56 thoughts on “The weekend’s club results”

1. Castlebar Mitchels look to have a great balance to their squad. Wouldn’t be surprised if they win the moclair cup this year.

2. Anyone know did Kerry or Dublin use a HR company to put Jack O’Connor ,Jim Gavin or Dessie Farrell in charge.

3. Ballinrobe not fielding in a quarter final after putting in the effort to qualify seems a strange one. Was there a reason other than lack of numbers I wonder?

4. Joe, of course there was. Getting players from the south and east coast for a 7.30pm start in Ballina on a Friday evening is impossible, Ballinrobe requested a later statting time friday, or a time on saturday or on sunday. Got no leeway at all.

   The Mayo senior leagues once were important in the club calendar. I can remember when all inter county players had to all eague games with their clubs, then we went to 3 starred games, then 6 starred games and now in the 8th month of the year we have some inter county players still not have played a league game with their clubs. As a result the club league has lost all importance. The unpredictable results in all divisions of the league reflect this.
   It does not reflect well on the relevance of the league when two divìsion 1 quarter finals are fixed for a Friday night at 7.30pm. And the top game on the sunday is a junior A final .

5. Did Ballintubber call in some old favours to help them avoid relegation?

6. It’s a dangerous dangerous game to allow our club league football diminish.
   It could set serious decline rot into our clubs.
   It’s way overstated how big championship is for clubs. The season of games is the thing.

7. Joe G, IMO it reflects poorly on both clubs. Ballinrobe for conceding (surely had 15 players available), and Ballina for not allowing time change of half hour or hour.

8. Ballina had agreed to a 8oclock start for the game Friday but ballinrobe still weren’t satisfied, also had a number of players involved in the junior game Sunday and with player welfare Friday was the only day to play it

9. Pebblesmeller,I thought you were above that kind of owl shitetalk

10. Thanks Rober and Gizmobobs. Surely all clubs should be duty bound to ensure games go ahead especially when you reach this stage in a competition. Makes no sense to put it on on a Friday evening regardless of the time. As an association we need to do much better for the players and supporters.

11. So much for the wonders of rhe split season and getting the inter county out of the way.. Mayo out of the championship in june but club championship not started yet. Co leagues being devalued and one club unable to field a team for a QF. We were told the new system was going to benefit the club player. How I ask.

12. Podge, you could be right i think 8.15 or so was requested. You can see from “junior” team pic they certainly had senior players involved in the junior game alright likes of Irwin, Tighe, Walnut, Leonard etc. Looks like they used opportunity to to avoid senior game to boost junior team.
    Perfectly within their rights of course, but you’d wonder how the other junior players displaced feel about it, even with the win.

13. To win just once It’s hard to know.
    I know in my own club the lads seem happy enough knowing they can go states or on holiday for few weeks during summer if they want knowing they can be back 4-6 weeks before Championship.

    The league could probably be played in its entirety before the summer and use the Summer for the myriad of peripheral competitions.

    Hard believe a division 1 team were unable to field a team. I’m sure there was 15 able bodied men available in the Ballinrobe area.

14. As I understand Ballinrobe had a lot that are based a few hours away.
    The other issue is that weekend was originally free in the calendar and it got changed.

15. Off Topic. If Mayo wanted to clear the Mayo GAA debt pile, they really should think about a Netflix/Amazon fly on the wall documentary.

    Have just finished watching a few episodes of the Arsenal documentary on Amazon. Superb access, and has really connected me as a fan.

    With just a bit of thinking out of the box, the county board can turn things around. Far more effective than begging people for 100eur tickets for some draw or another. Fat chance I imagine though!

