A REPRESENTATIVE FROM Mayo GAA has denied suggestions from Tommy Lyons that he was offered payment to become senior football manager in 2010.
Lyons told RTÉ on Thursday evening that a ‘senior intercounty official’ told him to put the amount he wished to be paid in an envelope, but that he had replied that he did not want to get paid.
Mayo Press Officer Aiden McLaughlin told TheScore that no such offer was made to Lyons, either in a preliminary interview to assess the former Dublin manager’s interest in the role, or in the main interview that took place.
“The current chairman was on the interview panel to discuss Tommy Lyons taking on the role of manager,” McLaughlin said.
“A preliminary interview took place to gauge his interest, to see if the job was something that would appeal to him, and then the interview itself took place some time afterwards.
“Payment was never discussed. Mileage was, however, talked about as we tried to ascertain whether Tommy would be travelling from Dublin or from his holiday home in County Mayo, where he spends a lot of time.”
McLaughlin did hint, however, that somebody outside of the County Executive could have approached Lyons with a monetary offer.
“That’s not to say that somebody outside of a County Board officer didn’t approach Tommy Lyons with an offer of payment for his services, but at no time was Tommy Lyons offered payment by a County Board officer.”
