MacHale Park floodlights will be back in action soon - Mayo GAA

The final rounds of the Mayo club championships will be well-lit. That was the message delivered by Mayo GAA at their monthly meeting when the issue of floodlights at MacHale Park was raised.

One of the four pylons holding the floodlights was taken down in January after Storm Eowyn hit the island and it hasn't been replaced since.

Ballycroy club delegate, Michael Gallagher, broached the issue at Wednesday night's meeting.

“The opening round of the championship has been very good, but will we see the semi-finals and finals here later in the year if we don't have all the floodlights up,” he asked.

“They'll all be in place in good time,” county secretary Ronan Kirrane replied. “We even had a man here today in MacHale Park looking at them,” he added.

Another topic which was brought before the delegates was the need for more representatives to man the gates at the club championships.

A number of clubs did not have a representative on the gates of championship games to help any of their members who had problems with online ticketing. That was the message delivered by Ronan Kirrane at Wednesday night's county board meeting in Castlebar.

“Almost 90 per cent of clubs put forward someone, but others didn't and that has to change before the second round,” he stated. The club representatives play an important role in assisting members access championship matches and the offending clubs have already been contacted by Sinead McLoughlin the assistant treasurer.

“Sinead contacted them, but she got no feedback,” Kirrane explained.

Another issue regarding the championship was the number of players named in squads for games.

Some clubs are naming 24 players on championship match programs while others are naming up to 40. The thorny issue of squad sizes was discussed at Wednesday night's county board meeting in Castlebar when Mayo GAA Secretary Ronan Kirrane explained that there was no problem naming as many players as needed, but a list of 24 had to be handed to the referee before the game.

Westport delegate Willie McDonagh said his club had named 24 on the match program for their clash with Mayo Gaels but few other clubs did likewise.

John Walker, Mayo GAA PRO, said he needed all clubs to have their squads with him on the Thursday evening before championship weekends in order for match programs to be put together.