Mayo Team for the Eircom League ?

**Thunderblaster** · 27/04/2006, 11:37 PM

Originally Posted by pixiehead

As for the Eircom league rumour

Why not set up a separate thread to discuss a Westport/Castlebar/Mayo team entering into the Eircom League in the future.

---Mod Edit:Keep this thread about football not personalities.-------------

**swinfordfc** · 28/04/2006, 10:52 AM

So outside westport or castlebar, the rest of mayo doesn't play soccer or are no good at it?

So a good player in erris or ballina cant play for mayo - you wanna look at this statement !!!!!!! so you want just the two above club to try to sign players from other clubs (which some are trying as we speak) ie 2 big clubs in mayo, what about the other approx 40 clubs? to hell with them

thats plain daft.

**Mad Moose** · 28/04/2006, 11:38 AM

On paper and given the recent developments in Mayo football the idea sounds good. That depends on how this comes about. If you have a Mayo League then it becomes a side for the people and clubs of Mayo. If its Castlebar Celtic or Westport Utd they may find themselves isolated and even resented. I've looked at the relationship between Finn Harps and the rest of the Donegal League.Despite increased links at youth level particularly it hasn't been altogether successful.The underage internationals haven't tended to join Harps and have joined say for example Institute and UCD. THE RELATIONSHIP CAN BECOME THAT MORE DETATCHED. ITS ALL A MATTER OF HOW THE ASPIRING CLUB SETS ITSELF UP AND FOSTERS ITS RELATIONSHIP. THERE CAN BE A DIRECT OR INDERECT SNOBBERY ASSOCIATED WITH REACHING THE PINNACLE OF FOOTBALL IN THE COUNTRY.IT DOESNT NECESSARILY MEAN THE CLUB IS BETTER. (Sorry I left caps on).

Brendan

**harpskid** · 28/04/2006, 1:15 PM

Originally Posted by Harpsbear

Despite increased links at youth level particularly it hasn't been altogether successful.The underage internationals haven't tended to join Harps and have joined say for example Institute and UCD

What of Marc Mokendi, Chris Breen, Shaun Mc Gowan...

What underage internationals have joined 'Stute?

**Patrick Dunne** · 28/04/2006, 6:00 PM

Most of the Harps players tend to be from Donegal or the surrounding areas, compared to teams like Longford/Monaghan/Drogheda/Kildare where very few if any of the team are locals.

**Mad Moose** · 29/04/2006, 1:12 PM

Marc Mokendi is on loan from Derry City and Chris and Wizzy as their families before them are Twin Towns and Harps through and through. Lots of youth players went from Donegal to the youth set up at 'Stute. Its a well known fact.

Back to the topic at hand and the Mayo League.Castlebar looks pretty class today and Linenhall St is a sea of green and white.How fantastic for Mayo football is this current situation with Castlebar Celtic in the Semi Finals of the Junior Cup tomorrow following on from the success of Westport Utd. The future is bright for Mayo Football. Anything is possible.

Brendan

**harpskid** · 29/04/2006, 3:37 PM

Originally Posted by Harpsbear

Marc Mokendi is on loan from Derry City and Chris and Wizzy as their families before them are Twin Towns and Harps through and through. Lots of youth players went from Donegal to the youth set up at 'Stute. Its a well known fact.

Yes, but they're still underage internationals and play for harps, so your point that underage internationals haven't tended to join the club is incorrect.

**pixiehead** · 30/04/2006, 6:20 PM

Originally Posted by swinfordfc

So outside westport or castlebar, the rest of mayo doesn't play soccer or are no good at it?
So a good player in erris or ballina cant play for mayo - you wanna look at this statement !!!!!!! so you want just the two above club to try to sign players from other clubs (which some are trying as we speak) ie 2 big clubs in mayo, what about the other approx 40 clubs? to hell with them

thats plain daft.

I dont think hes saying that but Celtic and westport are long established clubs with huge man power and money and attract good players. In all fairness nobody else would be good enough or more proffesional to take the plunge. castlebar and westport are the two main towns anyhow. why who else did you see in the running, Ballyvary, Fahy, Swinford???

Seriously Theyd be lucky to get 10 fans at every game Tee Hee

**hamish** · 30/04/2006, 6:36 PM

I've said before that I'd love to see a Mayo EL side but couldn't it be something like the Kildare County model? Newbridge Town still exist but host Kildare County.
Here's an important thing though - is there a big enough industry infrastructure in Mayo which could provide sponsorship and maybe, like Longford, have some wealthy local businessmen/women to "drive" a Mayo County club.
You could also do what Galway United and the Galway FA are doing - Castlebar Celtic, Westport United, Manulla FC, Mayo League etc could have a certain number of directors/administrators on a Mayo County FC board. Not too sure if the rules would allow this though.
Like your excellent local TD, Jerry Cowell, you'd really need an energetic, talented and aggressive pointman/woman to kick start the process. Given the fantastic facilities built in Mayo by soccer folks up there, surely there is one or two amongst you who would take this on?

**Thunderblaster** · 01/05/2006, 3:20 PM

If you look at the Eircom League picture, you have three clubs from Ulster, four from Munster, seven from Leinster (excluding Dublin), six from Dublin and two from Connacht. To boost the profile in the province, I think that a third club is needed and why not a Mayo team?

**Thunderblaster** · 01/05/2006, 11:43 PM

Doing some historical research, I'm led to believe that Westport United came close to joining the League of Ireland one time. Castlebar Celtic had inklings of going down that road in recent decades. The Mayo League taking that plunge is a possibility and are possibly the best equipped to do it. If there was a national intermediate league and a national junior league and use these leagues as a pyramid to reach Eircom League level, it would be a great incentive to clubs to push themseleves to the highest level.

