Ballycroy native Michael Gallagher appointed Head of Sport at The Mayo News

The Mayo News is delighted to announce that Michael Gallagher has been appointed as Head of Sport at the newspaper in Westport.

Michael, a native of Ballycroy, has been working as a news and sport reporter with the newspaper for the last five years but now takes over as of Head of Sport, a role which he has filled since the start of January.

Michael began working as a freelance reporter with The Mayo News at a West Mayo U-21 GAA match between Ballintubber and Castlebar Mitchels in March back in 1999.

He then joined the Western People as an employee in 2002 and won two national McNamee Awards as part of the team there. He returned to the The Mayo News in 2019.

_{Michael Gallagher, Head of Sport at The Mayo News, pictured inside The Mayo News offices (Pic: Conor McKeown)}

Michael has been immersed in sport all his life. He played underage football with Mayo and was very competitive at All-Ireland level as a teenage athlete. He also boxed for many years and was a Connacht champion on numerous occasions.

More recently he coached Davitt College to great success in schools football and was part of the management team who guided the Mayo Minors to two Connacht titles and an All-Ireland final in recent years. 

“I’m grateful, humbled and excited about taking up the hugely prestigious position as Head of Sport in The Mayo News,” said Michael. “I follow in the footsteps of some outstanding journalists such as Mike Finnerty, Stephen O’Grady and Padraig Burns, who created the environment to make Mayo News Sport the best in the land.

“I’m determined to continue that drive to be the best in the business and bring the people of Mayo at home and abroad the very finest sports coverage, both in print and digitally.

“The Mayo News is an integral part of our community. It has a tradition second to none and it is an honour to be part of the team driving it forward.

“Personally, this is a huge honour and I’m very grateful to Michael Duffy and the team in Westport and Brian Keyes and the team at Iconic Media for putting their trust in me. I wish to thank my family and all those who have shown huge support and friendship to me over the years. I look forward to the great adventures awaiting all of us.”

Editor of The Mayo News, Michael Duffy, said he was delighted to welcome Michael to his new editorial role in The Mayo News.

“Michael has been a valued member of staff here in The Mayo News for the last number of years and worked very closely with our former Sports Editor Mike Finnerty during that period. He now takes on this prestigious role safe in the knowledge that he has the strong support of the rest of the staff and the Iconic Media Group.”

Michael can be contacted at michaelgallagher@mayonews.ie or sport@mayonews.ie.