16. @mayomick2, I broached that exact subject a few weeks back.
    Now the mammoth show F1 drive to survive is $5 million dollar a year paid to F1.
    Sunderland was a 4 million contract which I’d imagine covered a few seasons.
    You’d have a pilot season to prove oneself to the viewers. If it was hot and heavy well edited content with good access it would pull in a lot of viewers globally. Derry girls did alright on Netflix, so did Normal people, so did Jabotsville.
    An all access Mayo documentary in my view is more appealing than those three.
    I don’t like formula one but I could not take my eyes off Drive to survive.
    George Russell amazing lap in the pissing rain with everyone pitted, the drama to present that.
    The thing would be to try and sell it to Amazon or Netflix and see who’ll bite on a three year deal cancellable after year one.
    Terms setup to encourage proper content not glib soundbites.
    Ya very show biz, some distractions but not as big a distraction as the debt is on proceedings.

17. @JP. Agree on F1 Docu, great stuff. Way better than watching the races.

    If any country deserves it’s own Netflix series it’s Mayo. So much content to work with.

    We must move with the times. It’s a dog eat dog world out there. Do we want to be buried in debt for the next 25 years, unable to spend properly to give us the very best chance to win Sam? That is where we are heading. If we are forced to operate on a shoestring…we may as well forget about Sam.

    Personally, I feel we need full time commerical/marketing/biz dev team. That is more important than a good coaching team, or certainly on a par.

    Case in point. I come over from the UK for games regularly. For the Kildare game, I emailed the CB asking whether they do corporate “packages/ticket”. I had no qualms paying 250eur a ticket for 4 tickets (as I don’t have time to be faffing about on Ticketmaster etc) , for good seats in the Hogan. I was met with “we don’t do corporate tickets” and nothing else. I was basically offering the CB extra cash for little to no work on their part. It’s honestly no surprise we are buried in debt with attitudes like that.

    I honestly could give them an employee of mine. He would cost them 150k, but he would bring them in 1m a year extra in revenue. We need to wake up.

18. Great article in the Western from Anthony Hennigan calling out the nonsense around McStays claims he was snubbed as the only candidate in 2014. Great title too! Not a divine right to get the job because you shout loudest.

19. Mayomick2 is right the money for Mayo gaa is there in England and USA. Pity when we advertised for a commercial director noone suitable applied.
    I wonder could Mayo GAA employ a marketing company to develope the commercial side of the business and organise fundraising in USA etc

20. Two yellows, saw that earlier very interesting read. Genuinely no recollection of that being how it panned out back then and took for granted McStays quotes were accurate!!

21. @ mayomick2 Mayo did not play Kildare in croke park this year. Could anybody please tell me what does ”faffing” mean.

22. jimbo you must have missed Jordan Flynn’s excellent lob of the Kildare keeper to score a goal in injury time. You should watch if back.

23. @ Jimbo ‘faffing’ similar to ‘ bollicsing’ I think.

24. Jimbo, so where did Mayo play Kildare? I seem to remember being in Croker for the match.

25. The heat has me confused . I could only think of the league game I was at in carrick on shannon. I apologise to mayomick2. We need people like you to get involved in helping the Mayo county board to raise funds.

26. @ Gizmobbs, @ Two yellows, can’t belive that is the reality of the way the selection actually occurred. Fair play to Anthony Hennigan for actually going back and fact checking.

27. Peter Casey – I’ve deleted that gratuitous swipe at the end of your comment. There really is no call to be posting stuff like that here and I’m certainly not giving you a platform to do so.

28. Sorry didn’t think asking if Kevin McStay would apologise for misrepresenting something that he stated in his book and numerous interviews was unreasonable.

29. That’s not what you said, Peter, and you well know it. You went well beyond that and you know that too.

30. An all access Mayo documentary is something we most definitely do not want. I can’t think of one single positive from such a circus. No manager worth his salt would allow one anyway.

31. Didn’t Padraig Joyce say Galway had someone filming them this year, similar stuff to A Year Til Sunday.

    Don’t see anything wrong with it personally, but I think some people are overestimating the GAA market if you think it’ll come close to clearing the MacHale Park debt.

