With Mayo men Willie Ruane and Gavin Duffy in positions of power at Connacht, this dream may yet become reality.
Connacht’s arrival in Dublin, on Wednesday, was a lot more cheery than the 2003 march they made on Lansdowne Road to demand the province not be wound up.
At the Aviva Stadium [Ye Olde’ Lansdowne Road] yesterday, Pat Lam outlined a vision for Connacht’s future that included qualification for the Champions Cup knock-out stages and an average of four Connacht players in Ireland senior squads by 2020.
Given the way Connacht are going this season, those achievements appear do-able.
Given where the province was a decade ago, they are remarkable.
It's all coming up Connacht! https://t.co/4eMpgk8IUp
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) May 9, 2016
One of the main issues stunting Connacht’s growth is there residency at The Sportsground, a Galway dog-track that welcomed rugby sorts in around 15 years ago. At a push, and with temporary seating, the ground can hold 9,500.
Connacht would ideally want a stadium with a capacity somewhere between 15,000 and 20,000. Chief executive Willie Ruane says the province would be more than willing to team up with another sporting body, or team, to see that goal through.
Interestingly, Ruane stated that Connacht Rugby were looking into the possibility of hosting a future Champions Cup game at Mayo GAA’s MacHale Park [capacity 38,000]. He told The Irish Independent:
“It would be foolish to rule anything out. If something makes sense, we’ll look at it.
“You can be pretty sure that there aren’t too many stones that we haven’t turned over to try and establish what might be feasible or not.”
In order for Connacht to be able to host a game at MacHale Park, they would have to get a proposal passed by the GAA Congress.
Ruane also stated his belief that Lam would be at Connacht next season, despite reported interest from Aviva Premiership outfit Bath.
