Flight debacle costs Mayo board €3,600

Mayo’s entire hurling panel missed their plane home after a league defeat in London.

The 33-man party was due to fly out of Luton Airport at 11.50am on Sunday morning, but the late checkout of a small number of the party from their rooms at the Crown Moran Hotel in Cricklewood meant the bus was late reaching the airport.

The only options available were a flight from Luton to Dublin or one from Stansted to Knock.

The majority opted for the Stansted flight and made the trek across the city before boarding a plane back to Mayo, while a smaller number waited in Luton and took the Dublin route home.

The rebooking debacle cost the county board an additional €3,600 and the situation will be discussed in depth at tonight’s county board meeting.

“It shouldn’t have happened,” said Hurling Board chairman, John Hopkins.

“Someone has to answer for this. There is a lot of fine work being done in hurling in the county, but incidents like this ruin a lot of that.”