Tame Mayo League EGM elects management committee

LAST night’s EGM of the Mayo League turned out a quiet affair after a number of key withdrawals earlier in the afternoon.

Twenty-four clubs sent representatives to the gathering which was held in The Castlecourt Hotel. The meeting was presided over by the Chairman of the Connacht FA, John Byrne. 

Mr Byrne told the gathering that Martin Kielty had withdrawn from the contest for Secretary, and that Mark Beattie, Paul Kenny, Chris McHale Roe, Kenneth Gannon and Tom McDaniel all withdrew their names for places on the Ordinary Committee, leaving John Durkan unopposed for the post of Secretary, and just eight candidates to go forward for the nine available ordinary committee positions.

Despite this, Mr Byrne said that each candidate would have to be voted on, to confirm their position. 

Once the clubs voted, Mr Byrne and Mr Gerry Tully of the Connacht FA brought the ballot box out to another room to count the votes. 

Two clubs abstained from voting, leaving a valid poll of 23 and a quota of 12 votes. In the ballot for Honorary Secretary, John Durkan received 18 votes, with two votes against and one abstention, and will continue in the role he has held for the last 33 years.

The eight committee candidates all exceeded the required quota and were elected to the new League Management Committee.

The successful candidates and their vote totals were: Aidan Dunleavy (22), Chris McGauley (20), Kieran Gallagher (19), Sean Molloy (19), Patrick Lindsay (18), Richard Gorman (18), Gerry Sweeney (18) and Sean Ruane (18).

Following the conclusion of the EGM, the new committee met privately and elected Gerry Sweeney of Bangor Hibs as Chairman. They will meet early next week to fill the various other positions.

Speaking to the media afterwards, John Durkan said that this was the end of the affair and that the new committee would be focusing on the restart of the league which he said he hoped would take place on the weekend of Feb 28/March 1.

Gerry Sweeney said he was looking forward to working with the new committee.