Major landmark proves a game-changer for leading Mayo club

It's amazing how a major landmark in an organisation's existence can inspire moments of excellence.

That's what has happened at Castlebar Celtic FC where the marking of the club's centenary has been a game-changer in greatly enhancing its standing within the community.

Before proceeding, this writer has a duty to declare a strong passion for the club, having stood on the sidelines as a reporter for many years as well as having been directly involved at different levels at various junctures.

It had long been my view that Celtic never really received the true credit it deserved for its achievements on and off the field of play.

The reason, I long suspected, was due to a lack of respect by those who rarely frequented Celtic Park and did not witness the kind of magic that is regularly conjured in a lovely corner of Pavilion Road.

It is true, too, that soccer was unfairly and unjustly regarded as somewhat of a second class sport in the county town in times past, even though it was played by first class athletes with imagination, skill and character.

It was odd, I felt, that big matches at Celtic Park rarely attracted the attendances they deserved. Well, the members of the public who decided not to go were invariably at a loss when it came to witnessing golden sporting moments.

Now, moving the clock forward to 2024, local soccer is no longer deemed inferior to any other sport and can hold its head high. And rightly so.

However, there is a glaring deficiency when one closely examines the extent of under-investment in soccer facilities compared to the level of investment in other sporting infrastructure.

This gap needs to be bridged to a significant degree for clubs like Castlebar Celtic to reach where it wants to go over the next 20 years or go without having to turn children away.

Celtic, for example, currently finds itself in a position where it does not have enough of changing rooms for its female and male teams and is forced to turn to Mayo County Council to seek the acquisition of a vacant building on an adjacent site, a process that won't be straightforward due to an asbestos roof on the property.

With the right support and understanding, it can happen while the promised provision of phase two of the Mayo Sports Hub at Knockaphunta will help, too, in terms of a shortage of playing pitches.

There is no appetite at Celtic Park to move out of its ancestral home and do what great rivals, Westport United, have done thanks to the backing a massive government and other funding, an achievement for which United deserve immense credit and admiration.

Consequently, Celtic urgently need the two proposals in question to progress in its favour and turn out to be, as the FAI's interim chief executive David Courell described, 'the crowning moment' of the club's memorable centenary.

There will be some who may suggest, perhaps unfairly, that this falls short of being ambitious enough.

But the reality is that pragmatism has been a core value throughout Castlebar Celtic's 100-year history and it has served the club well to date.

Congratulations Castlebar Celtic. and best wishes for the future.