John Maughan

John Maughan
Personal information
Born	1962
Inter-county management
1990–1994; 1995–1999; 2000–2001; 2002–2005; 2005–2008; 2018–2022	Clare; Mayo; Fermanagh; Mayo; Roscommon; Offaly
Inter-county titles

John Maughan (born 1962)^[1] is an Irish Gaelic football manager and former player who most recently managed the Offaly football team.

He is a former manager of the Mayo, Clare, Roscommon and Fermanagh senior football teams.^[2]^[3] He is only the third man to lead five different counties and the first to complete a "slam", with at least one of these counties coming from each of Ireland's four provinces.^[4]

Early life

Maughan is originally from Crossmolina.^[1] He comes from a family of six children.^[1] He was the only one sent to boarding school, which he attended at Moate's Carmelite College.^[1] After school he joined the Irish Army.^[1] He is a graduate of University College Galway.^[5] He attended the university in the early 1980s.^[1]

Army Career

Maughan was an offer in the Irish Army from 1979 to 1999. He reached the rank of Captain and was based in Renmore Barracks Dún Uí Mhaoilíosa in Galway. When he was appointed to the Mayo job, he commuted from Cyprus for the first couple of games as he was serving with the United Nations.^[6]

Playing career

Maughan won a Hogan Cup medal with Moate's Carmelite College in 1980.^[1] He also won two Sigerson Cups with University College Galway in the early 1980s.^[1] This, alongside a spell with the Mayo under-21 team, led to Maughan being called up to the senior county team.^[1] Surgery on his knee cartilage in 1986 led to the end of his days as a player.^[1] He had four more operations but on the knee cartilage but was informed three years later that he could no longer play at inter-county level.^[1] He continued to play locally, switching base in 1994 and transferring to Castlebar Mitchels in the expectation of getting to play junior football but was a runner-up in that year's Mayo Senior Football Championship final.^[1] In a 1995 Mayo Senior Football Championship quarter-final Maughan sustained a broken jaw.^[1] After being brought to Dublin's Mater Hospital, a story in a newspaper led to bother as he had flown back from Cyprus where he was on peacekeeping duty with the Irish Army.^[1]

Coaching career

Mayo's manager when Maughan's playing days ended was John O'Mahony.^[1] O'Mahony retained Maughan's services as a team physical trainer.^[1]

A call came from Clare GAA one evening to ask if Maughan would become coach for the 1990 season.^[1] Discovering that no manager had yet been appointed Maughan asked if he could take the post.^[1] He did so, at the age of 28.^[1] Eleven players attended Maughan's first training session in Crusheen.^[1]

He led Clare to the 1992 Munster Senior Football Championship.

After finishing as Clare manager, Maughan went to Cyprus for United Nations peacekeeping duty in Nicosia.^[1]

He was appointed manager of the Mayo county team while still based in Cyprus and commuted for several games at the start of his spell in charge.^[1]

He led his native county to the successive All-Ireland Senior Football Championship final defeats in 1996, 1997. He returned for a second spell in charge and led his native county to a further All-Ireland Senior Football Championship final defeat in 2004.^[7]^[8]

In between his spells with Mayo, he had a short stint as Fermanagh manager (winning an All-Ireland 'B' Football Championship) and, after taking charge of Mayo for the second time, he was manager of Roscommon.^[1] He resigned as Roscommon manager in the spring of 2008.^[1]

He commuted from his home in Castlebar to manage Offaly.^[1] Maughan announced his departure as Offaly manager in July 2022 after a four-year spell in charge during which he achieved promotion for Offaly to Division 2 of the National Football League (though relegation to Division 3 followed the next year) and advanced to the semi-final of the inaugural 2022 Tailteann Cup.^[9]

Maughan has also led NUI Galway GAA.^[2]^[8]

Personal life

Maughan is married to Audrey,^[1] and lives in Castlebar.^[1] He is a grandfather.^[1] He had surgery on his back in 2019.^[1]

As of 2021, he was working as a Procurement Officer at Mayo County Council,^[1] while, as of 2019, Maughan is a member of the board of Sport Ireland.^{[citation needed]}

Though fully-vaccinated, Maughan isolated at his home in Enniscrone after contracting COVID-19 in 2021 (his sense of taste and smell he said were "completely gone").^[10]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o ^p ^q ^r ^s ^t ^u ^v ^w ^x ^y ^z ^aa ^ab ^ac ^ad "John Maughan – The managerial legend still spreading the football gospel as Offaly eye rare Croke Park success". Irish Independent. 19 June 2021. Maughan, who turns 60 next year...
^ ^a ^b "John Maughan demands end to 'player abuse'". The Belfast Telegraph. 2 February 2012. Retrieved 9 November 2012.
^ "Maughan quits". Irish Independent. 1 April 2008. Retrieved 9 November 2012.
^ Keys, Colm (29 August 2018). "Maughan completes 'slam' with Offaly". Irish Independent. Retrieved 29 August 2018.
^ "NUI Galway students and alumni head for Croke Park with Mayo senior football finalists". 17 September 2013. Archived from the original on 17 December 2016. The event starts at 11am and the panel will include NUI Galway graduates, John Maughan, John O'Mahony and Tommy Carr...
^ "Gentle manager who sorts things out quietly and without hysterics". The Irish Times.
^ "Mayo are happier playing Donegal says Maughan". Hogan Stand. 19 September 2012. Retrieved 9 November 2012.
^ ^a ^b "Can't live with him, can't live without him". Irish Independent. 20 June 2011. Retrieved 9 November 2012. Maughan coached NUIG in last year's Sigerson Cup, while he's also with Crossmolina. For the last while, he's been working with the first years in St Gerald's College in Castlebar.
^ "Maughan steps down as Offaly boss". RTÉ. 13 July 2022.
^ Hogan, Vincent (11 September 2021). "'No madness, no cockiness, no nonsense songs' — Maughan hopeful it's finally Mayo's time". Irish Independent. Retrieved 11 September 2021. Despite being fully vaccinated, he tested positive for Covid last Monday week and has been isolating since at his house in Enniscrone. The symptoms arced about a week ago but have now begun to dissipate with the help of antibiotics, bike rides and time spent walking the beach. 'I honestly feel if I wasn't vaccinated, I'd be in hospital!' he says when I call. 'Just felt rotten last weekend and didn't stir off the couch. The symptoms of a bad 'flu with taste and smell still completely gone. Right now? I've no energy for Croke Park. But I'd hate to miss it'. His ten days of self-isolation are up so the tug of Dublin — he knows — will be insistent today (for the 2021 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final).