**swinfordfc** · 02/05/2006, 8:32 AM

Originally Posted by pixiehead

I dont think hes saying that but Celtic and westport are long established clubs with huge man power and money and attract good players. In all fairness nobody else would be good enough or more proffesional to take the plunge. castlebar and westport are the two main towns anyhow. why who else did you see in the running, Ballyvary, Fahy, Swinford???

Seriously Theyd be lucky to get 10 fans at every game Tee Hee

What about duffy ballina town, nallen's from erris, players like that?

**hamish** · 02/05/2006, 10:21 AM

Folks, I had the pleasure of being involved in schools footie when Belmullet won an Irish schools cup final back in the late 90s and they had some great footballers in that side. I believe one or two were looked at by EL clubs - surely to God there are plenty of potential EL standard players in Mayo?? We've had West port winning the Junior Cup and Castlebar getting to the last four this year plus a Mayo league side in the u-21 EL.
Up and coming players need a local EL club to aspire to as well as honing/improving all their skills at senior level. This is a pure waste of talent and some will drift in Gah where they will walk into the Mayo senior side.
A lot of good players remain in the Junior game and only kinda drift along without any real challenges to up their level of performance.
I've seen this happen when I used to bring Roscommon, Offaly,East Galway and Tipperary players to Athlone for runs with the reserves back in the 90s. It was murder for the Town coaches to rid them of bad habits they developed in the Junior game but they had potential if caught early.
No doubt, Sligo and Galway would pick up on good Mayo players but you really need a local EL club to monitor, coach and develop local players with the Mayo FA's assistance.
Westport and Castlebar didn't become good by accident - there had to be good coaches involved with these clubs - and that includes when they were kids as well. Surely to God, there are coaches capable of coaching a Mayo EL side as good as some of the managers in the EL now - I mean, look at some of the chancers who've taken the reins at EL clubs over the years.
As I posted above, is there anyone up there with the iniative to grab the bull by the horns and do something.
Look at it another way, the Kildare Junior League only started up a few years ago and there's an EL club there already - Mayo Junior League has been in existence far longer and many clubs have great facilities too.

**Ballina Town** · 02/05/2006, 11:02 AM

Start showing respect to other clubs.bit ridiculous talkin of Castlebar or any other club going down such a road. Junior League quality should remain in a Junior League.

**swinfordfc** · 02/05/2006, 1:12 PM

By the way, going on yestarday game and i'm not being disrepected to castlebar celtic here but they only play long ball game yestarday and had nothing else. is that the football we want to see people? i rest my case.

**gnasher** · 02/05/2006, 5:17 PM

It also has a lot to do with tactics boys, they probably played long ball as they thought Athenry would be weak against it and could'nt get the pasing going when they needed it.

What tactics would the Mayo EL team purport to? I know it has a lot to do with the manager but if it's made up of the cream of Mayo players then it'd have to be on the deck. For any coach worth his salt the long ball is only an option if you're playing against a team who can't defend it, not pretty to watch though so I don't think we'd go down that way.

P.S to those who think the Mayo team would be full of Castlebar Celtic players - did ye not read the thread title - it's a Mayo team, not a blow-in one.

**Thunderblaster** · 03/05/2006, 8:50 AM

Originally Posted by gnasher

It also has a lot to do with tactics boys, they probably played long ball as they thought Athenry would be weak against it and could'nt get the pasing going when they needed it.

And that is how I only ever seen Castlebar Celtic play. Long ball merchants with hard hitting tackles. I already pointed out their lack of dimension in their play. Their threat is and always will be from set pieces. For me a good Eircom League side in Mayo should get the ball down and pass it to feet, give it short, knock it into space for the player to run onto and team mates supporting, looking for the ball. The short passing game makes football looks so easy.

**The Don** · 03/05/2006, 10:23 AM

It is not possible to enter a team in the eircom league under the umbrella of the mayo league. Remember that it takes a lot more organising than getting 11 players out on a pitch. Players coaches & managers get paid at this level, would the clubs be expected to be held responsible if it came crashing down around the league. I know many clubs in the league hold debt at the moment after years of development. The only realistic way a team from mayo could enter a team in the E.L is if one of the town clubs were to go for it. Castlebar would be the obvious choice, being the largest population centre and having already got used to raising the finances to pay coaches and players.

**renovater** · 05/05/2006, 10:18 PM

The Mayo League couldn't go down this road as its there to promote and foster Junior football.
However it appears that Westport decided not to go for after it won the Junior Cup.
But did think about it. but they like Castlebar Celtic dont have a ground good enough.
On the other hand ballina may have thought about some years ago but decided other wise again at the time ground conditions was a problem / changing rooms/ showers.
That leaves Celtic who come a big base and know all about paying coaches / raising sponorship to pay players only thing they would need to do is use Milebush or sell Celtic park and move to a bigger and better grounds well they could further develop the game for there younger players so they could attract them to play at a higher level.
just a thought;

**Local scout** · 11/05/2006, 3:50 PM

Originally Posted by renovater

The Mayo League couldn't go down this road as its there to promote and foster Junior football.
However it appears that Westport decided not to go for after it won the Junior Cup.
But did think about it. but they like Castlebar Celtic dont have a ground good enough.
On the other hand ballina may have thought about some years ago but decided other wise again at the time ground conditions was a problem / changing rooms/ showers.
That leaves Celtic who come a big base and know all about paying coaches / raising sponorship to pay players only thing they would need to do is use Milebush or sell Celtic park and move to a bigger and better grounds well they could further develop the game for there younger players so they could attract them to play at a higher level.
just a thought;

no team in mayo has the resources to step up to the eircom league. who would organise things? not the mayo F.A., they are having problems with the mayo legue never mind the eircom league.