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| Irish name | Stiofán de Rosfort | ||||||||
| Sport | Gaelic football | ||||||||
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| Inter-county management | |||||||||
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Stephen Rochford (born 10 October 1978) is an Irish Gaelic football coach and former manager and player. He was manager of the senior Mayo county team from 2015 to 2018.[1]
Raised in Crossmolina, County Mayo, Rochford was educated at Crossmolina Boys' National School and Gortnor Abbey. He was introduced to football by primary school teacher John Cosgrove and Crossmolina coach Tom McNulty. He won Connacht School titles for Gortnor Abbey, playing under Gerry Leonard. He simultaneously came to prominence at juvenile and underage levels with the Crossmolina team, winning a county under-21 championship medal in 1997. By this stage Rochford had joined the Crossmolina senior team and won an All-Ireland medal in 2001. He also won three Connacht medals and six County Senior Championship medals.
Rochford made his debut on the inter-county scene at the age of sixteen when he first linked up with the Mayo minor team. A Connacht medal winner as captain of the team in 1996, he subsequently joined the Mayo under-21 team. Rochford made his senior debut during the 1999-00 league and spent one season with the team.
While still a player, Rochford began his coaching and managerial career when he served as a Mayo minor selector for two seasons. After finishing the year as All-Ireland runners-up in 2005, he later coached the Mayo under-21 team to an All-Ireland B title in 2007. After a period working with the Mayo-Galway IT Team in the Sigerson Cup, he managed Corofin to the All-Ireland title in 2015. Rochford was appointed manager of the Mayo senior team in November 2015.