Mayo GAA try to tackle minor issue

HELPING young players to prepare for the step-up to the Mayo Under-20s and adult club football are the two main objectives of the new Mayo GAA Development Panel.
That was the message from Tom Mulderrig, who is heading up the new initiative, when he spoke to club delegates at a recent meeting of the Mayo GAA Board.
The timing of the start of the new development project — which is aimed at players transitioning through from Under-17 to Under-20 at inter-county level — coincides with a disappointing result for the Mayo Under-20s last week as they exited the Connacht championship following a poor performance against Sligo.
Mayo have only won two provincial titles at that grade in the last 13 seasons, and there are some concerns that not enough is being done to develop, improve and retain players once they leave the Mayo Under-17 set-up.
This new Development Panel — which comes almost eleven years after the last similar initiative was launched by the Mayo GAA Board — aims to proactively address the issue.
Tom Mulderrig, who has been managing the Mayo GAA Under-16 Academy team in recent years, explained that the Development Panel is designed for players who are under-18 and under-19 this year, and players who will be eligible to play Under-20 with Mayo in 2024.
“I suppose a lot of these players have come through the Academies up to Under-17,” he said. “There is a gap between 17s and 20s and it’s important that there’s some sort of follow-up happening at that stage, with everything that’s going on in players’ lives at this precarious stage that they’re at.
“So it’s better to be able to keep them under the Mayo GAA umbrella for those few years, as it should help both the Mayo Under-20 teams and also getting those players through to play club football.”
The former Moy Davitts footballer then outlined what the programme for the players who were chosen to take part in the Development Panel would look like.
“It’s going to be once a month on-site training and a lot of remote-based support,” he said.
“So on-site doing your conventional, normal training session, and there’s a measuring based facility for the remote support.
“We will provide support through fitness testing, strength and conditioning programmes, skills testing, player performance assessments through analysis of club matches, specialist coaching and skills development, a mentoring service and other specialist advice around their health, sports psychology nutrition, planning and organisation etc,” he added.
It is expected to run from last month and until November and will comprise of four phases:
Phase 1 was the selection process: when nomination forms for eligible players was sent back by clubs.
Mulderrig said that approximately 120 players were nominated by their clubs, while eligible members of this year’s Mayo Under-20 and minor squads will also be considered.
“We’ve already started playing a number of trial matches over the last few weekends, and we’re looking to select 30 players from those nominations that were sent in to us, that will go on and receive this additional support,” he added.
Phase 2 (April-May) of the programme will involve fitness and skills testing; Phase 3 (June-August) will see tailored support given to players from June onwards; and in Phase 4 (September-November) the hope is that ‘there will be a gap there to have some matches with these players’.
Tom Mulderrig also explained that members of the Development Panel would be given ‘individualised feedback reports’, similar to what was done with the Mayo Under-16s.
“We gave a 12 or 13 page report specific to each player; the results of their fitness test, skills test and results of the observations made on them,” he said.
“This isn’t something that’s going to be run every week, we’re looking at one pitch-based session every month or two. The priority is to get these players playing adult club football, be that senior, intermediate or junior. And we want to reinforce that message.
“This is a help and an aid to that. It won’t interfere with what they’re doing with their clubs.”
The former Davitts and Mayo forward, Liam Nyland, is among those assisting Mulderrig in phase one of the Development Panel.