All clubs had call on county players

MAYO county board has moved today to clarify their position in relation to county players being available to their clubs at the weekend. A number of clubs were annoyed over the fact that some players were under pressure to chose between club and county, Kevin McLoughlin from Knockmore being a case in point as he didn’t play for his club.

County chairman Paddy McNicholas said county players were obliged to play for their clubs at the weekend if called on to do so. A few clubs were in the happy position that they didn’t have to call on their county players, notably Castlebar Mitchels, but Ballintubber, Ballaghaderreen, Breaffy, Davitts and Westport had all their county men on duty.

It is understood that Mayo manager James Horan indicated to his players that they should avoid playing for their club unless the club needed them to either qualify for the knockouts stages or were in danger of being demoted, but ultimately it was up to the players to make the decision. Knockmore had already qualified but manager Nigel Reape was without Kevin McLoughlin. “I’m not making any bones about losing to Garrymore but that loss now means we finish second and to have any chance of getting further in the championship we will be forced to play the likes of Castlebar, Breaffy or Ballaghaderreen, who won their groups,” he said.

Breaffy, who had already qualified, fielded both O’Shea brothers, Seamus and Aiden, while Ballintubber had to play a strong hand against Crossmolina to secure their place in the quarterfinals as Alan Dillon, Cillian O’Connor and Jason Gibbons lined out. Donal Vaughan played a key role in helping Ballinrobe defeat Kiltane, while Andy Moran played a major part in helping Ballaghaderreen see off the challenge of Charlestown and Alan Freeman put in a huge shift to help Aghamore qualify.