Off the Crossbar – Glory, Heartbreak and Hard Truths in Mayo Football

John P Kean has given a lifetime of service to the GAA.

On the football field, he won everything in his path except the Sam Maguire.

He captained Mayo to an All-Ireland minor football title in 1971 and was a key player in their under-21 All-Ireland three years later.

With University College Dublin, he won four Sigerson Cup medals and two All-Ireland club medals as a key part of an all-conquering team.

With his own club, Claremorris, he won a Mayo SFC title in 1971 (their last senior championship) whilst still a minor and toiled with Mayo senior team during the barren decade that was the 1970s, with no Connacht senior title.

His ‘off the crossbar’ shot in the 1975 drawn Connacht final against Sligo summed up Mayo’s decade.

He cut his coaching teeth in the 1970s, managing Mayo Under 16s from 1978-80 and he was

heavily involved at coaching and committee level in his own club before returning to the

Mayo Under 16s from 1993 to 1995. That was the precursor to his appointment as Mayo

minor manager. He was in charge for seven campaigns, from 1996 to 2002, winning five

Connacht titles and reaching two All-Ireland finals.

All the while, he observed the strengths and weaknesses of Mayo football from the inside

and, since the conclusion of his minor management, the outside and has never been afraid

to call it as he sees it.

Off the Crossbar, his tell-all memoir, brings readers on a journey through Kean’s life as a

footballer, as a minor manager and also seeks to lift the lid of the endemic problems in

Mayo football from a lifetime of observation.

It’s an essential read for anyone who cares about Mayo football.