Search Results for 'Noel Connelly'

The three week break in the National league came at a good time for the Mayo footballers and for joint managers Pat Holmes and Noel Connelly. It will give them time to work on certain issues that were so badly exposed by the Tyrone blanket defence, however it still did not detract the doubters and the critics from expressing their obvious concerns.

It wasn’t as if we weren’t warned. We expected a Tyrone backlash, we didn’t think it would be so convincing. The scrutiny and criticism directed at Mickey Harte’s Tyrone after their capitulation against Monaghan in the first round more than galvanised the red hand for their trip to Castlebar. Sports writers, commentators, analysts, and even Mickey Harte’s most loyal supporters questioned his credentials and his team; they’re as good as dead it was declared.

There is one thing for sure about Sunday’s National League game against Tyrone and that is Mayo will not be underestimating the challenge facing them when Tyrone come to town.

When I woke last Sunday morning at 6.30am to find an inch of frozen snow covering the entire landscape around Charlestown I immediately thought there was no way I could travel to Killarney in these conditions, but I had to as I had the radio equipment in the boot of my car and without it no live broadcast of the much anticipated game could take place.

Keith Higgins got his tenure as the permanent Mayo captain off to a winning start in Killarney on Sunday, while he was happy to get the points the Ballyhaunis native isn’t getting carried away just yet.

A seven point win over the All Ireland champions is as welcome a start to national competitions as any management team could hope for and joint Mayo manager Noel Connelly was pleased with how things played out in Killarney yesterday.

Now it starts to get real. While the championship is the ultimate barometer of success in Gaelic games, a successful league campaign is the foundation stone of what happens in the white heat of summer fare.

Let the battles commence. With the greatest respect to the FBD league it all starts in earnest for Mayo on Sunday when they travel to Killarney to take on All-Ireland champions Kerry. The FBD league did show one thing, that Mayo are a little bit behind in terms of preparation after succumbing to a well prepared Roscommon outfit in the final game.

Niall Heffernan’s Mayo u21 footballers picked up their second win on the bounce in group three of the Hastings Cup in James Stephens Park, Ballina last Saturday, with a comfortable win over Monaghan. Tomorrow afternoon in the Connacht GAA Centre of Excellence they will wrap up the group stages of the competition with the visit of Wicklow. The Garden County men picked up their first win in the competition last Saturday, when they saw off the challenge of Westmeath in Blessington thanks to a 3-5 to 0-9 win.

The Mayo senior football team have got 2015 off to a winning start on the double following their back-to-back wins over NUIG and Sligo IT in the last fortnight.