Castlebar native is new FAI Football Development Officer for Mayo

Castlebar native Nigel Naughton has been appointed as the Football Development Officer in Mayo for the Football Association of Ireland, taking over from Paul Byrne.

Nigel, who played for Castlebar Celtic and Mervue United, spent three and a half years working as a full-time director of coaching in Rhode Island, USA, before returning to Ireland, where he coached the Mayo schoolboys team to a second place finish at the 2019 Kennedy Cup, their highest ever finish, before winning the Super League with Castlebar Celtic later that year.

He spent the end of 2019 and all of 2020 working with the Sligo Rovers Under 17 team.

The Mayo Football League has congratulated Nigel on his appointment.

“As part of this role, Nigel will work with the clubs, leagues and various other stakeholders across a number of different platforms, including coach education, club development, player development, football for all, schools programmes, camps, intercultural programmes and various other avenues to help promote and support the development and growth of the game in the county,” said John Durkan, secretary of the Mayo Football League.

Mr. Durkan added: “As we offer our best wishes to Nigel in his new role, I also want to thank Paul Byrne for his committment to the game in Mayo over a long number of years. We all found Paul to be most helpful and approachable. We wish him all the best in his new venture.”

Follow the FAI Mayo page on Facebook to stay up to date with current happenings, or contact Nigel at nigel.naughton@fai.ie or (086) 0754145.