Mayo GAA to progress development of multi-million euro Bohola training facility

MAYO GAA are set to begin costings and surveys to develop a training facility on land gifted by UK-based millionaire Bill Durkan. 

The 2024 Mayo GAA convention heard that there is potential to develop four and potentially five pitches on the 26.65-acre site ‘gifted’ to the county board by Durkan, who is a native of Bohola. 

The proposed facility will include four grass pitches including two floodlit pitches, gym facilities, a clubhouse with conference rooms, a stand, a toilet block, a machinery shed, a walking track linking to Bohola village and car parking. A fifth pitch may be developed on a separate parcel of land with agreement from Bohola Community Council. The cost has been estimated at €15.5 million plus VAT.

The convention heard that the facility would be paid for by large capital grants, Croke Park funding, through Mayo GAA’s current relations, partnerships, and connections and by forging new relationships partnerships and connections.

Stressing that it was ‘very much in its early stage’, Mayo GAA Chairman Séamus Tuohy said the project could be ‘the most exciting ever undertaken’ by Mayo GAA. 

“Our current facilities at county level are totally inadequate for our current level of activity, let alone for our future ambitions,” said Tuohy. 

“At inter-county level alone, we currently require over 500 training sessions to meet the needs of our male intercounty teams and academies. We have capacity for far less, and the gap is met through a variety of means, including rental of facilities from the Connacht GAA Centre of Excellence as well as from clubs and private organisations.”

^{Delegates pictured at the 2024 Mayo GAA convention at the Great National Hotel in Ballina (Pic: Mayo GAA)}

Tuohy said that the county board would explore the appointment of a business development officer or a Chief Executive Officer to assist the Cairde Mhaigh Eo Committee - Mayo GAA’s main fundraising arm - chaired by Paul Hickey from Eastern Gaels. 

The facility will be known as the ‘Mayo GAA Leadership Academy’ - the same moniker given to a facility proposed for Mulvey Park near MacHale Park. 

Mayo GAA unsuccessfully applied for funding under the Large Scale Sport Infrastructure Fund (LSSIF) to fund the project, which was first announced at the 2022 county convention. 

The county convention was told that meeting with design teams, costings, and appointment of the design team, site investigations, pre-planning meetings and planning lodgements would precede any construction work on the facility. 

Speaking exclusively to The Mayo News after the convention at the Great National Hotel in Ballina, newly-elected Mayo GAA Vice-Chairman Michael Diskin said the Muvley Park project had not been shelved.

The Castlebar Mitchels clubman said that the pitch would still require ‘some upgrading’ given the amount of use it gets.

Mayo GAA had been engaged with Mayo County Council and the OPW regarding acquiring lands to develop three pitches and a running track at Mulvey Park. 

“If you like at what Tyrone have, what Kerry have and what Wexford have, and other counties, they are up at five, six or seven pitches per county. As a county with ambition, I think we need to be thinking at that level,” said Diskin. 

The county board has been working with Walsh Associates and Tobin Engineers on the Bohola project over the last number of weeks.