The annual Mayo GAA County Convention takes place this coming Sunday in Ballina. As well as the normal business that needs to be got through at Sunday’s gathering, delegates will also get to hear from the man of the moment, with newly-installed manager Stephen Rochford invited to speak at the event. That alone should, I reckon, guarantee a good turnout.
In addition, there are three Officer posts to be decided on at the Convention. Long-serving Treasurer JP Lambe is stepping down, with Kevin O’Toole and Sean Feeney in contention to replace him. PRO Aiden McLoughlin is also leaving the top table and there’s a four-way contest for this position, featuring Paul Cunnane (Davitts), Brendan Geraghty (Burrishoole), Enda Munnelly (Kilfian) and Tom Reynolds (Westport). The honorary position of President is also up for grabs, with Kilmaine’s PJ McGrath in the frame to replace the outgoing Jim Fleming.
Won’t they also be deciding on the Liasion Officer between the CB and the Senior panel or will that roll-over?
I don’t know if that’s one for the Convention, Sarsfielder. As I understand it, the liaison officer position is always (i.e. not just last year, when it became such a focus of attention) occupied either by the Chairman, Secretary or Treasurer.
Where is the photo off WJ? They are the seats that should.be in McHale Park instead we have the blue seats
Great to see the youth having a go for the vacant positions .
I’m delighted to hear a new pro is been appointed
I’m going to have a guess and say the seats are in Owenbeag,Derry.They have a nice stand with the proper colours we should have in Mchale Park up there.
I would speculate they are seats from Inniskeen in Monaghan? Only green and red seats I’ve ever got to sit in!
John cuffe,I can only guess that your tongue is stuck to your cheek with that comment. Obviously the treasurer’s job is being kept in house.
I might have them mixed up alright.
Top marks Digits! Iniskeen it is, the photo dates from our league match against Monaghan which was played there back in April 2011. Very nice looking seats they are too.
Outcome of heavyweight contest at Convention should tell us much about the relative strengths of the two divides within Mayo G.A.A. Liason Officer not for decision until a later date, but it is hoped that lessons will be learned from previous ill concieved appointments in this regard and a sensible decision will be made this time round.
Why couldn’t we have green and red seats like that in Mchale park. It would really transform the place. As i said before, if Croker ever goes all seater, them blue seats should be ripped out of Mchale and planted on the hill !!!. Replace them then with lovely green and red. Or can they not be just painted or sprayed or something.
Just in case you all think our County Board is the source of all evil, today’s Examiner has some really juicy stuff on the goings on in the Kildare County Board. Some current officers being challenged by Supporters’s Club reps.
One of the damning stats (amongst a lot of others) that is being flung around is: 3 Leinster titles since 1935. That really says it all.
Re the colour of the seats in MacHale park, I don’t give a damn if the results are right. Incidentally I think that the photo shows the seats in Inniskean as green and maroon rather than green and red.
Re the Liaison officer position, I thought that Mike Connolly held the position as Vice Chairman. In my own opinion the position should be held by somebody who is some distance from the principal officers of the Board.
A very interesting contest on Sunday for the Treasurers position. Kevin O Toole and Sean Feeney,both were previous officers of the County Board and from neighbouring clubs of Tourmakeady and Ballintubber.
Treasurers position is very important given the level of debt we are in and the serious fundraising that is required in the next few year. Could somebody give me some details on the 2 men that are looking for the job ie Age, Qualifications, Occupation etc.
Looks like it will be a very emotional day at the Convention with JP stepping down – a legend in his own lifetime – no doubt there will be more tears shed. I wonder will the two applicants for the job have to undergo an interview.
Just a heads’ up: Mayo GAA Season Tickets have been on sale on GAA Tickets since last Tuesday for NEW customers. None available to new customers before that date! Surprisingly there are some still available! I was certain that with hype around the new set up that they would have sold out in jig time! What can we conclude from that???
