THE STARK contrast between the haves and the have nots among GAA counties is illustrated in the current balance sheets of neighbouring Connacht counties Mayo and Sligo. While Mayo reported a credit balance of more than £100,000 for the year, their neighbours, with little or no success to report, are in the red by more than £6,000.
Needless to say, Mayo's exploits in the All-Ireland series, including an All-Ireland final replay, put Sligo's modest balance sheet figures literally into the ha'penny place.
For instance, Mayo's total expenditure for the year came to more than £739,000, while the figure in the Sligo books reads £143,000.
Both sets of figures give a graphic picture of the voluntary efforts which are needed to administer a county, regardless of success on the field. Both counties give figures for various fundraising efforts as well as various incomes from a number of catering and accommodation and almost £50,000 for travel and training sponsorships which are general to the GAA, such as those from the Bank of Ireland, Guinness and Church and General.
Special efforts to support Mayo's run in the championship brought in considerable sums of money. Club functions realised £36,000, patrons (gifts presumably) £30,000, and the activities of Muintir Maigheo in Dublin to support the team realised £41,000. Mayo bought All-Ireland tickets to the value of £452,000.
The Sligo supporters club must have done trojan work to raise their £23,000, but the Friends of Sligo organisation in Dublin was inactive during the year. Nevertheless, bills have to be paid and a schedule in the accounts reveals that a sum of £81,972 was spent on team administration, including a sum of more than £18,000.
One piece of encouraging news from Sligo is that hurling is spreading rapidly. There was a time when the only hurlers in the county were "blow-ins from down south". Now Mick Burke, a trojan worker for hurling for many years, reports that no fewer than 30 national schools are playing hurling on a regular basis and that 10 clubs are fielding under-age teams, while four teams took part in the senior county championship.
Meanwhile Kilkenny's last-minute victory over Tipperary in the Waterford Crystal League means that they will be hosts for the final of the competition next year. The competition has beef deemed a success and the crowd of more than 4,000 for Sunday's match in Walsh Park got good value for their money.
It would seem that Kilkenny's experiment of playing DJ Carey at midfield has been abandoned. He did not look comfortable while in that position at the start and his contribution to the game improved considerably when he moved to a more familiar role in the half-forward line. It was this switch and the introduction of experienced players such as John Power, Adrian Ronan and Willie O'Connor which probably swung the game.
With their goalkeeper, Finnbarr McConnell, suspended for four months after events in a club match, Tyrone will be somewhat consoled by the fact that Adrian Cush is back home after a spell in a French hospital. He was injured in a car crash while there on business and now has steel pins inserted in a broken arm. Cush has been told that he will make a full recovery.
There was more violence in club fare at the weekend, when the Cavan senior league football semifinal between Gowna and Bailieboro had to be abandoned when widespread fighting broke out.
