Search Results for 'Pat Holmes'

I got a call last Thursday from a friend wondering if I could meet him for lunch. Upon arrival at the chosen venue I could see said friend was extremely agitated and frustrated and it became apparent he needed a sounding board to launch a tirade regarding a minor match fixture. Friend happens to be the manager of the minor team in question that had made it through to the county league semi final. It transpired that his annoyance and frustration concerned a break down in communication regarding the fixture. He had received an email the previous night (Wednesday) saying that the fixture was scheduled for the following Friday evening (48 hours notice). He told me that he had been informed on the Monday night that the game would definitely not be played during that week and the best information he got suggested that it would be a couple of weeks before it would take place. Consequently the club did not fulfil the fixture and the match was awarded to the opposition on a walk over. The county final at this particular grade is fixed for this weekend. Some of you may be aware that the Oxegen concert also takes place this weekend when thousands of youngsters of this particular age group travel to the music festival.

The make up of the the last eight in the Mayo senior football championships in Mayo started to take shape over the weekend. Castlebar, Crossmolina Deel Rovers, Ballintubber, Ballaghaderreen and Breaffy all registered their second win in the championships. While two wins normally would guarantee you a place in the last eight going on recent years, it may not be enough for Breaffy should they loose out to Knockmore in their final group game.

Travelling to Garrymore is a rare adventure for me. In fact it is one of the few grounds in this county that when I travel to it I invariably get lost along the way. Instead of taking the more direct (if you could ever use the word ‘direct’ in association with any passage to Garrymore) route via Claremorris, I thought I remembered the less travelled road up through Mayo Abbey being a little more interesting and so I veered right at the top of Balla village and not for the first time.

While the fallout from Mayo’s Connacht Championship opener against London has been the talk of newspaper pages, online discussions, and bar stools across the county for the past fortnight, the real beating heart of Gaelic football in the county is about to be unleashed this weekend. The long hard slog since the turn of the year, through wet, muddy, fields, gym and weight circuits, for the humble club player is about to come to fruition this weekend when Treanlaur Catering Mayo Senior and Intermediate football championship gets under way.

The club championship kicks off this weekend. It is a fact that the majority of teams that play this weekend believe they will be good enough to win their respective matches. However 2011 will undoubtedly cough up its fair share of surprising results. We also have sufficient proof that, on any given Sunday, the majority of teams in the county are capable of beating each other. Form in the league counts for nothing when championship comes around. We have several teams sprinkled around the county that excel in beating more fancied opponents. Our Crossmolina boys are off to Garrymore this Saturday evening to play against a team that rarely suffers in the confidence department! I am very aware of how formidable they can be in their own back yard.

The club championship kicks off this weekend. It is a fact that the majority of teams that play this weekend believe they will be good enough to win their respective matches. However 2011 will undoubtedly cough up its fair share of surprising results. We also have sufficient proof that, on any given Sunday, the majority of teams in the county are capable of beating each other. Form in the league counts for nothing when championship comes around. We have several teams sprinkled around the county that excel in beating more fancied opponents. Our Crossmolina boys are off to Garrymore this Saturday evening to play against a team that rarely suffers in the confidence department! I am very aware of how formidable they can be in their own back yard.

While the fallout from Mayo’s Connacht Championship opener against London has been the talk of newspaper pages, online discussions, and bar stools across the county for the past fortnight, the real beating heart of Gaelic football in the county is about to be unleashed this weekend. The long hard slog since the turn of the year, through wet, muddy, fields, gym and weight circuits, for the humble club player is about to come to fruition this weekend when Treanlaur Catering Mayo Senior and Intermediate football championship gets under way.

The recent success of Mayo football at u21 level was recognised this week with four Mayo players making the cut and being named among the best 15 players to have played in the u21 championship over the past five years since 2005. Those who made the grade were Keith Higgins, who captained Mayo to their All Ireland u21 championship success in 2006, Pearse Hanley, Aidan O’Shea, and Tom Parsons. In the time period for selection Mayo won four Connacht titles in a row from 2006 to 2009 and an All Ireland title in 2006 all under the guidance of the management team of Pat Holmes, Noel Connelly, and Mícheál Collins. In 2010, Ray Dempsey took over the team and brought them to a Connacht final where they were narrowly beaten by Roscommon in the final.

The curtain came down on Mayo’s involvement in the All Ireland series last Sunday as Tony Duffy’s brave and battling minors bowed out in the All Ireland semi-final. But 62 days on from Pearse Park in Longford and their senior counterparts’ exit from the championship in the first round of the qualifiers, how far has the shaping of the future of Mayo football gone since just after 9.30pm in the underbelly of the stand in Pearse Park, when John O’Mahony announced that he was standing aside after four years?

So Mayo have hung the ‘help wanted’ sign outside the front door again. Once the final whistle was blown in Pearse Park at around 8.25pm last Saturday, there was never going to be any other option. John O’Mahony wasted no time in putting to an end his four seasons in charge of the side once the dye had been cast and the terminal whistle on the game and his managment of Mayo was blown by Gearoid Ó Conámha in the fading midlands sunlight.