My description of Leitrim and Sligo this week as being left like a couple of schoolchildren waiting to be picked for the football team by the bigger boys has provoked a strong reaction.

It was not a dig at either county, but a reflection of how Galway and Mayo have utterly dominated Connacht IFA.

Let us have a look at the Connacht regional chair, or vice-presidency as it was previously known.

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In reverse order, we’ve had the following men in the position:

2014 to pressent: Tom Turley, Galway

2010 to 2014: Padraig Divilly, Galway

2006 to 2010: Michael Silke, Galway

2002 to 2006: Brendan O’Mahony, Mayo

1998 to 2002: Sean Ryan, Galway

1994 to 1998: Vacant -Galway’s John Donnelly was president

1990 to 1994: Pat Donnellan, Galway

1988 to 1990: Pat Monahan, Leitrim

1984 to 1988: John Donnelly, Galway

1980 to 1984: Joe Murphy Roscommon

1976 to 1980: Hugh Leddy, Leitrim

1967 to 1976: Rev PW Davis, Mayo

1962 to 1967: Rev P Brady, Leitrim

1957 to 1962: J Callanan, Galway

Galway domination

So we’ve had we’ve had a total of 13 regional chairmen, of which seven, were from Galway, three from Leitrim, two from Mayo, and one from Roscommon. Galway has dominated the position for the last twenty years, with the exception of Brendan O’Mahony’s election in 2002. Sligo has never held the position.

Nomination system

There is one way this could be broken. While Galway and Mayo have the membership voting strength, the Galway candidate must get a second nomination. The word was that both Sligo and Leitrim would support Roscommon’s John O’Beirne, leaving the Galway nominee- now confirmed as Tom Turley, and Mayo’s Padraic Joyce, deadlocked in a repeat of the Tim O’Leary/Derek Deane scenario- needing each other’s nomination to enter the race.

However, O’Beirne first had to be ratified by his own county. This has proven a problem, with the executive not held as yet, and a number of opposing candidates being floated.

We listed these last week as including Bernard Donohue- this is not the case. Donohue previously contested this position, narrowlylosing out to Padraig Divilly in 2009.

Currently, he is actively seeking to become the next chairman of the livestock committee, and has made it clear that this is the only job he is currently interested in. Despite this, his name was being floated by many last week in the county.

Donnelly influence

The belief amongst John O’Beirne’s supporters is that it’s all designed to hamper his chances of winning. Why would this be happening? There are accusations that it’s supporters of Tom Turley, and other accusations that the Donnelly camp, who still have a lot of influence, are involved. The Donnellys would not be working on Tom Turley’s behalf, so it may have been for his opponent in Galway, Bertie Roche.

Pressure on Leitrim and Sligo

All this has left Leitrim and Sligo without a candidate to endorse. The pressure to endorse either Padraic Joyce or Tom Turley is likely to have ramped up as we enter the weekend. Hence my reference to these two counties being on the outside of all these shenanigans.

It’s all rather unseemly. At a time when the association is at its lowest ebb ever, such politicking and bickering is not going to restore confidence among the membership.