32. @Wideball, It wouldn’t have to come close to clearing the McHale park debt.

33. Didn’t the Comer Group do “A Year Til Sunday”? They’re quite close to Galway GAA and may well be fairly willing to accommodate them in terms of the overall message of any documentary.

    Mayo GAA would not be an easy sell to the global audiences that the big streaming platforms target and in any case, Drive to Survive gets a lot of complaints from Formula One fans about manufacturing drama between drivers and teams where it doesn’t exist, misrepresenting team audio, driving controversial narratives etc.

    In any case, given some of the opining from some of the county board members on social media recently, it’s fairly safe to assume that Mayo GAA won’t be dipping its toes into those particular waters any time soon, if ever. And maybe that’s a good thing.

34. That piece by Anthony Hennigan in the Western People is nasty enough in my opinion. He has shown a clear favoritism for Ray Dempsey but his attack on Kevin McStay is strange and very selective. He is making an issue out of something that isn’t an issue and it’s a reminder of how vicious things have got in Mayo football circles. Whoever gets the job will get huge grief. It’s sad really. We’re a very divided county.

35. It was Pat Comer, the sub goalkeeper at the time and also current goalkeeping coach

    Anyone catch any of the club action across the border over the weekend?

    No real upsets, although a few standout individual performances, Barry McHugh, Eoin Mannion and Peter Cooke who weren’t on this year’s county panel come to mind. It has come to the point for Joyce that he has to try and come up with some agreement with Cooke, he’s a phenomenal talent who will always be a massive addition to the county setup

    Some interesting games in Dublin too, with plenty of veterans lining out – McMahon (full forward!), McAuley, Bernard (off the bench) and Mossie Quinn at the tender age of 41! Con still wasn’t back for Cuala so any talks of him playing a potential all ireland semi replay were way off the mark

    In relation to the Mayo games would that be Westport’s strongest side or can these games be more “shadow boxing” so to speak? Its a big year for them.. time for them to make a breakthrough. On another note I see Eoin O’Donoghue has transferred overseas this will be some loss to Belmullet

36. @yew_tree, @it means nothing to me, The thing is, the finances seem to be a shambles. If we bury our head in the sands, resources will get drained away from the Senior team. Underage development will also suffer. We can still win SAM but less resources statistically should mean our chances are diminished. I don’t want that.

    From the outside, I don’t see any urgency from a commercial standpoint. Maybe I am wrong, as I am not watching developments week in week out. Is it true they have not managed to appoint a commercial director? If so, heads should roll. Totally unacceptable.

    A docu series, is not everybody’s cup of tea, certainly the older crowd. But it’s a way to raise some quick cash. There are lots of other things the CB can do, but it will require change. Mayo GAA is a massive brand these days, you need to extract as much cash as possible out of that brand. Are we currently maximizing things?

    As Southmayo exile said, there is a large base well heeled mayo fans in the UK/USA that have money to spend. Do regular dinners/lunches/golf days? Get some players to attend? All basic stuff. But do these things happen? I have never been invited!

    Apologies if this comes across as a bit of a rant/criticism. It’s not. I just am fearful we are putting too much focus on the management/coaching set up whilst neglecting the commercial side. It’s not something people really care about, but no cash will likely = no Sam.

37. @yew_tree.

    Sure isn’t Mayo football ” all access ” anyway as it stands.

    They could call it ” nothing to see here “.

    Or have an ” all axes ” TV Documentary. Now that might make some serious money and the injury list would probably be the same as we’ve had over the past number of years.

38. Ciaran – Westport have nearly half their team in America right now. Although Garrymore have players missing too.

39. Thanks Wide Ball

    Some absolute cracking weather over the weekend for heading to club champ games, and some more promised this weekend too – there’s nothing better…

    such a shame Mayo are so far behind in starting their championship. Between football AND hurling, only Fermanagh & Tyrone football are starting their championships later

40. Club championship should be well under way now in mayo. long enough finished intercounty for it to be up and running. I’ve no problem with lads wanting to go on holidays so let them go if they wish and good luck to them and hope they have the time of their lives but play championship football with the rest when the weather is good and a dry pitch and not this shite of October football in the cold and wet.

