Criticism at dropping of players from Mayo senior panel

A county board delegate has voiced his frustration that the new Mayo senior football management was removing players from the senior football panel while the early rounds of the Mayo senior club championship were in progress.

Garrymore delegate John Farragher said it was always his understanding that when Mayo get knocked out of the championship, that was the dissolving of the panel.

This year, he had been informed that some players were dropped off the panel during the recent senior club championship and was of the opinion that no player should be removed from the county panel during the club championship.

“There should be no involvement with management and players until the preliminary rounds of the championship are over,” said Farragher, who added that while management have the right to pick who they want on the panel, it should not be done while players and their clubs are preparing for the club championships.

Mayo GAA chairman Seamus Tuohy supported Farragher’s comments, saying that they must be conscious of the welfare of the players, and players can react in different ways when dropped off a panel.

“It’s a challenging situation for any management team but the timing is also important,” added Mr Tuohy, who also said that while the County Board will speak to the management on the matter, he assured nothing was done intentionally.”