Castlebar
Daniel Carey
THE price of tickets for the County Board Development Draw will remain at €100 for 2011 following a decision taken at last week’s meeting of Mayo GAA Board.
None of the delegates in the Welcome Inn Hotel expressed support for a proposal to reduce ticket prices to €80 and run four draws rather than the current six.
But each club’s ticket quota has been reduced by five, and County Board delegates will not be asked to sell two tickets each for the county.
Richard Cosgrove (Kiltane) said the proposal to reduce the ticket prices, number of prizes and the prize fund was “not a good balance”, and favoured the first suggestion, where only the number of tickets to be sold was decreased.
John Farragher (Garrymore) agreed, describing the second option as “two steps back to take one step forward”.
Alan Flannery (Ballinrobe) calculated that his club’s revenue would be reduced by €4,000 if the second option was taken up and asked: “Have we done the maths on the County Board side?”
Brendan Byrne (Castlebar Mitchels) described the €80 proposal as “a total non-runner”, saying it would require his club “to sell 22 more tickets” to match their draw income from 2010.
Pádraig Prendergast (Ballina Stephenites) called for a ten per cent reduction on the levy for the three clubs who have to sell 100 tickets to reach their quota.
“The Board requires a minimum of €200,000 a year out of [the draw] to meet the repayments on McHale Park,” said Board Secretary Seán Feeney. “You can tinker around with it, but clubs will have to fork out in the end.
The [reduction of] five was the best that could be done, and that has to be made up by other people.”
PJ Hughes (Crossmolina) suggested that one of the cars to be won through the draw should be held until the end, as “the spice went out of” the draws once the cars were won. Seán Feeney said that was “no problem” but added: “Once the first draw is over, there’s very few tickets sold”.
The first proposal was adopted on a show of hands, and the first draw is due to be held in May, with tickets expected to be sent to clubs by the end of February.
Masters motion out of order
BURRISHOOLE’S motion calling for the reinstatement of the Masters inter-county competition has been ruled out of order, Secretary Seán Feeney told last week’s meeting of Mayo GAA Board.
The West Mayo club have until Friday, February 18 to put the motion in order and resubmit it ahead of GAA Congress. Last year, a similar motion failed to make it onto the floor at Congress, prompting a passionate contribution from Burrishoole’s John Pat Sheridan at the Mayo GAA Convention last December.
Competitions Control Committee Chairman Mike Connelly said an over-38s competition between teams representing North, South, East and West Mayo was being considered and asked clubs to discuss the idea. East Board Chairman Vincent Walsh argued there was “no way” the players’ insurance scheme would currently cover an over-40s competition.
Meanwhile, Mayo will vote at Congress to retain the All-Ireland-winning minor captain’s right to make a speech but will support the abolition of the inter-provincial Railway Cup following votes at last week’s meeting. The GAA’s proposed agreement with the Gaelic Players Association will be sent on to clubs.
Another Burrishoole motion, to make mouth-guards compulsory will “not be needed” at Congress, Seán Feeney explained, as Central Council are sponsoring a motion to that effect. Burrishoole’s Margaret O’Malley, a dental health educator who has carried out extensive research in the area, called at Convention for gum-shields to be made mandatory.
In response to a question from Coaching Officer Hugh Rudden, Mike Connelly promised to report back on the motions referred to the CCC at Convention. A new post-primary committee approved at Convention was due to have its first meeting last night (Monday).
