Search Results for 'Tom Parsons'

It is game five of Mayo's 2016 championship campaign as we travel to Croke Park to take on Westmeath tomorrow afternoon. I know some are giving out about the choice of venue but I love going to Croke Park, you never get sick of the place and the fact there is a double header along with Donegal and Cork makes it all the more appealing.

There's no more room for error for the Mayo seniors of 2016, after five successive Connacht titles, rather than looking forward to a Sunday afternoon showdown for the Nestor Cup, they are back on the chicken and chips circuit of the qualifiers for the first time in six years looking to rebuild their fortunes on the backstreets of the championship. The first step in moving from those backstreets to the main streets is tomorrow afternoon when they host a dangerous visitor from Ulster at 3.30pm

It's time for the talking to be done on the pitch. Leaving MacHale Park after Mayo's lethargic performance against Galway, disillusioned and bewildered, I now find myself with a nervous excitement as Mayo have to navigate their way to Croke Park via the qualifier route. Who knows where it will take us. It's a new experience for some of the team and an experience some of the others have only been through once (the nightmare loss to Longford in 2010), which brings its own pressure, lose and you're out. Defeat will mean it will be the first time in six years Mayo won't be making the trip east to play in Croke Park. To coin a phrase from Sir Alex Ferguson “it's squeaky bum time”.

Mayo’s reign in Connacht was always going to come to an end at some stage, on a drizzly and grey night in Castlebar the maroon and white invaders from south of border, stared them down and stood tall at the end of the battle. When the final whistle went, the Galway faithful celebrated their 39th championship win over their old rivals with as much gusto and glee as if they had just claimed the All Ireland title.

Mayo’s reign in Connacht was always going to come to an end at some stage, on a drizzly and grey night in Castlebar the maroon and white invaders from south of border, stared them down and stood tall at the end of the battle. When the final whistle went, the Galway faithful celebrated their 39th championship win over their old rivals with as much gusto and glee as if they had just claimed the All Ireland title.

The countdown is well and truly on for Mayo's first championship home game of the season next Saturday night when Galway come to MacHale Park for the semi-final showdown. In the lead-up to the game, Mayo manager Stephen Rochford spoke to the press earlier this week about the contest.

Mayo got in and got out of London as expected winning by 2-16 to 0-9 without setting the world on fire. I was fully sure they would cover the 15 point handicap, but when you have an injury list as long as your arm you have to be satisfied they got the job done. I, like most of you, had to be content with listening to the game on the radio which was an unusual experience for me, you could almost sense the carnival atmosphere at the Irish TV grounds in Ruislip.

They packed the ground from early in the day and there was a carnival atmosphere around Ruislip well before throw in. While the the football on display wasn't of the highest quality getting out of London without any slip ups was the main priority for Mayo and that's exactly what they did.

It all started so brilliantly for Tom Parsons in the green and red of Mayo, he made his senior championship debut for Mayo in 2008 while still an U21 against Sligo and ended up that season heading to Australia as part of the Irish international rules side, the only Mayo player to be selected for that tour, but three years later when James Horan finished up his first league campaign as manager he was deemed surplus to requirements.

Seven years ago, Tom Parsons was the last Mayo man to lift the JJ Fahy Cup when he captained Mayo to win the Connacht U21 title against Sligo. It has been a rollercoaster few years in between for the Charlestown man, and last Sunday he captained Mayo once more, this time for the first time he led out the senior side for their win against Roscommon in Hyde Park. "For me that's something magic, you know, I mean three years ago I was up in Croke Park on Hill 16 looking down at the boys as a supporter, it's something magic to captain this team any day. It's the first time that I got to captain the Mayo senior team in any competition and to come up here and get a win, it was a big one for us."