41. We always have to do things arse ways in this county, could be having the time of our lives looking at good quality football this coming weekend

42. @Mayo Mick 2: I actually agree with you in terms of needing to revamp the commercial/ communications aspect of Mayo GAA. IMO we probably need a full-time Commercial Officer (preferably with professional corporate experience), to avoid future messes of the type we currently have. I would also recommend that we overhaul the way PR is managed, because the noises coming out of the county board recently regarding Mayo fans and social media are very old-fashioned.

    But I am not convinced that a “no holds barred” documentary on one of the big tech platforms would be the way to go. I would fear that rather than reflecting positively on Mayo GAA and its senior football team, there would be a lot of potential for further mockery and divisiveness. “Sunderland Til I Die”, for instance, was supposed to be a celebration of that club’s triumphant return to the Premier League, but almost turned into a mockumentary on corporate misgovernance and relegation on the pitch. Likewise the Dispatches documentary in the early 1990s on Graham Taylor’s abortive World Cup qualification campaign with the England National Team.

    And indeed, for anyone who follows Formula One, the Haas’ teams disastrous sponsorship deal with a dodgy energy drinks company and general tensions within the team. All these things get hyped up to the max on Netflix.

    Moreover, does anyone know what sort of wedge Mayo GAA could realistically be targeting via Netflix or Amazon Prime? The examples discussed earlier on this thread include Manchester City, Arsenal and Formula One, all publicly listed companies (and global brands) backed by either oligarchs or American private equity funds. I imagine that their bargaining power is huge relative to any GAA team due to their worldwide fanbase.

    I guess there are some documentaries on the likes of Netflix addressing amateur sport (the excellent Last Chance U series, for example, focusing on American student athletes), but again, they offer a huge market and the production company probably doesn’t have to pay any of the players due to the very stringent NCAA rules, which interpret amateurism (non-payment of athletes) in a far more prohibitive way than the GAA does.

    A Year Til Sunday worked because Galway won the All-Ireland, and they trusted the lad doing the documentary, who I’m told happened to be on the panel! Can’t see Leeroy or Aido taking up the clapper board.

43. Mayo Mick,I agree we should certainly try new ideas to did the county of debt,it is ruining the club’s who could do with the revenue themselves,but whilst we have yes men to allow this to happen nothing will change

44. Could the county board ones please have a look at how Kerry GAA do their business. A new 400 thousand house in Killarney raffled last night. The county chairman spoke about to keep bringing trophies back to Kerry the big money is needed. All clubs sold tickets and former/present players were involved. Oh and Sam Maguire was there too for the raffle! Meanwhile the clubs here handlng over 25 grand per month for years and years to come. Its insane. We have Dermot Butler then giving out about something or other every week in the Mayo News..

45. Open up the dome to the public with maybe one or two county stars on show might bring in a bit of revenue. It’s doing nothing most of the time.

46. This split season is already a total farce. No championship till September despite exiting the all Ireland series in June?
    Agreee with all points on the club leagues being totally devalued in Mayo.
    It seems the group that are being facilitated the most, at the expense of all others, are a small bunch of players who want to play ball in America for the summer and have a bit of craic.
    Meanwhile back in Mayo, hundreds and hundreds of their club player compatriots are hanging around playing nothing matches between themselves for the best 10 weeks of weather of the entire year, waiting for them to come back. Walkovers in div 4 and 5 nearly every weekend, have clubs like Lacken or moygownagh even played 3 adult league games all year without walkovers?
    You couldn’t make it up.
    They worst thing of all about this daft split season is the timing that the GAA public are exposed to the top players in the game at IC level.
    In a good year, a GAA fan might be lucky to watch David Clifford play 11 or 12 games for Kerry or Lee Keegan play 11 or 12 for Mayo between league and championship.
    As things stand, I’d say that 8 of those games will likely be played in horrible weather conditions in Feb and March. Probably the two worst months of the year for pitch conditions, rain, cold, wind etc etc.
    I’m not sure what the answer is but this current bastardised version of the playing calendar is certainly not it. There has to be a better way. I can’t see any winners in it apart from the few bucks in America. The august bank holiday weekend was always associated with top level Gaelic games.
    This year gaa fans had to stay up at midnight watching a dodgy stream of an exhibition match in Chicago to get their fix of top level GAA that weekend. Crazy.
    .

