Mayo U-20s’ participation in ‘B’ championship called into question

THE Mayo U-20s’ participation in an All-Ireland ‘B’ competition has been called into question at Mayo GAA’s monthly county board meeting.

Gerry O’Malley, Ballinrobe GAA’s county board delegate, complained that many clubs were not able to use talented young players for the first three rounds of the Mayo Senior League after Mayo exited the Connacht championship.

Peadar Gardiner’s side competed in the Eirgrid All-Ireland U-20 B Championship after they finished bottom of their round robin Connacht championship group with one win, one draw, and two defeats.

Mayo beat Leitrim to win the Philly McGuinness Cup before losing out to Down in the All-Ireland semi-final with the last kick of the game.

“Personally, maybe I’ll get lynched for saying this, but I don’t necessarily see the benefit to Mayo GAA for that,” O’Malley stated at last Wednesday’s county board meeting.

This year, the Connacht U-20 championship was run on a round robin format for the first time. The competition was previously run with a knock-out format, as were the provincial Minor championships.

^{Mayo's David Slattery in action in the All-Ireland U-20 'B' Championship semi-final against Down (Pic: The Mayo News)}

Paddy McNicholas, Mayo GAA’s Central Council delegate, said that the decision to allow teams that did not progress in their provinces to contest secondary competitions ‘possibly would be reviewed down the road’.

“I suppose when they were bringing out that programme, they hadn’t Mayo in mind. It would have been the weaker counties. And that would have been of great benefit to those counties to get extra matches,” the Kiltimagh club man said.

Mayo GAA’s Connacht Council delegate, Liam Moffatt, said that the old knock-out format provided ‘very little game development opportunity’ and incurred large costs on smaller counties.

“The downside is exactly what you said [Mayo participating in a ‘B’ competition], one-hundred percent. We will bring that feedback back,” said Moffatt.

When asked about Mayo’s participation in the competition following their All-Ireland semi-final, Mayo U-20 manager Peadar Gardiner said: “Obviously, some of the boys are overage and that was their last opportunity to play for Mayo U-20s...we’ve got 15-16 of the lads underage again this year. That’s all part of their development, that’s what we use this competition for to get more experience into them and to learn more about them and more about how to play for Mayo and what it means to play for Mayo.”