15 July 1998

FORMER CELTIC STAR GETS NOD FOR TOP POSITION

TOM KELLY REPORTS

Brian Ainsworth is the new manager of the Mayo team.

His appointment was ratified at a meeting of the Mayo Association Football League's management committee.

The Castlebar -based Telecom Eireann employee officially took up duty at the weekend when he began scouTing for his panel.

Ainsworth, one of the finest and most successful players the local game has ever produced, takes over from Conn Rangers official, P.J. Duffy, who stepped down after completing a three-year term in office. The former Castlebar Celtic striker is looking forward to the challenge of preparing Mayo for the Oscar Traynor Cup campaign which begins in October.

He said: "I was delighted to accept the offer to become manager, and I hope I will justify the faith placed in me by the Mayo League.

"I was approached some time ago by a league officer with a view to taking up the position. It did not take me long to make up my mind that it was what I wanted to do. In fact, I see this as a great honour for me.

"I have been out of the local game for a number of seasons because of work commitments in England. But now I am based in Mayo on a full-time basis, and I am delighted to be back involved in the game.

"I intend to get out and see a lot of players. I also intend talking to a lot of manager. The game in Mayo has come on in leaps and bounds, and there is a lot of talent around at the moment. It is also a huge bonus to have a floodlit facility at Milebush Park for training purposes."

Ainsworth is one of Mayo's most capped players. He starred for Mayo for nine seasons from 1978 to 1987. He made his Oscar Traynor Cup debut on March 12th, 1978, when Mayo lost 3-2 to the Western Command in a first round match at the Sports Park, Westport. The game marked Niall Halpin's first game in charge as manager.

He was a key member of the side which reached the Oscar Traynor Cup final in 1981 under the stewardship of Donal Benson. Mayo lost 2-0 in the decider to the Leinster Senior League at the A.I.B. Grounds, Dublin. The silken skilled attacker was a member of the Mayo side which won the Brod Trill Cup on four consecutive occasions from 1984 to 1987.

KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE

He made his final appearance for the county in the 1986/87 Oscar Traynor Cup campaign when Mayo lost 2-1 to Sligo/Leitrim at the Showgrounds, Sligo. His club, Castlebar Celtic, joined the Connaught Senior League the following Summer, and Ainsworth was no longer eligible to play for his county.

Ainsworth won three Connaught Junior Cup medals with his club and several Mayo League Premier Division winners medals, as well as a Connaught Senior League winners medal in 1989.

He will bring a great sense of knowledge and experience of the game to the position, and his selection as manager is likely to prove very popular. He will expect players to give the same type of commitment as when he played the game himself.

Ainsworth has been given the option of selecting his own assistant. That name is expected to be Padraig Cresham, who played alongside Ainsworth during a golden era in the history of Castlebar Cresham.

Cresham, who also lives in Castlebar, was Mayo's leading goalkeeper for over decade, and played in Mayo's Oscar Traynor Cup campaign from 1979 to 1987. Cresham is a former manager of Ballyvary Bluebombers.

Connaught Telegraph - News & Sport - July 1998