The annual end of year Mayo GAA County Board convention promises to be one of the more interesting ones with a number of positions up for grabs. The top job as chairman of the board will see current vice-chairman Mike Connelly and former county secretary Sean Feeney battle it out for the top seat in Mayo football. Outgoing chairman Paddy McNicholas has decided to seek a place on the Connacht Council as one of the two Mayo delegates. Outgoing delegate Willie Kelly has served his five year term and cannot run again. His fellow outgoing delegate Padraic Staunton from Moygownagh will be in the race with McNicholas, former Mayo GAA cultural officer Gerry Bourke, and Louisburgh’s Michael O’Malley. The battle among the four men promises to be an intriguing one when the votes are counted.
With Connelly throwing his hat in the ring for the chairman’s position, the vice-chairman’s role is available with Breaffy’s Seamus Tuohy who is currently assistant secretary and Johnny Hopkins in the running.
The role of treasurer will be contested also with former assistant-treasurer Michael Diskin, who resigned from his role in the wake of the way the appointment of the new Mayo senior managment team was handled, challenging the sitting treasurer JP Lambe. The assistant treasurer’s position will be contested by Ger McHugh, and Belmullet native, but Dublin based, PJ Monaghan. Monaghan has been a vocal critic of the current board and how it runs its affairs in recent years.
Former chairman James Waldron and Bord na nÓg secretary Sean McHale will battle it out for the position as central council delegate to replace Gerry Henry whose term has come to an end. The convention will get under way at 12 noon in The Park Hotel, Kiltimagh.
Clubs put forward plenty of motions
A total of 32 motions have been put forward by the clubs in Mayo for Sunday’s convention. There are nine motions that deal with senior league issues, four on club championship issues, five on the minor and u21 championships, 10 general motions, two that deal with inter-county issues, two on provincial club championships, and one on Mayo squads.
The Ardagh club have put forward no fewer than five motions in relation to the senior leagues, with four of their motions dealing with the eligibility of players to play for club’s B teams after they have already played for their club’s senior side. They are looking for 18 players to be nominated as senior players only, and that 15 of those be taken from players who played in the highest grade of championship the previous year, also that no player who has played at his club’s highest grade of championship can then play for the club’s B team in the league later on in the season.
Hollymount-Carramore, Ballintubber, and Bonniconlon have put forward motions to deal with clubs not fielding teams for league games. The Hollymount-Carramore motion calls for clubs which fail to fulfil league fixtures in the top three divisions to be deducted four points for doing so, Bonniconlon wants a €1,000 fine imposed on the team, Ballintubbers want a €500 fine, and any team that fails to field in its last two league games to start the next season on -2 points.
In the club championship motions, Ballaghaderreen want clubs which win their respective groups in the senior, intermediate, and junior championships to be awarded home advantage for their resulting quarter-final. Castlebar Mitchels wants it reaffirmed that there will be no training session, matches, or meetings involving the Mayo senior county panel in the seven days before club championship matches.
Mitchels has also put forward a motion calling for the county board to prepare a document that outlines the job description and procedures for the appointment of Mayo team managers in the future. It has also put forward a motion calling on a comprehensive annual income and expenditure capital budget for all the board’s activities to be presented to the clubs at the January county board meeting, and it to be reviewed each quarter at the board meeting.
The Garrymore club put forward a motion that all Mayo senior match day squads of 26 be published on a Thursday evening and those players not in the match day 26 be released to their clubs to play with them at the weekend.