They are the Club + tickets which didnt sell out last year either. They are €200 euro each and have come up for sale just as the christmas trees are going up. Its not everyone that has €200 to spare in the weeks before christmas. Limited no of croke park season tickets came on sale during the week and were sold out in about an hour unadvertised. Along with Dublin we are the only county in Ireland to sell out all our Croke Park Season tickets and we still have alot of people who would like to buy more if they were available. All i can conclude from that is we must be the best supported county in Ireland and we seem to be gaining more supporters every year.
Thanks Done Deal for the correction regarding Mayo Season tickets 2016. I am after double checking and the only tickets left are the 200 euro ones! I had not a Season ticket for previous years but had emailed Gaa tickets this September enquiringly whether Mayo Season tickets 2016 were available. They replied that there were none available to new customers but that they would email me if some did become available. They did email me on November the 30th and advised me that a limited number would be for sale at 10am on Dec 1st. I applied and was successful. I agree that 200 euro is quite expensive and regret that some supporters were unsuccessful. I agree with you about Mayo supporters being tops!
I don’t know much about the two men seeking the treasurer’s position on Sunday except that Kevin O’Toole once went out of his way to ensure I collected a ticket for Croke Park when the postal service let me down.
Little seemed to be done in recent years re supporters club fundraising. Cairde Maigh Eó is the only authorised supporters club for Mayo GAA under Croke Park rules and I would hope to see more activity there in future, perhaps with prematch lunches, esp for away games, etc.
AndyD, there was an article in the Mayo News this week that referenced the county finances:
“Outgoing Mayo GAA Board treasurer JP Lambe, who will be stepping down next Sunday after 18 years in the position, indicated that he will be reporting a surplus at Convention. The Garrymore clubman revealed that Mayo took in almost €3 million in 2015, compared to €270,000 when he first took up the position in 1997.”
Now, 1997 is a long time ago and of course you would expect a significant increase within such a period, but I wonder how an intake of €3m, which sounds quite decent, compares with other counties? And when taking our debt into consideration, how it works out? Regardless, it seems like a positive update.
I fully agree that there is great potential to grow Cairde Maigh Eo, and use it as a tool to engage supporters and build long-term relationships with them, rather than simply using it as a utility and a means of making money in the short term. I would hope that whoever steps into JP Lambe’s shoes has such a strategy in mind – though I would, as usual, argue that a fundraising strategy needs investment from the outset in order to deliver on a long-term basis. But now, while supporter engagement is at what is probably an all-time high for the county – is the time to continue investing in that strategy. The player welfare lotto was a good start – but there is plenty more to do.
Looking forward to seeing the outcomes of both contests on Sunday.
You’re at home now Anne Marie , you’d be a massive addition to Mayo GAA in that type of role as treasurer . Would you consider it in the future ? Be good for changing the making sandwichs thing too , two birds one stone .
Myself and a friend bought the 200e tickets.I don’t know fully what this entitles us to and don’t know for sure what the difference between these and the 99e ones are.I know there’s a jacket involved and that’s about it! Some posters on here have been good enough to reply but there is nothing concrete online about this.With this in mind you can be understand why a lot of folks are holding back at shelling out 200e in Dec.
I agree completely with you Anne Marie with regard to fundraising. I think Anne Marie would make a great treasurer [1]
Cairde was a great start, but nothing more.The Players Lotto is a fantastic idea also and shows that there are people out there ready to support this team provided the correct channels are in place and are well organised.
On the Cairde tickets I think they are poorly marketed but represent great value for money. There should be some promotion going on in October at the latest in good time for the Christmas market. There should be better ways to pay for them like direct debit
Special promotions for buying before Christmas, Special pricing for fans that live outside of Ireland. I like the ticket for a number of reasons like.:
It always provides really good seating for the big games, from Limerick to Croke Park I will admit that I have been very pleased always regarding the positioning of Cairde members. This ensures that you will always be sitting beside someone that is as bad as yourself about Mayo football on big match days. What is that really worth, its Priceless.
I go to a lot more Championship games during the summer, some by chance. others by design but it is all really enjoyable and a chance to meet with some great people.
I never buy hats or flags but the house is full of team merchandising and that is great also.
