Search Results for 'the National'

Kilmovee was buzzing on Saturday and there was more than just spring in the air. The crossroads on the R325 was full of orange clad marshals, dandelions lined the roadsides, tulips saluted from gardens, an array of green sun flowered Hospice t-shirts mingled with multicoloured runners and walkers, and sprinkled with a host of red and green Mayo AC vests. The yellow balloon arch at the start line did a spectacular malfunction which added to the excitement but did nothing to deflate the occasion. There was a record turnout of 545 entrants on a sunny Easter Saturday for the fifth Kilmovee 10k run and walk. This was the first event in Mayo AC's 2014 Move 2 Improve six race series, which is open to all entrants. It was excellently organised by Kilmovee Shamrocks GAA club and the local community in aid of Mayo/Roscommon Hospice. Ironman athlete Gerry Duffy was a guest and said: “It was the most friendly race I've ever been at, a fantastic event, testament to John Roddy's leadership and the involvement of the whole Kilmovee Community team.” The big field was well streamed out as they crossed over Aghadiffen Bridge into Roscommon after the 3k mark. Matt Bidwell, Roger Barrett, last year's winner Con Marshall, and Aidan Callaghan were in the lead group, with John Byrne - recovering from his PB run at last Sunday's Rotterdam marathon - and Timmie Glavey further back.

After a brief run for shelter from an April shower, the sun came out at noon in the Phoenix Park on Sunday for the National 10k. Mayo AC had 24 on the start line, one of the biggest contingents among the 600 club athletes taking part in the National 10k championships. There were 13 women and 11 men making up the Mayo AC team, with the women going to the gun at 1.10pm and the men 20 minutes later.

Derry travelled to Castlebar last Sunday to take on the home side in what was a crucial game for Mayo to see if they would qualify for the playoffs of the National league. I should have smelled a rat earlier in the week when the bookmakers had Mayo at an outrageous 1/16 to beat the Oak Leaf county. This game could have been a cracker but it turned out to be a damp squib. Derry fielded only one of their starting 15 which made us realise from the outset that they did not care about the result, we will only know for sure if Brian McIver got anything out of this game when we see the Derry line up on Sunday.

Although it is only round three of the National league on Sunday when Mayo take on Kerry, it literally is a league defining match (There will be more on rounds of a different kind later on). The winners of the game have a chance of making the semi-finals; the losers are staring relegation in the face. Mayo have had some good results against Kerry in the league in the last number of years and no question they will not fear them particularly with Colm ‘Gooch’ Cooper sidelined for the year . It is sad for us as footballing fans that we will not see the eight-time All-Star in action this year however I am sure there are many a manager and defender quietly delighted they will not have to endure the full wrath of his skills in the summer of 2014. Cooper’s last championship game, last year’s All-Ireland semifinal against the Dubs, was arguably one of his best in a Kerry jersey. I was secretly hoping Kerry would win that game as I felt Mayo would have had a better chance against them in the final. Kerry are under transition at the moment and very regularly line out with players we have not really heard of just yet, so now is a good time to play them.

PAT MCCABE’S rollercoaster new play, The Bridge Below The Town, set in 1950s small-town Ireland, is coming to the Town Hall Theatre and promises audiences a swirling drama of life, love, Butlins, and nuns who make márla men, set to a classic soundtrack.

Galway county athletic teams head for Dunboyne in Co Meath for the All Ireland Masters and Intermediate Cross Country championships this weekend.

Firstly to admit an error broadcast by yours truly live on radio last Sunday during the Mayo v Tyrone game. With the entire furore over black cards, yellow cards and red cards, I was blissfully unaware that teams were now in fact allowed to make six substitutions.

Galway City Harrier Nicola Duncan has been selected to compete for Ireland in the European Athletics Championships

THE NATIONAL, the outstanding Brooklyn based rock band, are coming to Galway to play the Galway Arts Festival Big Top in the Fisheries Field in July.

PINS HAVE been called a ‘Manchester band’ - which to some is not a geographical description, but a musical signifier - or as ‘Manc post punk’, which situates them in a particular time and musical pigeon hole, but there is far more to the exciting quartet than these labels can convey.