Two Mayo football stalwarts being feted

The Mayo Football League is honouring two stalwarts of the sport in the county - Pat Naughton (Castlebar Celtic) and Brian Wallace (Straide & Foxford United).

They are being presented with Henry Downes Services to Football accolades at the organisation's forthcoming annual awards ceremony.

Pat Naughton has been involved with the county town club for many years.

He has coached teams, was involved in community games and has been the player liaison officer.

He currently helps out at club lotto flag days, church gate collections and does the gate on match days in all weathers as well as his role as registrar.

Pat has been a fantastic person behind the scenes in relation to registering all the club's players for many years and especially in 2023 with the introduction of FAI Connect when he helped register over 600 players from 32 different countries and was also an excellent help to the league in helping it get to grips with the new system.

The award is well deserved as he is an approachable, discrete individual who is a true sports person.

Brian Wallace has been involved with his club Straide & Foxford United since he was a schoolboy player.

He went on to play at adult level before stepping into the role of coach and manager of multiple teams.

Brian is the club's grounds-keeper and does so much of the day to day tasks that keep the club going in his role as Chairman

His dedication, loyalty and service to Straide and Foxford United is second to none.

The award is in honour of the late Henry Downes, Castlebar, a former chairman of the Mayo Football League.