Search Results for 'Alan Dillon'

Mayo 1-11

“It’s off the mark, it wasn’t spectacular, it’s a win at the end of a difficult week with all the injuries and uncertainty.” John O’Mahony cut a happy figure outside the Mayo dressing room on Sunday after he watched his side see off Westmeath with ease. The two points on the board was the most important thing on an afternoon where conditions dictated that the game would never move above the mediocre in quality for long periods. Mayo were struck with a number of injuries going into the game and O’Mahony is confident most will be back in the reckoning by the time Mayo make the trip to Kerry this weekend. “I’d hope they would, Ger Cafferkey it’s not a serious injury but we didn’t want to take any chances, Pat Harte would have been OK to go in there, but we decided to hold him so we could get another week’s training into him. Barry Moran’s injury was a bad hamstring pull and it could be a long one. Billy Joe Padden, maybe he’ll be back, it was a very bad dead leg he got in the challenge match last week, at least we have another week to buy with them and see. Alan Dillon will be fine, he could have almost started but the extra week will do him good.”

While Mayo were busy dispensing with the paltry challenge put up by Westmeath last Sunday, the flashbulbs were frantically popping in Bellaghy as the prodigal son of Kerry football, Tadhg Kennelly, made his return to the Gaelic fields of Ireland after his nine year excursion on the fields of Australian rules. Mayo will make the 300 mile round trip from home base in McHale Park to Tralee to take on a side which has seen off Donegal, Tyrone, and Derry in their last three games, and are brimful of confidence as they try to impress Jack O’Connor who has taken over the reins of the side for the second time this year.

After the NFL game in James Stephens Park in Ballina last Sunday, where Mayo and Dublin had just drawn in a dull, tedious, error-ridden pile of manure, I got chatting to a few local Maors and Ballina club men.

After the national football league game in James Stephens Park in Ballina last Sunday where Mayo and Dublin had just drawn in a dull, tedious, error-ridden pile of manure I got chatting to a few local maoir and Ballina club men.

McHale Park will get its first airing this season on Sunday when the All Ireland champions Tyrone come to town for the final round of the Allianz National Football League. Mayo will be looking to pick up where they left off against Galway in Tuam Stadium a fortnight ago, where a stunning second half performance saw John O’Mahony’s side overturn a six point half time deficit to squeeze past Galway by a single point and secure a one point win. The win leaves O’Mahony’s side in fourth place in the division one table on six points, equal on points with Mickey Harte’s side. A draw on Sunday would ensure both sides’ status in division one for next season, but a defeat coupled with a high scoring win by Dublin over an already relegated Westmeath and a win by Donegal over Derry could drag either side back into the bottom two of a very tight division one table.

John O'Mahony reveled his starting 15 for Mayo's crunch tie with Tyrone in McHale Park on Sunday. For the second game in a row Shrule-Glencorrib sharpshooter Conor Mortimer has been left out of the side, following on from his omission from side who started against Galway in the last round of the competition. Aidan O'Shea will continue in his role at full forward, the Breaffy teenager and Knockmore's Kevin McLoughlin are the only u21 players in the starting 15. The starting 15 also see's Billy Joe Padden come into the side at top of the left in the place of Mikey Sweeney, while McLoughlin will replace Kieran Conroy at left corner back.

Spoils shared on the final day

It is suggested that trying to retain a title is one of the most difficult things to do in sport. Tyrone kick- started their campaign last Sunday and provided their thousands of supporters with sufficient evidence to suggest that they just might have to plan for a long summer following the Red Hand up and down the country after their very creditable dismantling of the current Ulster champions Armagh. The GAA hierarchy have been keeping their fingers crossed for some quality football after the debacle between Monaghan and Derry, and they got it. This was a great game of football, played by two quality teams and both teams deserve credit for contributing to a wonderful afternoon’s entertainment that made for compelling viewing.

We are officially up and running now, with the championship opening in 16 days on another continent all that we were waiting for was the 30 names who would make up the championship panel for 2009. When the list was announced on Sunday evening there were no major surprises as John O’Mahony and his backroom team set out their stall for the summer. As was widely expected James Nallen, Keith Higgins, David Heany, and Trevor Howley were all included in the panel despite none of them taking part in the league campaign. In total 22 of those picked for last year’s squad at the same stage of the year were selected again this year, with the likes of Colm Boyle, James Gill, and Michael Mullins all not making the cut this time around. While the veterans Nallen and Heany were included Aidan Higgins, whom many thought might have got the nod, was not selected despite lining out in a recent challenge match against Offaly in Castlebar.