Search Results for 'Ray Dempsey'

Mayo more than likely will be missing the services of experienced Ballina goalkeeper David Clarke for next weekend’s Connacht senior football championship semi-final against Roscommon. The shot-stopper pulled up injured during the first half of last Friday night’s challenge game with Louth in Garrymore and had to be replaced by Kenneth O'Malley. Clarke's groin injury will see the Ballinrobe 21-year-old in line for a recall to the senior side after picking up a potentially career ending kidney injury 18 months ago in a Higher Education League game.

Gerry Fahy’s county minors face a tough game against last year’s All-Ireland finalists Mayo in the curtain raiser on Sunday (12.10pm).

Gaelic football, played at its brilliant best, excites me. It is a game that provides heroes and role models, moments of glory, and great sporting occasions, with the potential to lift the spirits of whole communities and providing a focus for local loyalty and a real sense of community. Unfortunately this year’s championship hasn’t yet done any of that and has provided only one game of real quality so far, that of Cork v Kerry.

Mayo 1-8

Once again Mayo fell at the final hurdle, but unlike other instances when the Mayo faithful have left All Ireland finals scratching their collective heads as to what went wrong, this time there could be no question marks about the performance, attitude and dedication of the players and the management. Everything that could possibly be given in quest for the Tom Markham Cup was given in Pearse Park last Saturday. It took 140 minutes of football for Tyrone to shake Mayo off, 140 minutes where every player in green and red gave everything he possibly could.

“Just because you were there last year doesn’t mean that it’s going to be easy to get back there again the next year.” Said Mayo minor manager Ray Dempsey earlier this week when speaking to the Mayo Advertiser about his side’s first foray into championship action for 2009. The wily Knockmore man will be taking charge of the Mayo minor side for the third year in a row, the past two years of his tenure have seen wildly contrasting fortunes on the field. 2007 ended almost before it began, eliminated by Roscommon on a forgettable Saturday evening in Hyde Park, followed last year by another so near yet so far story for Mayo football when his side came with in seconds of claiming an All Ireland title.

Mayo 2-13

Before the big show on Sunday, Ray Dempsey’s minor’s will be going for two-in-a-row when they take on Roscommon in the Connacht minor football championship final, just before 2pm. Dempsey named an unchanged side to go into the game on Wednesday evening, with John Carney who came on against Galway the only major injury doubt according to Mayo manager Ray Dempsey. “John is a doubt, we don’t know yet whatever he will be able to take some part in the game or none at all. He is a big loss because he does bring something different to the game, but we just have to wait and see.”

Those who made the trek to Salthill early last Sunday to catch a glimpse of this year’s batch of Mayo minors after getting a glowing recommendation following their destruction of Galway in the Connacht semi-final, will have been rightly scratching their heads at full time. It would be hard to imagine any two sides coming together in a provincial final and producing a worse game of football. Mayo got a second chance at the death, thanks to captain Aidan Walsh who tapped over a free manufactured by Cillian O’Connor a minute into injury time, which was sweet relief for Mayo. Roscommon players and supporters will be scratching their own heads at how they contrived to not win a game. They just avoided hitting double the amount of wides to scores they got on the board (15 in total), but also dropped a number of efforts short of the target or so wild that they managed to drift off target and still not cross the end line.

Tradition is something that will count for nothing on Monday when Mayo meet Tipperary in the All Ireland minor quarter final in Tullamore. It would be easy to say that a Mayo football side should beat a Tipperary football team out of sight in the All Ireland championship. But the premier county has been on a crest of a wave in underage football over the last number of years and this year their minor side who Mayo will face ran the powerhouse of Kerry very close in the Munster final and their u21 side put eventual All Ireland champions Cork to the pin of their collar in the Munster championship back in the spring. And Ray Dempsey knows this fact only too well as he gets his side into shape for the bank holiday weekend shoot out down in Offaly. “Look these guy’s can play football and are a very good side, they beat a very good Cork minor side already and they brought Kerry right to the wire in the Munster final. There is nothing easy about any side who makes it to the last eight of and All Ireland, you only also have to look at their u21 side this year Cork needed a last minute goal to beat them and that team went on to win the All Ireland final.”