'Preparation for championship is what entire season is about' says Kiltane clubman

Meet five people who’ve been at the beating heart of a Mayo club championship weekend

Part four:

Name: Brendan McDonagh

Role: Kiltane GAA member

In truth, preparation for the championship is what the entire season is about. Players are tested and procedures are tested during the league, but certainly in the run-up to championship games in Bangor, you have to make sure the volunteers are in place.

There is a text messaging system in the club and it goes out the week before to see who is available to help out.

We’re extremely lucky in Kiltane, in that we have a fantastic group of unsung heroes in the background who are doing tremendous work to make sure the facilities are as good as they can be. When you have weather like we’ve had this summer, that’s extremely challenging.

We’re very lucky in that we have the sandybanks pitch in Doohoma thats be used as a training pitch to save the main pitch in Bangor.

I have yet to see the Kiltane pitch in anything other than extraordinary condition for home championship matches and that’s a testament to the work an army of people put into it. The number of moving parts are incredible, and how everyone manages to pull it altogether is phenomenal. That goes for every club, not just ours.

On match day, they are usually there about two hours in advance of the game. The bibs are handed out, people are assigned to whatever station they are going to be at for the day.

There’s also a lot of background stuff that’s done in terms of teas and sandwiches and refreshments for the players and the officials. That all has to be planned in advance.

We would have people in the club that have been doing that for 30-40 years. They know it like the back of their hand and they take great pride in it. 

It’s a huge occasion for the club. If you’re playing another squad who have their star players back from county duty, that’s your opportunity to really test yourself. In our club, for example, you have people who will travel back to play for Kiltane. People who are working away make sure that their holidays are arranged so they can be back for the championship games. Tourists, holidaymakers, people coming home make sure that they will plan their diary around this.

We use the expression, ‘pride of the parish’ maybe a bit too much, but it really is.

We take great pride in the hospitality that we show. It’s a long journey down to Bangor for a lot of teams and we like to make sure they’re given a warm welcome. A lot of effort goes into that side of things.

A championship game is as much a celebration of the volunteers as it is about the football and the club because all of these moving parts have to come together. The amount of non-footballing stuff that has to be done in order for a 60 minute game of football to be staged is incredible.