Mayo game in New York gets green light
Connacht GAA chiefs deliver good news for Mayo fans
IT’S the news that Mayo supporters have been waiting for.
The Mayo footballers will be playing Connacht senior championship football in New York next summer.
Connacht GAA CEO John Prenty confirmed to The Mayo News last night (Monday) that provincial chiefs have agreed to give the green light to the fixture in 2024.
However, no date has yet been decided for Mayo’s first trip to the Big Apple since 2019.
A fixture is not expected to be confirmed until after the GAA’s Special Congress in October, at which stage the 2024 National Fixtures Plan will be drawn up.
“We [the Connacht GAA Council] met and had a really good sensible discussion about it, and the general consensus was that it was only right to finish out the existing rota,” explained Prenty.
“So that will mean Mayo go to New York next summer, Galway will be there in 2025, and Roscommon will travel in 2026 to finish out the rota.
“At that stage then the whole thing will be reviewed.
“Having said that, there are a lot of discussions to be had over the next few months about the nuts and bolts of Mayo playing in New York next summer, around the whole area of logistics, costs and so on,” he added.
One of the reasons for the recent uncertainty about New York’s continued participation in the Connacht Senior Championship was the expense incurred by the County Boards of the travelling counties.
The rising costs of flights and hotel accommodation means that next year’s trip is expected to cost Mayo GAA significantly more than it did in 2019.
“It would have cost Leitrim GAA in the region of €250,000 of their own money to travel over last year,” said John Prenty. “Connacht GAA also put €50,000 towards the cost of the trip.
“But that sort of arrangement will have to be looked at again over the coming months.
“The cost of the trip for the team going over can only be brought down by bringing less people in the official party.”
Meanwhile, the possibility of Mayo’s clash with New York being played the weekend after the National League Final remains — if the upcoming Special Congress votes to retain the League Finals.
Mayo GAA club delegates voted in favour of retaining the League Finals at a recent meeting of the County Board.
“It’s still a possibility,” admitted John Prenty. “But County Boards can’t have it every way. If they vote for something, they have to accept the outcome of the Special Congress vote.
“Personally, I wouldn’t be in favour of retaining the League Finals,” he added.