instance, I've been doing some canvassing and political work in the run up to this game.

"But then the main focus of my attentions would have been on Kerry.

"It was always going to be like this so I made sure that I got a lot of very good people working with me."

When O'Mahony first revealed his political ambitions a crafty bookie offered odds of 40/1 on 'O'Mahony for Sam and a Seat'.

Whatever about the Dail seat his tenure in charge of Mayo will be judged on their Sam Maguire challenge.

With four failed final attempts since 1996 behind them Mayo fans are hoping O'Mahony can finally make it happen.

"We're not even in the parish yet of talking about All-Ireland finals," insisted the Mayo native.

"If we can get a few points up in the league and do well in the provincial championship then we'll think about things."

As for Kerry today and the league in general the former Galway and Leitrim boss is playing it cool there too.

O'Mahony noted: "It's going to be a dogfight and we're in a particularly strong group - the strongest group in fact. And Kerry?

He smiled: "There was 15 or 20 points between us last September.

"If we can close that gap it'll be progress."

Spoken like a true politician.