47. Tellin ye, some county is going to do that Netflix or Amazon series and they won’t look outside of Kerry, Mayo or Dublin.
    The way to earn a decent fee is to have more than one bidder.
    Mayo would draw a global audience.
    A Vancouver timber yard is getting a global audience.
    A Texas cheer squad, no one cares much about Cheer.
    It will be done, we will miss the boat, that’s my prediction and done within the next two years.

48. Haha @jp. Good to know I am not the only one watching Big Timber! Slightly better than Ice Road Truckers.

49. @Goagain. You have hit the nail on the head there. And regards Dermot Butler giving out…funny you mention it. He was talking about leaks in the mayonews this week. Do we really need to have these meetings cloaked in secrecy? Maybe I am being naive here? But surely by producing a releasing minutes for every meeting you stop all the rumours? Nothing should be secret…its a public organisation imo.

50. @Mayomick2, I do admit I like an episode o Big Timber 🙂
    I’ve noticed a trend I life.
    When a micro trend of people say “I wonder would x happen now”
    Then it’s coming shortly down the track.
    I said way back to an engineer, do you think a market for anti virus on phones, he laughed in my face at the notion.

51. I was watching 1989 Reeling in the Years earlier and reading Sean Rice ‘s article about that summer. How have we not won even one since? Not a big hopeful amything will change especially when the delegates cannot get the top table ones to say how much is actually still owed on the debt at the last two county board meetings & yet the clubs have to just cough up the levies.

52. Whats the worst that could happen if the county board defaulted on the loan and couldnt pay Croke Park back? They’d reposess McHale park? Kick us out of the championship? Couldnt see either of those things happening but can see clubs going to the wall if theyre expected to shoulder any more of the burden

53. Ah yeah, but big timber and the cheerleaders is the Yankees exporting their culture, big cachet internationally for that. Same for the two North American actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenny taking over Wrexham FC and making a documentary on it.

    Nobody cares about Gaelic football outside of the Irish communities abroad, sad to say.

54. I admire Counties like Kilkenny/kerry.. Few days, bang.. Manager sorted…
    Once again Mayo is great viewing to everyone. A big drwan out fuss and side show and the pop corn eaters will only love to be laughing at us again if it backfires.
    Can we not do anything quietly…?
    I feel there is so much sniping going on, whomever gets it will be fighting the tide straight away. I said day one I’d like an outsider. This is exactly why….

55. I agree that the county board (CB ) are missing out on revenue from the Mayo Brand and I am worried that the clubs will be burdened with financing the CB debt . The CB have failed in getting a commercial director so it’s time to move on. They should hire a professional marketing/PR firm on a basic fee and a % of revenue generated. I’m sure many former and current players would make themselves available for promotions/ events etc. The CB need to start thinking outside the box before it’s too late.

56. @Moose79 – You are right whoever gets it will divide opinion.

    My main worry is we will lose high calibre coaches to other counties because the process we are taking. The likes of Roscommon will be doing everything they can to get a donie buckley on board and most counties would love to have a stephen rochford as a coach. Why would any high calibre coach sit around for 6 weeks waiting to find out if they got the mayo gig and risk not taking another job if approached.