Beo Mayo takes supporters back to the future

A TREASURE trove of Mayo GAA culture and history is now available to access through the newly launched website ‘Beo Mayo’.

Mayo GAA’s History Officer Liam Heffron said the project aims to ‘collect, quantify and promote the history of Mayo GAA’.

The new website contains a wealth of digitised historical documents, photos and video clips from various clubs throughout the county.

This includes an interview with Dr Joe Gilvarry, who was part of the last Mayo team to win an All-Ireland senior football title in 1951.

Speaking at the website’s launch at the Mayo GAA convention, Heffron thanked the previous and existing county board for the support of the project, as well as the Michael Davitt Museum.

The well-known local historian said the project was ‘only a start’ and invited other clubs to make similar digital compilations.

“We’re a very proud organisation, and only for those people came together in the Moy Hotel on the 26th of March, 1888, we wouldn’t have the 2,000 games we have today. We wouldn't have all of you here today,” Heffron said.

Beo Mayo was initiated by Mayo GAA’s Cultural Committee prior to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Through cooperation with Mayo South East, digitisation of over 10,000 documents was undertaken by volunteers and Tús and RSS workers.

These include match programmes, yearbooks, and photographs submitted by various clubs in Mayo.

Mayo GAA was founded on March 26, 1888 in the Moy Hotel in Ballina, which currently houses the town's library.

Fourteen clubs played the first round of games in March as Gaelic games began to become formalised and organised throughout the county.

The following year, over 50 clubs were playing Gaelic games in Mayo.

You can view the Beo Mayo website at www.mayogaahistory.com