The sports field and track at the rear of the Hospital consisted of 3 acres and was regarded as one of the finest in Ireland in its day. The earliest pictures date back to a sports day in 1895 and 1930
The Ancient Order of Hibernians
The Castlebar Camogie Club were among the users of the pitch in the early days. In 1923 the military and the fledgling army of the free state used it for their military sports days in June of that year. The GAA is first recorded in the minutes as using the field in august 1923 to hold a sports day.
Mayo GAA and the Grounds
Mayo played Kildare on the 25th of May 1928. Kildare, known as the Lilywhites, received a very fine reception. After arriving by train on Saturday evening, they were escorted to their hotel in Castle St by the Castlebar Pipe band in recognition of their achievement of winning 4 All Irelands in a row.
Mayo played Sligo on Sunday 8th September 1929 with the match ending in a draw. Mayo won the replay on the 19th of October 1929, on a scoreline of 1–3 to 1–2. Keelogues and Castlebar played in the curtain-raiser with Castlebar winning 1-5 to 0-4. Entertainment after the match was provided in the Town Hall for the players and the visitors hosted by Castlebar Athletic Club. The Connaught Telegraph advertisement at the time included a reference to special trains available from Killala, Sligo, Ballinrobe and Achill and the pitch was described as the Mental Hospital Grounds.
Mayo subsequently played Dublin and apparently, Mayo went on to have an easy win, 2–6 to 0-3. The reporter at the time went on to say that the Mental Hospital sports ground were a very fine venue, the pitch was in great condition and the terraces were extremely “commodious” which means roomy and comfortable and constituted an excellent stand. Those terraces were part of the original cricket grounds designed in Ireland at the time.
Success for St. Mary’s
St. Mary’s had many stars to boast of in their own tight the legendary Paddy Bolingbrook an All-Ireland champion handballer from Swinford. Josie Munnelly from Crossmolina won a senior All-Ireland medal in 1936 with Mayo after joining the staff of the hospital. He also won a junior all Ireland medal twenty-one years later in 1957.
Rolling on the sporting years, 1976 was the pinnacle of success for the St. Marys Hospital teams, when both the ladies and men’s teams won their respective All-Irelands. The ladies’ teams won five in a row during that period. The men followed up by successfully winning again in 1979, this time all the sweeter as it was played in Croke Park.
Sporting life still goes on with the Galway Mayo Institute of Technology teams. They use those same grounds to prepare for the Sigerson Cup on the GMIT sporting arena. Formerly known as the “Lunatic Asylum” grounds, the “Mental Hospital” grounds and the St. Mary’s Hospital grounds, they are still the same grounds where these teams now train and play.