MAYO GAA’S MILLIONAIRE benefactor Tim O’Leary has apologised to all supporters for the “negativity/bad publicity” in the last few weeks.
The letter comes following Mayo’s annual convention on Sunday, where Crossmolina man Liam Moffatt was elected as the new chairman of the county board.
O’Leary, who is also the chairman of the Mayo GAA International Supporters Foundation, has been involved in a financial dispute with Mayo GAA in relation to sponsorship.
Questions have been raised surrounding governance issues in the county board, while O’Leary had also initiated court proceedings against Mayo GAA over a €150,000 donation in recent days.
But O’Leary has since published a letter on his Twitter account, in which he apologises for the recent negative publicity which has stemmed from this feud.
“I would like to apologise for the negative/bad publicity created over the last few weeks,” says O’Leary.
“I strongly felt that was a price worth paying if we were going to get change at the top table.
“Local GAA politics are extremely complicated and sensitive especially in Mayo and though some will disagree, I believed the easiest way to share my concerns and point of view was via local/national media, Whatsapp, and social media outlets.”
Please read carefully - today was a good day for @mayogaa but the hard work begins now. Thankyou pic.twitter.com/34oAcGgn6e
— Tim O’Leary (@newportmayo1951) December 15, 2019
O’Leary also congratulated all the new members who were elected to the county board ahead of the new season, and said he intends to speak to newly appointed Mayo GAA chairman Liam Moffatt about resolving any outstanding issues between the parties.
“I would like to put on record that I have no desire to have a place on the MCB executive,” O’Leary continues.
“I am confident the fresh approach by Liam Moffatt as chairman offers Mayo GAA stability and the greatest chances of success in the long term.
“Transparency and governance should be the pillars of Mayo GAA and when we get our house in order, success will surely follow on the pitch, given the incredible playing pool within the county.
“I look forward to taking a step back from the so called limelight and focus instead on growing the foundation and engaging our unique disapora for the better of Mayo GAA.
“I will be engaging with Liam at the earliest possible opportunity with the aim to come to an amicable agreement on all key outstanding matters before the season commences. The foundation will also consider offering Liam a place on its board and invite him to become a trustee.”
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I’m not a huge fan of the tap penalty, would lineout and maul not yield greater returns?
@brian o’leary: no guarantee you’ll win the lineout, that the other team won’t sack the maul etc. Tap penalty is the safest option to guarantee possession
@Niall Boyle: correct, but I wonder if there’s any stats available comparing the success rate of the two options?
@brian o’leary: scrum for me all day in that situation. Huge scrummaging machine pushes opposition pack backwards, secures another penalty, play of 8 around the house or 9 to the backline through one or two power phases..a thing of beauty…
@Stuart: ireland got a try from a 5 metre scrum, and two from lineout mauls v italy. We’re not converting from rucks inside 5m as much as we used to, getting held up a lot?
@brian o’leary: I’m still very in the fence about the held up law. It may because it feels like Ireland and Leinster get done by it a lot, which is maybe just my own perception, but it feels way too heavily weighted towards the defence. The attack could put together 5 or 6 great pieces of play to get themselves there and then one guy just needs to do one action to get his body under it and it undoes all of the hard attacking work and sticks you 30/40m back. That feels bad every time.
@Stuart: ireland have a poor record with ref’s and scrum penalties. If the opposition tighthead took a chainsaw to our frontrow the ref would give a penalty against porter for bleeding
Easterby’s best shot at being a 6n’s head coach permanently is with Wales. I think the IRFU will have noticed that the team has got progressively worse over the course of the championship under his watch. Is it all down to Easterby being there instead of Faz, possibly not but as an audition it definitely didn’t go well.
@Michael Corkery: maybe they’ll notice that being without their head coach for a period might not be the best idea, and will say no the next time?
@brian o’leary: Agreed. I think IRFU were wrong to sanction AF going off on Lions jolly at this time when Ireland were going for the 3 championships in a row and building towards WC….he is head coach and this is where he should be…end of. Coaching team need to look at their selection management over the entire 6n campaign.
@Dolores Scully: If the IRFU refused to sanction Farrell coaching the Lions, im pretty sure it wouldnt go down too well with Farrell.
@Jonny Miller: when will they get another chance to do 3 in a row?
Farrell should stay on his holidays if he is not committed.
@Jonny Miller:our coach could be told pre contract that its not an option?
I’m not sure why lions coach need to miss the six nations, he going to be familiar with all the players anyway, and stats can do the rest?
@brian o’leary: at the same time, in terms of succession planning, they got a look at the next man in potentially mid RWC cycle. They should have brought someone like Felix Jones in to concentrate on defense and basically have Easterby do the exact same role as Farrell but he kept his defensive role (which as a result of his attention being elsewhere fell well below the usual standard). For example if Easterby had left, wasn’t replaced and Farrell had to cover defense in his absence. Would we have seen similar regression?
@Dolores Scully: I don’t understand why AF didn’t coach the Irish side during the 6nts ..sat in the stands ? The lions squad are not even together yet…surely the lions gig is at mostly a part time gig at the moment with the administrational/planning stuff?
@Dolores Scully: Building towards a world cup. Same story every year
@Dolores Scully: rubbish there’s November series 25 &26, six nations 26 & 27 and a summer tour in 26 for Andy Farrell to be assessing options before the world cup.
@Oran Burns: maybe our best ever coach and you don’t think he’s committed?
@mark sheehan: well if you want to look at it like that the WC is a 4-year cycle and surely not getting past the quarter final should mean that building/ planning should start straight away. Also, as previously stated here, the 6n is worth a hell of a lot financially to the IRFU…needed to build the squad. And no, as head coach, the team should be front and centre…or is it another case of Sexton’s ” we lost but we won” rubbish.