Search Results for 'Aidan O'Shea'

For the first time since the year before Mayo claimed their first All Ireland senior title, Mayo will take on Kildare in a senior championship match. That meeting, in the All Ireland semifinal back in 1935, saw the Leinster men win 2-6 to 0-7; tomorrow evening the Mayo faithful will be hoping for a different result when the sides clash in MacHale Park.

Mayo qualified for a round three qualifier clash with Kildare after coming from six points down at half time against a very well organised and fired up Fermanagh in Castlebar. It was a nervy affair which had us on the edge of our seats throughout. The game had incidents aplenty, none more so than the awarding of a controversial penalty to Mayo when the game was in the melting pot, near the end of the game. The coverage this incident has received in the media is similar to the coverage given to the passing of David Bowie or Prince, it went viral and was scrutinised in every forum, totally uncalled for in my opinion.

There's no more room for error for the Mayo seniors of 2016, after five successive Connacht titles, rather than looking forward to a Sunday afternoon showdown for the Nestor Cup, they are back on the chicken and chips circuit of the qualifiers for the first time in six years looking to rebuild their fortunes on the backstreets of the championship. The first step in moving from those backstreets to the main streets is tomorrow afternoon when they host a dangerous visitor from Ulster at 3.30pm

There is so much going on in the sporting world it's hard to keep up. The football championship is in full swing, the Euros are around the corner, the passing of Muhammad Ali has grabbed all the front and back pages and then there is the not so small matter of the Mayo hurling team's fantastic win in the Nicky Rackard Cup last Saturday evening in Croke Park. Things look very rosy in the Mayo GAA world and we are still only in the second week in June and yet we have two national titles in the bag.

The Connacht championship is the most special one in the entire All Ireland championship, with every one of the province's home counties kickstarting their championship adventure on foreign soil in either London or New York twice in a five year cycle. Last weekend it was Mayo's turn to head east to London and while there was a football match to be played, it was as much a social event where old friends and new acquaintances soaked up the sunshine and enjoyed each other's company from early in the morning till well into the evening.

They packed the ground from early in the day and there was a carnival atmosphere around Ruislip well before throw in. While the the football on display wasn't of the highest quality getting out of London without any slip ups was the main priority for Mayo and that's exactly what they did.

The conditions when Mayo ground out their win over Roscommon last Sunday were far removed from the firm sod and warm days of summer they are used to for playing their best football, but for Aidan O'Shea it was just about winning the game and getting things moving on the right track. Speaking after the contest the mud coated Breaffy man said: "I'd say it wasn't the greatest spectacle in the world, we were just slipping and sliding we didn't know where the ball was going to land when it was coming towards you, you never knew if you were going to slip or not. It was difficult, I'd say both teams were leaking towards the end. It was a tough, tough game."

The weekend after the nation celebrated the 1916 Rising, Mayo are looking to stage their own rising in the U21 ranks and will head to the ground named after Countess Markievicz in Sligo tomorrow evening to do so. It has been seven years since Mayo last claimed the JJ Fahy Cup, in the same venue, beating Sligo 3-14 to 1-8 in the provincial decider.

Life in general and sport in particular are all about “what ifs”. In the run-up to Mayo's crucial league game against Donegal on Sunday, I can't help but think of another what if. What if Corofin had beaten Castlebar Mitchels last November in the Connacht club final, how would Stephen Rochford have coped with the pressures of managing two high profile teams; with great difficulty, I think is the answer. Despite being robbed of the services of the Castlebar contingent for the first five rounds of the league, because of their run to the All-Ireland club final, the Mitchels have done Mayo football a huge favour in beating Corofin and allowing Rochford to concentrate on matters Mayo. Try to imagine what it would have been like managing both teams; virtually impossible. You would probably cope during the week where you'd have training with both teams on alternative nights but it's the weekends that would constitute the big problem.

Mayo get their National Football League campaign under way on Sunday away to Cork in Páirc Uí Rinn, and for new manager Stephen Rochford it is going to the first major test of his side's credentials in the new season. Rochford will be dealing from a slightly rigged deck when he makes his first team selection, with no players from Castlebar Mitchels available to him, or from Hollymout-Carramore and Ardnaree who have booked their places in their respective All Ireland club finals.