Search Results for 'Jim Gavin'

The four provincial winners have eventually been decided with Dublin and Donegal winning their respective finals in Leinster, and Ulster joining Kerry and of course Mayo. I was in a very precarious position last Sunday at 1.30pm, sitting in 30 degrees of heat by a gorgeous pool in the Algarve, do I stay or do I go to watch potential opponents for Mayo. There was only one winner, I left the swimming pool as I would have been uneasy sitting, wondering what was going on. I happened to meet former Breaffy player Robert Fahy and two of his kids who were there for the same reason as myself, we wanted to see if the Dubs were beatable as most people felt Meath were the team to do it.

Two Galway people, Linda Waters and Zimele Brown of Athenry, will join the 34 athletes representing Ireland at the eigth European Transplant and Dialysis Sports Championships in Krakow, Poland, from Saturday August 16 to Saturday August 23.

Following a defeat in last weekend's Allianz NFL Division One opener with Cork the stakes will be piled high for Westmeath at Cusack Park when All Ireland champions Dublin visit Cusack Park.

To win just once would be enough seems to be the overwhelming feeling in Mayo this week. To say I’m sick to the pit of my stomach is somewhat of an understatement. I fully know what the players, management and their families are feeling, there is no word to describe it, it is the closest feeling to losing a loved one. In time it will heal but now the game is being dissected by everyone, even people who know nothing about football, that is the nature of the beast. I have no doubt the players are dwelling on decisions they made during the game, the management are wondering whether they made the right calls even Joe McQuillan will be feeling a little dire and maybe he should.

Mayo people living in Galway have really been showing their colours over the past few weeks and I hope Mayo finally come good and get over the winning line.

There is no shame in losing and certainly no shame in losing to a team of the calibre of the current Dublin side. Yet it was the manner of the defeat and the fact that Jim Gavin’s side sauntered to a 16 point win without having to leave the comfort of third gear that has left a bad taste to this Leinster quarter-final mismatch. Dublin are exceptionally strong at present and will undoubtedly have a big say in the destination of Sam McGuire this September but there is no taking away from the fact that this was a very poor Westmeath performance.

Dublin 2-16

The league is a bit of a curate’s egg of a competition for a lot of teams, and for Mayo it’s no different. A necessity to get out of the way ahead of the proper stuff come summer time, but then an opportunity to blood new players and to get some momentum built up ahead of that self same summer of championship action. For Mayo the league so far has had those essential elements of the aforementioned curate’s egg of being partially bad and partially good. The good has been in the last two games, beating Donegal and Cork, to not only maintain their division one status but to book a unexpected place in the last four of the competition and a semi-final on Sunday against Dublin. The bad has been the defeats to Tyrone, Down, Dublin, and Kildare in the middle four games of the competition, and not taking advantage of situations such as having a man advantage against Dublin in Croke Park.