Mayo to seek 'major' funding for new training facility

Facilities are a ‘major issue’ for Mayo county teams and the County Board will be ‘unapologetic’ about 'seeking major financial support' for a proposed training facility in Bohola.

An official announcement on this facility is expected to be made at tomorrow’s (Wednesday) Mayo GAA County Convention in the Great National Hotel in Ballina.

In his annual report, Mayo GAA secretary Ronan Kirrane said the lack of facilities for inter-county teams is having a ‘massive impact’ in Mayo as well as being a national issue.

“Many clubs around the county have improved their facilities with more set to follow in the near future and it is fantastic to see that pride clubs are taking in their new facilities. The issue at county level is a much greater one,” said Mr Kirrane.

“Earlier in the year the board made an application for an LSSIF grant which was unsuccessful. This was a major disappointment for the county, especially when you see some of the amounts given to other counties and other codes.

"Bear in mind that Mayo never received so much a cent for the stand in Hastings Insurance MacHale Park, nor did we receive funding for resurfacing of the pitch.

“With the acquisition of lands in Bohola we now enter an opportunity to create something that will greatly improve the lives of all our players for generations to come.

“We will be sitting down with elected representatives both locally and from Dáil Éireann, and we will be unapologetic about seeking major financial support for this project in the very near future.” 

Another challenge for Mayo GAA is demographics, with many rural clubs here and throughout the country struggling for numbers while clubs in built-up areas struggling to cater for many. Mr Kirrane fear that many rural clubhouses will close permanently if a solution is not found.

“There has been a huge shift nationally in population to the east of the country and with rural population on the decline clubs face major issues.

“The problem is twofold. We have too many people in a concentrated area and not enough in other areas. This is leading to players in the urban areas not getting the football they need and some in rural areas getting too much, or too much expected of them.

“Are there ways to fix this problem? That remains to be seen but we must all start to think hard about the problems before clubs start to close the doors of their clubhouses for good.”