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Mayo will start their All Ireland qualifiers adventure in Pearse Park, Longford, next Saturday evening when they take on Glenn Ryan’s midlands men in the first round of the backdoor system. While the trip to Longford will be far from easy it could have been a lot worse with the likes of Armagh, Donegal, and Derry all in the pot with Mayo. Longford will be no easy pushovers for Mayo all the same, last season they ran the current All Ireland champions Kerry to four points in the same venue, keeping Kerry scoreless for the majority of the second half that day. Mayo will make the trip to Longford even though they were drawn out of the hat first last Sunday evening. GAA Central Council made a ruling that teams who played away in the first round of the qualifiers would play at home in the first round this year, even if they were the second team out of the hat. The Mayo County Board is sure to be disappointed with the fact that the newly renovated McHale Park has so far failed to host a championship match in 2010.

Mayo would still be allowed compete in this year’s Connacht senior football championship, if a solution to the impasse between the county board and the players can be resolved in time, the Mayo Advertiser has learned this week. “We received an email this week on Monday morning from the Mayo County Board informing us that they would be withdrawing from this year’s championship,” Ita Hannon, secretary of the Connacht Ladies’ Council, told the Mayo Advertiser. When asked if Mayo would be readmitted into the championship, she confirmed that the Connacht Council would let them back in if they asked. “Of course we would let them back in. We’d never stop anyone from playing football.”

Understandably, the mood in the county is somewhat muted after the disappointment of Mayo’s performance in the league final. What the final did tell us is that Cork are the best team in the country right now and their improving style of football over the last two years will almost guarantee that they feature in the latter stages of this year’s championship. In fact, I will be surprised if they don’t win the All-Ireland this year. They have a plethora of big, strong, athletic footballers who are really comfortable on the ball. Mayo on the other hand look particularly small physically, an observation I have heard from more than a few. Also, notwithstanding the fact that Mayo played very poorly, Cork look to have it sussed for 2010. Last year they bubbled over in mid summer, playing their sweetest football in July and August. They will be smarter this year and I think that the Cork management will gather sufficient expertise to ensure that they peak in September.

Lough Key Forest Park, near Boyle was the venue for the annual Woodie's DIY AAI National Intermediate and Masters Cross Country Championships last Sunday. The scenic surroundings were a bit lost in the gloom of a frosty, foggy, February day. However, the parkland course was a good test for all four races held in chilly but mainly solid underfoot conditions. Mayo AC had a great turnout of 20 athletes, which represents a heartening revival of interest, and their four teams included athletes running cross country for the first time. Competition, as usual, was fierce with club and county honours at stake as well as individual age categories in the masters races. Despite not winning any medals this year there were some excellent performances. Ann Lennon ran strongly and was 16th overall in the Masters Women's 4k .She led the team to fourth club, albeit well outside the bronze points. Robert Malseed was in fine form — 12th in their masters race — just a week after his 32nd place in the Barcelona Half Marathon in an excellent 72.14. The masters o35 team were ninth club, while the o50s team were sixth. In the Intermediate men's race, Mayo AC were sixth club and were led home by another good run from John Byrne in 14th overall. Their four top finishers - John Byrne, TJ McHugh (37) Anto Devaney (62), Timmy Glavey (69), plus Roger Barrett (20) and Michael Canty (91) of Ballina AC, - brought Mayo to fourth place Inter County.

Despite another sickening one-point defeat last weekend to Tyrone in round three of the qualifiers, there is not much point in Mayo changing the current management team.

Despite another sickening one point defeat last weekend to Tyrone in round three of the qualifiers there is not much point in Mayo changing their current management team.

Despite another sickening one-point defeat last weekend to Tyrone in round three of the qualifiers there is not much point in Mayo changing their current management team. What purpose would it serve? John O’Mahony took on the job for three years and it is impossible to see much benefit to the Mayo county board or the team’s loyal supporters in changing horses mid-race. If O’Mahony was the best man for the job two years ago - it is difficult to see how he is not the best man for the job now.

I got word earlier in the week that the wagons were circling ahead of Mayo’s GAA County Board convention on Tuesday night last at the McWilliam Park Hotel in Claremorris. It appears that Noelle Horan, the outgoing PRO, had a major difference of opinion with a number of county board officers regarding restrictions on her access to the county team’s dressing-room earlier this year. “Access all areas” apparently wasn’t a problem under the previous management and it would seem there wasn’t too much of a problem regarding her access to the dressing room earlier this year under the current management. Obviously something went awry at some juncture that sullied what appeared up to then to be the perfect harmonious relationship. There had been a number of verbal clashes at earlier meetings and it was generally felt that things might get a little ugly at the convention on Tuesday night. There was no pairing system in place for this meeting with all county board officers expected to attend to display a collective unity against the maverick! My informant tells me that Ms Horan distributed a pre-prepared script which she later read from. She had a right swipe at the county board executive, outlining instances when she was “constructively prevented” from performing her duties and other occasions when she was “repeatedly undermined” by members of the board. Her own club member, Mr Sean Feeney, the county secretary, came in for scathing criticism from her, suggesting that he had no right to criticise players for doing certain media work. The suggestion was that Mr Feeney wasn’t shy of using the airways himself when it suited him. It is difficult to comprehend what caused such a breakdown in “the family”, but I would offer that it will be quite some time, if ever, before we see Ms Horan seek a nomination to become an officer of the Mayo County Board.

The final will take place in Breaffy GAA club house on January 4 at 3pm.

It's late in the evening, when this writer speaks to Adrian Hession, the full time hurling coaching officer with the Mayo county board, but it's always late in the evening when he puts the hurls away and gets to sit down and relax as he spreads the word of hurling in the county.