Search Results for 'Niall McCusker'

It has been a wonderful change over the past few mornings to look out from around 7.20am on and see some brightness and light to help you scoff down the porridge, toast and tea before dashing out the door for work. And the really noticeable stretch in the evenings definitely adds a pep to your step as you hit the training fields or head for a good jaunty walk or jog. With winter's darkness practically in our rear-view mirror and next Sunday heralding the start of spring, it is time for us to start checking out the new faces on the county panels and see if all the old stagers are back in the fold and if they are carrying any excess baggage around the midriff and buttocks. Are the young guns up to the job in hand and is there another year or two in the auld lads? Those are the questions that will be up for debate over the coming few weeks.

It has been a wonderful change over the past few mornings to look out from around 7.20am on and see some brightness and light to help you scoff down the porridge, toast and tea before dashing out the door for work. And the really noticeable stretch in the evenings definitely adds a pep to your step as you hit the training fields or head for a good jaunty walk or jog.

Mayo, as you know, start with a home game against Derry in Ballina on Sunday. While it is true that our preparations haven’t been perfect, with sloppy displays in the FBD league, preparations in the last two weeks have gone really well according to reports! Some of the ‘big guns’ were out last weekend in Kilmallock, where Cork were the opposition. Mayo scored 2-12 in that game against a full Cork outfit. The game ended in a draw and apparently it was a good workout for all concerned. Trevor Mortimer has returned to the fray after a couple of weeks sunning himself in South Africa and Ronan McGarrity was back at midfield having returned from his honeymoon. Mayo were as near full strength as possible, with only the injured Conor Mortimer not featuring as he had minor surgery on a broken nose received a week earlier. After this game and another workout on Sunday morning against a Mayo u21 selection management would more than likely have made their minds up on a starting 15 for Sunday. At the time of writing the Mayo team hasn’t yet been selected but I will be surprised if it isn’t Clarke, Vaughan, Cafferkey, Liam O’Malley, Gardiner, Cunniffe, Pat Kelly, McGarrity, Parsons, Trevor Mortimer, Dillon, Padden, Conor Mortimer, Barry Moran, and Andy Moran. If Conor Mortimer isn’t selected then I expect Mickey Sweeney might get the nod here as he scored a goal and two points from three efforts against Cork. I believe we will get our campaign off to a winning start on Sunday. Derry are missing quite a few of their stars as I believe Mark Lynch, Enda Muldoon, Niall McCusker, Kevin McCloy, Colin Devlin, and Paddy Bradley are not available on Sunday for one reason or another.

A few weeks ago, myself and Mike Finnerty - who is the GAA

A few weeks ago myself and Mike Finnerty — the GAA commentator for Setanta Ireland and TV3 for the coming championship — were staying over in Omagh after the Tyrone v Derry game. We were having a few beers and were chilling the beans after the long road, the game and the commentary in the Silverbirch hotel, just off Gortin Road, down from Healy Park. We had itchy feet and wanted to head into town to check out the local hostelries, have a bit of a laugh with the locals, and enjoy the night. However we were a tad reticent due to being in unfamiliar surroundings and not knowing the lay of the land.