Search Results for 'Stephen Rochford'

Mayo left MacHale Park last Saturday night with plenty of question marks over them.

We knew life in division one was going to be tough.

Kevin Walsh's Galway, in division one for the first time since 2011, have made a tremendous start to their league campaign with two consecutive wins over Ulster opposition.

Mayo manager Stephen Rochford admitted it was hard to focus on any positives in the immediate aftermath of Saturday night’s Allianz League defeat against Kerry.

The man who from Kenmare who had “transport issues” according the the public address system in MacHale Park and needed a lift home - will have had plenty to talk about on the trip back to the Kingdom with the new friends who were found for him.

Two minutes into injury time Adam Gallagher dropped his effort into the arms of Rory Beggan and it looked like Mayo weren’t going to be able to overcome a Monaghan side who were playing with 13 men for the final few minutes.

The shadow boxing and experimenting has come to a close, with the end of the FBD League last Sunday for Mayo. This weekend Mayo will make the trip to Clones in the reverse fixture of last year's National Football League opener which was won by the Farney county men in MacHale Park. The top division in the National Football League is a high intensity environment — Mayo want to hit the ground running and they will be targeting a win in this game.

With respect to the FBD league Mayo's season kicks off in earnest this Sunday when they travel to Clones to take on Monaghan in the first round of the National Football League. The FBD was somewhat of a calamitous affair this year with the weather playing puck with fixtures resulting in postponements and last minute cancellations. The decision to call off the Mayo v Galway game at the 11th hour the most frustrating postponement, as almost 3,000 spectators had gathered in Baltic conditions in Elverys MacHale Park. Most wondered why the decision was not made earlier. That re-fixture meant Mayo of course had to play three games in five days, two of which were lost while the other was a draw. Amazingly last weekend Mayo's game went ahead against Sligo albeit after a venue change. It was the only inter county game that took place last Sunday.

Keith Higgins will be another familiar face missing from Mayo’s opening league encounter against Monaghan next weekend, with the Ballyhaunis clubman yet to join up with the panel for the new season.

Mayo bookended their FBD League campaign by registering their first win of the new season against Sligo in James Stephens Park. But as Mayo manager Stephen Rochford said after the game; “That sort of performance won’t get you any points in Clones.”