New Mayo chairman to examine clubs and coaching

Clubs and coaching examined as Connelly begins a big year


Mike Finnerty

CLUBS, coaching structures and the role of Divisional Boards are among the key areas being addressed by new Mayo GAA Board Chairman Mike Connelly as he ‘tries to get the house in order’ during his first year in office.
Speaking to The Mayo News last week, Connelly explained that he will be ‘challenging’ all GAA clubs in the county to ‘play their part in finding solutions’ in the months ahead.
As part of this drive to get clubs ‘working harder’ and ‘communicating better’, Connelly has scheduled more County Board meetings for 2015 and called on club delegates to ‘say their piece’ when issues are being debated.
Mayo’s coaching structures are also currently being examined by GAA chiefs and a meeting was held last week with Padraic Carolan (Coaching Officer) and Billy McNicholas (Games Promotion Officer) to begin a review of Mayo GAA’s coaching processes.
Mike Connelly said that while he ‘acknowledged that there was a lot of good work being done, we need to make sure that we’re constantly looking to improve’.
He also stressed the importance of Mayo teams competing regularly for national honours in Croke Park in order to ensure that ‘MacHale Park’s bills are paid’.
The Hollymount/Carramore clubman has also held a number of meetings with Divisional Board representatives around the county in order to examine what role they can play to make Mayo GAA ‘more efficient’ into the future.
“We’ll be having more County Board meetings than normal this year because there’s a lot of work to be done and that means everybody working together and communicating on a regular basis,” Connelly told The Mayo News.
“A lot of clubs are only too happy to sit back and blame the County Board for all their problems. But that’s going to change. I want clubs to play their part in finding solutions and I want them to come to these meetings and say their piece.
“We had a good frank discussion at the first County Board meeting this month about the development draw.  At the end of the day, that draw has to bring in €200,000 because we’ve signed up to a financial agreement for MacHale Park and we need to meet that.
“When you see how the likes of Kiltane GAA club can sell 400 tickets every year, and use the draw as a major fundraiser, then you can see what can be done.
“The MacHale Park bills need to be paid and the only way for that to be done is to get Mayo teams into Croke Park on a regular basis,” he added.
“We need to make sure that we have the best coached, best prepared footballers that we can have to ensure that they are challenging for major honours on a regular basis.
“Maybe we can afford to have one year where we’re not in Croke Park, but any more than that and we’re going to struggle to meet our financial commitments on MacHale Park.
“That’s the reality of the situation.
“A lot of people are doing a lot of good work in areas like coaching and games development but we need to make sure that we’re constantly looking to improve, get better, push on.
“I met with Padraic Carolan (Mayo GAA coaching officer) and Billy McNicholas (Mayo GAA Games Promotion Officer) and I acknowledged that they’re doing good work, but I also wanted to know what we can be doing better?
“The same goes for the Divisional Boards. I think they can play a part in us running our affairs more efficiently and more professionally. But we need to find out if that is the case or not.”