I go to all our league games and championship games but even if I did not, someone has to pay for the high standards we all crave for, and I am willing to put my money on the line to that end
Fw –
Both tickets €200 and€99 entitle you to
Free admission to all national league football games including semi final or finals including national football league games that mayo are not playing in.
You get free admission to first round of championship with both.
You get €5 off all champ games except prov final and all Ireland with both .
Free admission to all ireland club final with both.
With €200 ticket you get a ‘free’ jacket, you also get entry to club championship games at adult level with €200 ticket.
With €99 one you have to go to 60% of games to qualify to buy ticket if mayo get to final. With €200 ticket you get (buy) ticket for final even if you have been at no games all year.
Any other questions fire ahead.
3 million seems like a good enough figure alright but you cannot compare it to a figure of nearly 20 years ago.
The figure of 270000 taken in back then would not cover the repayments on the debt we got into with the new stand.
You would really want to see a breakdown of the 3m. How much of this came from croke park, how much came from grants, how much came from gate receipts, cairde tickets, sponsors how much came from fundraising etc. Are we getting enough out of fundraising and sponsorship?
The county board is dealing in big money now. Things are going good for the last few years. Like all good things these good years are not guaranteed to last so we need to be building up a surplus now.
We should really have people with financial or marketing qualifications in charge of our finances and fundraising for the county.
Kerry went to US this summer and raised over 1 million euro. I don’t think there is anybody on here who needs reminding what happened when we went over.
Thanks done deal,much appreciated.
Do you know if you can arrange tickets beside friends at CP games?
Also Ive seen the season ticket credit card style cards.Are they similar with CM?
Thanks again
Fw I’m not sure, I think cm ticket holders had trouble grouping with €99 tickets last year but it might be different this year. If you log into your account there is a seating group option on the top and if you have details of friends accounts you can set up seating group that way. Also if you email season ticket office they are very helpful.
Both tickets do look the same.
Stephen Rochford spoke last night and expects no retirements and has all last year’s squad in place, Alan Dillon and Andy Moran as well as Michael Conroy are carrying knocks and will miss early season. This is apart from Cillian.
He is not buying into the lot of ‘mileage’ issue.
Courtesy of Michael Clifford on Daily Mail.
Some more info here from last night’s press conference:
http://www.irishexaminer.com/sport/gaa/stephen-rochford-looking-to-create-history-with-mayo-369653.html
Thanks again HSE (regulary as clockwork at 7:50am) and Ciaran 2.
Interesting that he plans to ‘blood’ 10 to 12 new players over the FBD and early league. Then again with Dillo, Mickey C, Andy out and the Castlebar lads not available, that leaves definite opportunities for newbies.
Let the speculation begin!
Treasurer? PJ McManus you are the man for the job based on the above – and a great ambassador for Cairde Maigh Eo to boot! Sean like any good woman I can multitask but I’d be fierce unwilling to compromise the quality of my sandwiches. That and the fact that there are two new candidates up for the job and I am sure they will bring their own ideas to the table 🙂 Done Deal you are of course spot on.
Re grouping season tickets, based on a conversation I had with them this week about something else I was left with the impression that you still cannot mix the Croke Park season tickets and the Cairde Mhaigh Eo ones in seating groups which is a shame, but I didn’t clarify that so someone else might confirm that with them just to be sure.
Amazed that there have been no retirements from the squad this year. And needless to say, over the moon that we will have the benefit of their expertise for another year. The experience that our older lads will bring to the setup will be invaluable.
Kevin o Toole is a businessman and a good one too. He is very financially astute and helps people in his area with their business affairs. He along with Diskin from Castlebar devised the Cairde Maigh Eo ticket. I feel he is well qualified to do the job. Give the guy a chance.
Sinabhuil – I’m not knocking anyone, I know nothing about the man. Simply stating that the county board is dealing in big money now and like in any business a good financial controller is very important.
What line of business in Kevin o Toole in?
Also what is the difference between the club plus ticket devised by croke park and the cairde maigheo ticket?