Leading Mayo GAA club giving local economy a timely injection
by Dr. Richard Martin
The Castlebar Nines festival is nearly upon us again.
It will take place this coming Easter bank holiday weekend - April 19 and 20.
For those of you who are unacquainted with what the festival is about, it’s very simple. It’s an old fashioned GAA nine a side Gaelic football competition. It will take place in the Castlebar Mitchels sports complex.
The inaugural Nines festival took place last year. It all started over a cup of coffee in Caroline’s Coffee shop in the Market Square one morning in August 2023. Ger McDonagh, Donal Newcombe, David and Conor Stenson and Stephen Keane all met for a coffee and a chat. All Mitchels stalwarts.
There was a conversation/debate in wider circles around the town at the time about the lack of night-life in the town. That for all intents and purposes the town was ‘dead’ at the weekends and something had to change.
That morning the conversation veered in that direction at the coffee table and they wondered what they could do to make a difference. In the end instead of talking and wondering and debating they decided to make things happen and do something about it.
Ger McDonagh is the ‘natural leader’ of the organising committee even though he shies away from any title. He believes the event is about community and volunteerism. And he’s right.
The festival had 94 volunteers over the Easter bank holiday weekend last year. From litter picking to bar work. Everyone pitched in. It’s impossible to list them all.
But leadership is needed to make the event a success and he is that man. Humble, deferential and respectful. Everyone follows his lead and everyone is an equal.
We are all club members. That ethos pervades the whole festival. The ethos of community, selflessness and togetherness. At its heart the GAA is tribal and this festival epitomises those values.
Ger is a primary school teacher by profession. The national school in Snugboro is blessed to have a man like that on staff. The children of today are the adults of tomorrow. The next generation are in safe hands.
They created pillars and sub-committees. The pillar groups included football, entertainment, logistics, finance and marketing.
There is a wealth of talent and knowledge in the club. They tapped into that. Finian Joyce was able to cover the health and safety end of things. An engineer by profession. He is the safety officer.
Mark Newcombe is a digital marketing executive with Elverys. He lent his considerable expertise to the marketing pillar.
The club chairman, Kieran Lavelle, worked seamlessly and tirelessly with the main committee. He supported their vision and project from its embryonic stages.
The success of the inaugural event showed what the power of togetherness and unity can achieve. No ego. I felt huge pride watching the event unfold last year. I’m sure I wasn’t alone.
Local businesses have all come on board. Fifty-five in total last year. We expect more this year. All support is welcome and greatly appreciated but it would be remiss of me not to mention Shaw Commercials.
Mick Shaw has been a guiding voice and backer from the start. He believes in the vision of what Ger McDonagh and the lads are trying to do. They needed support to get this off the ground and he gave it unconditionally.
They can see what this festival is doing for the town. It’s putting Castlebar on the map again. There is no other club in the province that could host an event like this.
It requires manpower, multi-varied expertise, a sports complex, pitches and a lot more. There are 32 teams coming this year, 16 men's and 16 women’s.
There will be a marquee on site on both the Saturday and Sunday. From 3 p.m. onwards there will be music and entertainment on site. The drink will be served at a competitive €5 a pint. The organisers want all the participants to get value for money and enjoy the weekend.
The Mitchels is a family club and this is a family event. There will be a kids zone and a food quarter with vendors selling burgers, chips, pizzas, ice-cream and slushies.
At 10 p.m. each evening there will be buses bringing the teams into the town. Ger McDonagh and Stephen Keane believe that this is a town festival – not a football festival. Both men are clear in their vision and objectives.
They want to see the night-life thrive and the pubs and ancillary businesses benefit from the influx of visitors into the town. Two teams will be designated to a random pub.
For example the Naas men’s team and the St. Eunan’s ladies team could be assigned to Ray’s or the Carnacon ladies and Mohill men’s team could be assigned to former club chairman Mick Byrne.
Who knows. Cupid’s arrow could strike and a Leitrim man might fall in love in Mick Byrne’s with a girl from Carnacon.
Nothing can get in the way of true love.
Be it romance or just socialising over a few drinks, all are in safe hands with Mick Byrne.
The festival organisers want all the pubs to benefit and to give the town a lift. On the Sunday night when the various teams are dropped off at pubs around the town, they will collect wristbands at their designated pubs.
Later, the Ivy Tower nightclub will open and the participants in the festival can enter the nightclub free of charge.
Last year the festival brought an estimated €75,000 into the local economy over the weekend. That was a conservative estimate. This year there are more teams and more participants. We had 25 teams last years, we will have 32 teams this year.
There has been a huge buy in from all the elected representatives and sponsors. Councillor Ger Deere and Councillor Blackie Gavin are loyal supporters of the festival. Indeed the buy-in from all the elected representatives in the county town is particularly heartening.
All know that this is a Castlebar event and a golden opportunity to put the town on the map. Very few clubs and towns could host such an event.
The Castlebar Nines is not the only event happening in Castlebar this year. On the August bank holiday weekend from Friday 1st to Sunday 3rd we will have the inaugural Castlebar Music Festival.
They have an online social media presence on Facebook but they also have their own webpage.
The festival is free. It draws its inspiration from past events like the Blues Festival and the Castlebar Song Contest pioneered by Paddy McGuinness many years ago.
Artists will play in pubs across the town and there will be a main stage for an open air gig in Hoban’s carpark.
For those who want to perform at the festival please get in touch with the organisers on the social media page or on the Castlebar Music Festival website. They want to hear from everyone and are eager to give any artist a chance to perform.
Don’t listen to the naysayers and merchants of doom and gloom.
This is a great town. Always was and always will be.