SPORT Page 1 KL.Indd

M Sport Tuesday, May 26, 2020 twitter.com/ sport@ mayonews.ie/sport facebook.com/ mayonewssport mayonewssport mayonews.ie 2 SPORT THE MAYO NEWS • TUESDAY, MAY 26, 2020 GAA NEWS Mayo GAA chiefs making provisional plans for games championship either. A proposal ‘is on the cards’ have to hope Croke Park gives Interviewiew “July 20 is the start of Phase for splitting the divisions into us guidance on these things as GER FLANAGANAN Four and that’s the day we would halves and playing semi-fi nals it will be an extremely tough gerfl [email protected] be looking at in our heads,” the and fi nals between the top and decision [to return to play] for County Board’s vice-chairman bottom two in each. The third some players. explained. “Hopefully you will and fourth finishers would “Some people have quoted the be going back to football three potentially contest a Michael Bundesliga and [English] Pre- AYO GAA chiefs or four weeks after that, mean- Walsh semi-fi nal and fi nal, so miership model to me, but the are planning for ing clubs will have three weeks as to provide them with difference is we’re a voluntary- the possible stag- training and possibly a [Divi- games. led organisation, not a profes- ing of the 2020 club sional Cup] game before cham- However, time will not be on sional one, and we can’t ask Mchampionships in pionship starts. the CCC’s side to allow that players to isolate for six weeks the months of August and Sep- “Our best case scenario is an scenario to play out. to get championship played. tember, with clubs being allowed August/September champion- How GAA clubs manage the “So we’re waiting on the Gov- to resume training in late July ship, possibly even [running] ‘return to play’ is another conun- ernment, Croke Park and the as part of Phase Four of the into October. There will be no drum facing the County Board HSE for those guidelines. The Government’s Roadmap for eas- knock-out championship – there executive, with Con Moynihan capability for mass testing is ing Covid-19 restrictions. isn’t an appetite for it. You can’t suggesting that mass testing for there… and I think Covid-19 will The chairman of Mayo GAA’s ask players to train for a number Coronavirus is the only solution be part of our lives going for- Competitions Control Commit- of weeks for one game, we don’t to give players ‘peace of ward… and that will be key for tee [CCC], Con Moynihan, told think it would be fair on them. mind’. players’ own piece of mind.” The Mayo News last night that “I don’t envisage having club “We’re lucky that Dr Sean The Ballaghaderreen native they are working off the advice football without spectators Moffatt is on the Covid-19 med- also acknowledged a ‘growing of the Government, the HSE and either,” he added. ical committee, so any return demand’ to let children back on the GAA, and are ‘ready to hit “It has been discussed, but I to play protocol will be decided to GAA pitches and knows that the ground running’ once they personally think it’s a non-run- well in advance from Croke it will benefi t them mentally get the go-ahead. ner and that is the general con- PLANNING Mayo GAA Board vice-chairman Con Moynihan. Pic: Park,” he said. and emotionally. Moynihan also revealed that sensus from talking to the Michael Donnelly “Obviously then there is each However, he admitted that it a ‘behind closed doors’ club Executive. player’s personal circum- will be diffi cult to do so until championship is a ‘non-runner’ “Who is going to stand at the Obviously, social distancing will the idea of running off the Mayo stances. further clarifi cation arrives from for the Executive of the Mayo gate and tell people who have have to be adhered to and that Senior Leagues hasn’t been dis- “Some could be living with the public health authorities County Board and he confi rmed been heavily involved in build- is one of the many questions to carded yet, but that it looks elderly parents, others may have and Croke Park offi cials on the that there are no plans to try ing a club that they can’t go in be answered by Croke Park.” unlikely that they will go ahead a pregnant wife or girlfriend or many obstacles surrounding and run off a ‘knock-out style’ and watch them playing football? Moynihan also explained that this year. already have children, so we