At their monthly meeting this week the elected members of Mayo County Council paid tribute to the Mayo senior football team in their efforts to win the All Ireland Senior Football Championship, which ultimately came up short last Saturday - and they also hit out at criticism that had been levelled at the players on social media since the game.
Fianna Fáil councillor Brendan Mulroy hit out at people who have levelled abuse at players since the game and said they needed to be 'called out for it'. Cllr Michael Kilcoyne told the meeting that there weren't that many people who were prepared to go out and put in the effort that was needed to reach the All Ireland final, and added: "Some of the hurlers on the ditch who write comments wouldn't know what a pair of football boots were."
Independent councillor Mark Duffy called on social media companies to to put in place more controls on their platforms with identify verification needing to be required, before somebody could set up an account with them; while Cllr John Cribben said that those making the kind of comments that the councillors were taking about, were not real supporters.
Cathaoirleach, Cllr Michael Smyth stated: "The players and management did everything they could to try and bring Sam back to Mayo, but unfortunately that did not happen. Mayo people are very resilient and our team reflects the resilience of our county. It is important to recognise their sacrifices." He concluded by saying: "We'll be back to fight again."
