Mayo GAA to ask politicians for ‘major financial support’ for Bohola training centre

A senior Mayo GAA official has said the county board ‘will be unapologetic about seeking major financial support’ for a new training centre in Bohola.

UK-based businessman and philanthropist, Bill Durkan, is set to gift Mayo GAA a 40-acre site in Bohola to develop a state-of-the-art training facility.

Mayo GAA Chairman Séamus Tuohy will outline plans for the Bohola project when he addresses delegates at Mayo GAA’s annual convention on Wednesday, December 18.

In his annual report, Mayo GAA Secretary Ronan Kirrane said the county board intends to ask the government to help fund the facility, which could cost up to €15 million to deliver.

The Davitts club man said the lack of facilities in Mayo was ‘having a massive impact on our teams within the county’.

Mayo footballer Aidan O’Shea made similar comments about the lack of pitches for Mayo teams on the BBC’s The GAA Social Podcast in July.

Mayo GAA unsuccessfully applied for the Large Scale Sport Infrastructure Fund (LSSIF) to obtain funding for a training facility near MacHale Park, which Kirrane described as ‘a major disappointment for the county, especially when you see some of the amounts given to other counties and other codes’.

“Bear in mind that Mayo never received so much a cent for the stand in Hastings MacHale Park, nor did we receive funding for resurfacing of the pitch,” Kirrane said

“With the acquisition of lands in Bohola, we now enter an opportunity to create something that will greatly improve the lives of all our players for generations to come. We will be sitting down with elected representatives both locally and from Dáil Éireann and we will be unapologetic about seeking major financial support for this project in the very near future.”

Kirrane also said that rural clubs in Mayo and other counties were facing ‘major issues’ due to demographic movements from rural areas to the east coast.

“We have too many people in a concentrated area and not enough in other areas. This is leading to players in the urban areas not getting the football they need and some in rural areas getting too much, or too much expected of them,” he wrote.

“Are there ways to fix this problem? That remains to be seen but we must all start to think hard about the problems before clubs start to close the doors of their clubhouses for good.”

Kirrane said it was ‘disappointing’ to see the FBD League shelved, arguing that pre-season could have been used to test the new rules due to come into effect in 2025.

“The greatest concerns for clubs will be in the introduction of these rules at club level. There are many issues at stake and support for referees and officials will be high on that list. However, these rules will be on trial for a year and teething problems will be addressed after the National League when we have all seen how the rules will work.”

He congratulated all who have helped the Football Review Committee that helped establish the new rules.

“While it is most certainly not the remit of players to entertain the masses, games in the last few years have become uninspiring to say the least,” he commented.

Kirrane said the 2024 club championship ‘saw a much higher standard of competition’ but suggested that a two-week gap between all rounds should be looked at.

He also suggested the introduction of a Senior A and Senior B championship, to improve the quality of the championship.

“One option would be to grade the teams on their finishing places from the 2025 Championship with the top 8 teams entering Senior A for 2026 and the 7 remaining teams plus the Intermediate winner making up the eighth team. Yes, this would mean a team couldn’t win a Senior A Title straight off the back of winning an Intermediate title, but it is a long time since that happened,” he argued.

“Another option would be an open draw of the 16 teams with the eight winners going into Senior A and the eight losers going into Senior B. There is more risk to clubs in this but at the same time while a team way face difficult opposition victory could have its advantages. I feel it is past time that we look at our struggles and while the championship has produced some great games in recent years the element of risk is gone. You have to take risks. If you don’t take any risk, you won’t get any reward.”