Search Results for 'Damien McGrath'

When the league seasons comes to a conclusion last weekend's round of action in the Elverys Sports Super League could well be seen as one of the pivotal rounds of action. Champions Westport United were held to 0-0 draw by Ballyheane on Saturday night, that left Ballina Town knowing that if they could see off Castlebar Celtic at home the following day, they would move to within two points of the champions at the top of the table and still have a game in hand.

Castlebar Celtic are on the look out for a new manager after Stevie Gavin stepped down from his position after their 7-2 win over Straide and Foxford on Sunday afternoon in Green Road. The news of Gavin’s departure will come as a shock so early in the season, which is only two games old.

Ballina Town got their title defence off to a winning start in Attymass on Saturday night thanks to early goal from ace marksman Brendan Lavelle against a tough battling Moy Villa side. The champions made all the running early on in the contest, but were made to sweat at the end as Moy Villa threw everything at them to try and salvage an equaliser at the death.

A 39-year-old man who threw a patron of a pub across tables and threw a pint glass in the direction of the owner of the pub was before Ballina District Court this week.

The continuing rise of Damien McGrath to the elite level of the game will continue this summer with the north Mayo man whistler heading the European Championships in Poland/Ukraine. McGrath has been appointed to take part in the tournament as an assistant referee which will be another high point to McGrath’s career. He has previously been involved in Champions League and Europa League games and was also involved in the action in the European u21 Championships in Denmark last year.

Clarinbridge club secretary Damien McGrath thrilled with All-Ireland victory

Mayo League referee Damien McGrath’s upwards trajectory in the game will continue at pace on Sunday. The north Mayo whistle blower will be first assistant referee in Sunday’s Ford FAI Cup final between League of Ireland champions Shamrock Rovers and Sligo Rovers in the Aviva Stadium in Dublin. McGrath’s stock in the game has been rising over the past number of years and he was rewarded earlier in the autumn when he was appointed as first assistant referee in a UEFA Champions League group game. On Sunday he will once again be first assistant referee with Thomas Connolly the man in the middle.

Mayo will be represented in the first round of the Champions League next week when Damien McGrath steps out on to the field in the biggest club competition in the world. McGrath’s stock has risen highly in Mayo and nationally over the past number of years and this is just the latest high level promotion for him. McGrath will be first assistant referee, alongside the all Irish team of Alan Kelly who will be the referee, Ken Hennessey, and Paraic Sutton, who will act as fourth official. The two additional assistants are Anthony Buttimer and Neil Doyle. “It’s a great honour for me and also for the Mayo referees branch,” McGrath said.

This year’s Chadwicks Cup final (Mayo League FA Cup) sees the meeting of two Uniteds who have seen their historical positions flipped this year. Straide and Foxford United, one of the blue ribbon names in Mayo soccer saw themselves relegated at the death of the 2007 season to the Premier League, while Snugboro United surrvived and launched an all out assault on the higher reaches of the Super League this season. This assault proved ultimately unsuccessful but Johan Collins’s first year in charge of the side can only be marked out as a success so far. And if he is able to guide his men to pick up the Chadwicks Cup the season will have been an unqualified success.

By the time that the Galway League awoke from their slumber in this contest with the Mayo League they were chasing the game for a draw which would have sent them through to the knock-out stages of the Oscar Traynor Trophy. It was not to be for the Galway League and in all honestly it never looked like they would threaten Emmett Payton's goal over the course of a bitterly cold 90 minutes in Castlebar.