it. Clubs raise concerns with County Board offi cials GER FLANAGAN with members of the County han told The Mayo News that even more difficult,” he said. larly, because with no players ing is difficult. The pub scene Board executive in a series of clubs are seeking answers “And the three main bug-bears playing, the claims will be is a non-runner and lottos are calls last week. from Croke Park on possible with them were the player reduced. So we will be doing going online. Senior Mayo GAA officials rebates, with some clubs sug- injury scheme, property insur- that. “We’re living in a different ONCERNS around the ‘touched base’ with secretar- gesting they were prepared ance and public liability in “There has to be a medium world now, so we’re going to GAA’s player injury ies of all clubs in the county to lobby for them in 2021. light of nothing happening. there and that’s our job as an try and help clubs out as much scheme, property last week in the wake of a let- “The general consensus from “The message from clubs is Executive in the next couple as possible and hope that insurance and public ter that was circulated to them the clubs was that they were that we will have to lobby of months to liaise with Croke Croke Park will too because Cliability insurance last month regarding plans to lucky they had membership Croke Park to see if there will Park to try and get some res- this is not just a Mayo prob- were some of the main issues collect levies and revamp the collected because if Covid-19 be a rebate or discount for pite for clubs, more than likely lem, this is a 32-county prob- raised by a number of Mayo annual Development Draw. happened in January or Feb- clubs in 2020 or 2021 on the in 2021, because we’re in a lem that will need address- GAA clubs when they spoke Vice-chairman Con Moyni- ruary, 2020 would have been player injury scheme particu- period now where fundrais- ing.” No games, no problem. We’re still here! Take a listen to The Mayo News Football Podcast • Listen at mayonews.ie • Download from iTunes • Check out MayoGAABlog.com TUESDAY, MAY 26, 2020 • THE MAYO NEWS SPORT 3 GAA MAYO NEWS TOP 100 CLUB FOOTBALLERS Chasing the dream MIKE FINNERTY LAYING for Mayo since 2011 has ‘been the best time’ of Cil- lian O’Connor’s life. The Ballintubber star has been Pselected as the number one senior player in the inaugural Mayo News ‘Top 100 Mayo club footballers’ and has given an exclusive interview to this week’s The buzz for Mayo News Football Podcast to mark the occasion. me is the When O’Connor was asked by inter- viewer Billy Joe Padden how he refl ected “ common goal on his Mayo career, given that he hadn’t yet managed to win an elusive All-Ireland senior medal, he explained that ‘it’s been an absolute dream’. “It’s been the best time of my life. Get- ting to play for Mayo since I was 18 or 19 with men that I have huge respect for, have great craic with, great friends. It’s been an absolute dream really, I’ve loved it. “Obviously we’d like to have won a few more games than we have — but the buzz for me was the common goal, the common purpose, making sacrifi ces, pulling together, fi guring stuff out. Be it in sport or work or whatever you’re doing. That’s what I get my kicks out of. “So I’ve enjoyed it immensely. And I hope I can do it for another while.” During the course of their wide-ranging and in-depth chat, Padden also asked O’Connor how he was adapting to the sporting shutdown after ten years of a hectic GAA schedule with both Ballintub- ber and Mayo. “That’s the big thing you miss, the social element to it. You’re used to a clear struc- ture, meeting your buddies during the week, the bit of slagging, the competition in training, and you’re losing all of that. “It was a bit weird at the start, we all kind of enjoyed maybe a week or two away from each other, had a bit of break, but then you start to miss it. And you think, ‘Right, I better set my week up a bit dif- ferently here. And you have to make a conscious effort to keep in contact with sessions in, don’t stress about when we’ll “I know it probably sounds funny, but I A FAMILIAR POSE one replay) and nine All-Ireland semi- lads on WhatsApp or calls or Snapchat be back’. consider myself quite lucky when it comes Ballintubber’s Cillian O’Connor fi nals (winning four).

Load more