THE FAI are hopeful that League of Ireland underage football will return to Mayo in 2024 after it was confirmed there would be no team from the county in this year’s U-14 league.

News of the development has caused upset amongst parents and players of youngsters who were preparing for the season ahead, with the Mayo News reporting that several individuals had turned down offers from other clubs as they believed they would be representing their locality.

The paper detailed how there have been local calls for an EGM of the Mayo Schoolboys/Girls Youth League to discuss the matter, with Leo Heaney, a former coach with Mayo at LOI underage level, stating it was putting the game in the county ‘into the dark ages.’

League secretary David Breen went on record with Mayo News to say that a failure to meet FAI criteria was the reason, citing a request from Abbotstown to form a separate company and a club for their LOI side.

“We’re a limited company as it is and you can’t borrow money to start up another company,” he said, “If you want the expense of that alone, what you have to put into it…we’re in the business of giving football for 4,800 kids against 20.”

Costs have been referenced as an obstacle to fielding teams all the way through from U14 to U19 level, so Mayo have only ever entered teams in the U14 (formerly U13) and U15 age groups – kicking off by joining the latter league in 2017.

However, they duly pulled out of the U15 league to concentrate on the u14 version and only ran one side in 2022.

When Mayo joined the national league underage set-up, there was hope it might eventually lead to a senior team competing in that sphere but while that idea has now come to fruition in Kerry, it is proving problematic for the FAI in a county they want the league to expand into.

In addition to the existing LOI clubs, the FAI opened the door to the underage leagues to representative sides from Kerry, Mayo, Carlow/Kilkenny, Cavan/Monaghan and Kildare.

They were initially allowed to operate outside of licensing but the parties behind the respective teams have been asked to constitute as clubs now and comply with a standard set of legal, financial and welfare requirements.

Cavan/Monaghan are also stepping away for the 2023 season to consider their next step, while the Kildare team (now Klub Kildare) and the Carlow/Kilkenny outfit (CK United) have made the necessary changes with the latter viewed as likely candidates for a new third tier that is being proposed, although the timeline is unclear.

Kerry have gone to another level with the establishment of a First Division club with the help of investors based in the US.

However, the situation in Mayo has regressed by comparison. Independent.ie understands that the Schoolboys/Girls League were sent correspondence in autumn of last year outlining what was needed to stay involved but the FAI had received no reply by the beginning of Christmas week and informed the relevant authorities that they could not be invited into the 2023 league as a consequence.

Mayo did then make a late application with some but not all of the information requested and the FAI stood by their original decision.

Sources have indicated that the FAI were contacted by the Mayo Football League, the governing body for adult amateur clubs in the county, suggesting they were open to stepping in.

This would have parallels with Kerry where the national underage leagues sides initially ran under the auspices of the local schoolboy league but it was then taken over by the Kerry District League which was key in the move towards League of Ireland membership.

It's understood that Abbotstown decision-makers felt that pursuing any counter-offer risked driving a wedge between the two bodies operating in Mayo and they instead want the respective parties to take the year to see if there is a willingness from any side to create a functioning football club for the long term – and open up that process to prospective outside backers – with Mayo viewed as a potential home for teams in the proposed men’s third tier and the new second tier for the women’s game.

FAI sources have dismissed the idea that they were asking the county teams to do anything too complicated from a paperwork perspective to remain involved, believing that a change of the Memorandum and Articles of Association was the main task.

But the process has forced the potential expansion teams to examine where they stand as regards the future.

In the case of Cavan/Monaghan, it’s anticipated that any return will be linked with attempts to revive Monaghan United as a League of Ireland side but there are obstacles to be overcome before that might become a possibility.

The Mayo Schoolboys/Girls League did not respond to a request for comment from independent.ie.