Connelly new Mayo chairman
The Hollymount/Carramore clubman beat former County Board secretary Seán Feeney in the race to succeed Paddy McNicholas, who stood down a year early after controversy erupted over the process which led to the appointment of Pat Holmes and Connelly’s brother Noel as Mayo senior football managers.
The new chairman acknowledged the Board have been “poor” at communications and emphasised the need to “do our business in a more professional way”.
He hailed Mayo clubs as the best in the country and the county’s supporters as the best in the world.
“We’ve loads of people on social media criticising us ... when they don’t really know the full facts,” Connelly told delegates at the Park Hotel in Kiltimagh.
Expressing disappointment with comments made about his candidacy now his brother is joint Mayo manager, he added: “All I can say to those people is they don’t know me and they don’t know my family.”
Outgoing chairman McNicholas was elected delegate to Connacht Council, where he will be joined by Gerry Bourke, who dismissed the handling of the management appointment process as a ‘sham’ .
Elsewhere, outgoing treasurer JP Lambe won a contest against Michael Diskin (Castlebar Mitchels). Both income and expenditure for 2014 topped €2m, with Lambe reporting a surplus of just over €79,000, a €10,000 increase on last year.
Among the motions passed was one calling for every All-Ireland senior semi-final and replay in both codes be played at Croke Park.
