Search Results for 'Ray Dempsey'

It is a simple as can be tomorrow (Saturday, March 12) when this year's crop of Mayo u21s take to the field in the preliminary round of the Connacht u21 championship. Win and they are through to a semi-final against Leitrim the following week, lose and it is pack away the Mayo gear for another year, or maybe forever for a number of the players. Standing in the way of Ray Dempsey's men and progression in the championship are the near neighbours in primrose and blue, Roscommon. Dempsey took charge of the Mayo u21s last year for the first time after three very successful years as the manager of the minor team which saw him reach two All Ireland finals on the trot. But last year the wheels came unstuck in a ill tempered semi-final in Hyde Park on St Patrick’s Day, which Mayo lost by a single score following a helter skelter affair.

The draw for the Mayo Club Championship last Monday night has the 16 clubs in the senior and intermediate championships along with those in both the Junior A and B championships plotting and planning for the summer ahead. At Monday night’s draw it was also announced that Midfield based catering company Trenalaur Catering would be the official sponsor of the Mayo senior championship for the coming year, with Westport based courier company Jim Hogan Couriers sponsoring the Mayo senior hurling championship.

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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.

First there were five, now there are seven, in the hat to become the next Mayo senior football manager. Last weekend Mayo county secretary Seán Feeney confirmed to the Mayo Advertiser that the county board had received expressions of interest in the role from two outsiders in the position. Last Monday at a county board meeting those two outsiders were revealed to be former Dublin managers Tommy Carr and Tommy Lyons. Carr recently finished up a stint as Cavan manager, having previously managed Roscommon as well as Dublin. Lyons has also previously managed Offaly, winning a Leinster title in 1997, before taking over Dublin. Both men’s entry into the ring has heated up the competition for the role. But as John Maughan reveals in his exclusive Mayo Advertiser column this week, one other former inter-county manager would have liked to express his interest in the role, but didn’t because of distance he lives from Mayo.

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?

Mayo have named an unchanged starting 15 for their All Ireland semi final against Tyrone, however manager Tony Duffy will be sweating on the fitness of two of his starters ahead of the big game. Both centre half back Conor Walsh and corner back Brendan Harrison are doubts for the game. “We might not be able to get our full strength starting 15 out on to the field for Sunday but we will be giving the lads every opportunity to make Sunday's game,” Duffy told the Mayo Advertiser earlier this week. Even if the two defenders do not make it Duffy is more than confident in the players he has in reserve. “We’ve got a great panel of 32 lads now and every one of them is working as hard as they can to put themselves in contention for a spot on the field, if the lads don't make it I'm fully confident in they guys we have to come in being more than capable of filling the gaps.”

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.

If it wasn’t a difficult enough task for Tony Duffy taking over as Mayo minor manager after two successive appearances in the All Ireland final at this grade for the county, on Saturday evening it is win or bust for the year before June is even out. Duffy was the man to come out on top of a number of candidates picked by the county board to lead the Mayo minor side this year, following Ray Dempsey and his backroom team’s elevation to the u21 side. So far so good for Duffy and his backroom team of Vinnie Walsh, Liam Lavelle, and Michael Ruane, the Connacht minor league saw Mayo pick up four wins from five, the only defeat coming at the hands of this weekend’s opponents Roscommon on the opening day of the competition at the tail end of March in Ballyhaunis.

John O'Mahony named his squad for the championship on Monday, there were no major surprises in the 30 men named, with Belmullet's Billy Joe Padden the only man who wasn't involved in action so far this year coming back into contention. O'Mahony now has 33 days to get his team ready for Sligo in the Connacht championship opener.