The draws for the Mayo Senior, Intermediate, and Junior championships which were supposed to take place in the Royal Theatre in Castlebar on Wednesday night were called off at short notice during the week. The sticking point on the draw came from the decisions by delegates at the county convention back in December to approve a motion to allow a divisional side from west Mayo enter the senior championship, upping the numbers in the competition to 17 for the year. The side which is proposed to be made up of players from Islandeady, Balla, Louisburgh, and Parke would be in the competition for one year only at present, and as they are not a club side they could not be relegated from the division. This would lead to the side finishing fourth in their group entering the relegation play off and could lead to possible legal difficulties, in relation to the rules of the championship. Also the county board has scheduled championship games in all grades to take place over a number of set weekends which would see players from the four junior clubs playing twice in a weekend or even on the same day.
Ladies look for new manager
The Mayo ladies senior footballers were rocked by a major set back only a few weeks before they started their national football league campaign. Corofin man Kevin Reidy who took over the team last year tendered his resignation to the ladies’ county board last weekend. Reidy took over the team last January and led Mayo to the National League final and the All Ireland semi final, losing both games to an all conquering Cork side. The news of Reidy’s departure will be a blow to Mayo’s preparations ahead of the 2010 season, but it will have a familiar ring to it. Reidy took over from Michael Ryder who only lasted a year in the position in 2008, and Ryder took over from Frank Browne who was in the job for only one year also in 2007. The Mayo Ladies’ county board were due to hold an emergency county board meeting last night (Thursday, January 28 ) to discuss the issue.
