Heartbreak for Mitchels again

Fri, Mar 18, 2016

It was a devastating loss for Castlebar Mitchels when they came up against a far superior and prepared Ballyboden St Enda’s yesterday. The comprehensive 13-point victory, wasn’t at all flattering on the Dublin men. Despite all the hype around Castlebar and through Mayo over the last few weeks, the huge support that came out to back them left Croke Park with heartbreak once again. From as early as the first minute when Colm Basquel burst through the Castlebar rearguard to finish in fantastic style, Castlebar were in trouble.

St Joseph’s bring back All Ireland title

Fri, Mar 18, 2016

There were great celebrations in east Mayo on Wednesday afternoon, when St Joseph’s Community School in Charlestown claimed victory in the All Ireland Post Primary Schools Post Primary D championship to bring the Br Edmund Ignatius Rice Cup back to Mayo.

U21s looking to lay down a marker

Fri, Mar 18, 2016

It will be seven years this year since Mayo last claimed the Connacht u21 title. Since then Galway have gone on to claim two All Ireland titles at the grade and Roscommon have appeared in two All Ireland finals, while both of the Connacht minnows, Leitrim and Sligo, have appeared in provincial finals. In the last six u21 campaigns Mayo have managed just three wins out of nine games, all at the preliminary round stage, beating Leitrim in 2010 and 2015 and Galway in 2012 before they exited the competition at the next stage.

Wasteful Mayo facing serious battle to avoid the drop

Sun, Mar 13, 2016

There will always be quibbles with the referees decisions in games, there were plenty to pick over from Rory Hickey’s display. In particular in the 26th minute when Aidan O’Shea was manhandled to the deck by a couple of Kerry players including Aidan O’Mahony, who were aided by Kieran Donaghy testing the strength of the material in the black and lime Mayo jersey. Aidan managed to scoop the ball over the bar somehow from being right under the crossbar for a point, but Hickey should have blown for a penalty before he ever got the shot off. But it wasn’t refereeing decisions that cost Mayo in MacHale Park, it was just bad decision making, poor execution of skills and just not being at the races in the final 35 minutes, all their own doing.

Performance turns into points for Mayo

Fri, Mar 11, 2016

Mayo had to dig deep last weekend to pick up their first two league points of the season and get their first victory in the win column for the new season. It was a tough encounter on the field against Monaghan, but Mayo came through at the end and midfielder Tom Parsons was happy to have the season up and running. "Tough tough game out there, especially when the heat came on and Monaghan came back at us, but fair play to Robbie for showing the composure to kick the two frees at the end of the game. "

Irish to have a great week at Cheltenham, but expect no records from Willie

Fri, Mar 11, 2016

Now that the election is over (almost), we can concentrate fully on what will unfold in the Cotswolds for four hectic days next week. There are certain acres of ground which are held sacred by followers of sport in this country. Horse Racing, and particularly National Hunt Racing, also has its sacred piece of ground where man and beast combine in pursuit of their holy grail. The irony for Irish National Hunt fans is that these few acres are in a town in the Cotswolds that couldn't be more English. All that changes next week, when an estimated 15,000 Irish people descend on the town.

Willie Mullins will have a good week, with a strong chance it will finally include victory in The Gold Cup itself, but I cannot see him matching last year's record number of winners. Looking at Tuesday's opening race, the Supreme Novices Hurdle, the market suggests the continuation of the dominance of Willie Mullins and Rich Ricci with the lightly raced Min. At odds of around 7/4, he does not represent a lot of value on what he has achieved so far, and I'd prefer to have a few euro each-way on Buveur D'Air or Altior. I expect both of these to make the frame. I also expect Min to be a drifter on the day, so if you are thinking of getting involved, hold off until Tuesday morning. Then take advantage of some of the specials on offer: don't be surprised if one of these offers Min as large as 3/1. In the Arkle Challenge Trophy, if Douvan stands up, he wins; it is as simple as that. If he doesn't, expect to see Vaniteux or Sizing John take advantage.

Now we are up and running

Fri, Mar 11, 2016

Mayo finally got off the mark after a pulsating battle with Ulster champions Monaghan in Clones last Sunday. Given the situation I feel this was the most important league game Mayo have played in the last 15 years as defeat would surely have left an insurmountable battle to survive in division one, so huge credit has to be given to both management and players. It would also have been the first time since 1994 that Mayo would have lost four games in a row at the start of a league campaign so needless to say Stephen Rochford did not want that statistic on his CV.

McManus loss a big blow to Mayo

Fri, Mar 11, 2016

The Mayo senior hurlers cemented their place at the top of the division 2B league table last weekend with their second tough road win on the bounce seeing off Down by 0-20 to 0-16 in Newry last Sunday. That was JP Coen's men third win in a row, but it came at a big cost he told us this week.

"It was a tidy win thank God, we got over the line well in the end which was great. It was a tough game though, it came at a bit of a cost with a few injuries, so that took a bit of the gloss off of it in the end. Sadly Joe McManus, he got a broken elbow in the game and he had surgery on Wednesday morning and had to have a pin inserted into it, so he's more or less gone for the rest of the season. He was one of the key men we'd brought in this year, it was a cruel blow to lose him like that. He had fitted in perfect, like one of the locals. He sent me a picture of his cast there, he got them to put green and red on it, that will tell you how much he had bought into the whole thing," he said.

Castlebar Duathlon is ready to test the best

Fri, Mar 11, 2016

A completely revamped course using the beautiful Greenway to Turlough and the bike route using the quite roads around Parke and Pontoon this new course is suitable for all abilities and should be a participant joy to take part in. The Castlebar Adventure Duathlon is now longer but considerably flatter than its predecessor at 39k, with No Booster Mountain to climb no Rathbawn hills to cycle the new course is more forgiving. There is only one distance this year for individuals but there is a relay option and this category has proven very popular throughout the series.

The event will start at 10am and finish at Springfield playground around 11.30am. The beautifully laid out playground is a perfect setting with vast open space for spectators to lounge while taking in the electric atmosphere of the event, children can play in the safety of a closed in environment while parents watch on.

Hennelly points the way for Mayo

Sun, Mar 06, 2016

Vital interventions at the start and the end of this encounter from Robbie Hennelly saw Mayo over the line to gain their first two points in this years National Football League. Right from throw in Hennelly was called into action after Karl O’Connell burst through from half-way with the ball, but one on one with Hennelly the keeper stood tall to stop Mayo getting off to a terrible start.

Mayo need to get moving this weekend

Fri, Feb 26, 2016

GAA: National Football LeagueTwo games in to his first National League campaign, Stephen Rochford would have hoped that he would have some points on the board to show for it. But that is not the case. Injuries and club commitments had robbed him of a number of key players for the games against Cork and Dublin. Since that Dublin game, Mayo have had three weeks to get themselves up to pace after only coming together right at the tail end of last year.

What ifs and a game to be won

Fri, Feb 26, 2016

Life in general and sport in particular are all about “what ifs”. In the run-up to Mayo's crucial league game against Donegal on Sunday, I can't help but think of another what if. What if Corofin had beaten Castlebar Mitchels last November in the Connacht club final, how would Stephen Rochford have coped with the pressures of managing two high profile teams; with great difficulty, I think is the answer. Despite being robbed of the services of the Castlebar contingent for the first five rounds of the league, because of their run to the All-Ireland club final, the Mitchels have done Mayo football a huge favour in beating Corofin and allowing Rochford to concentrate on matters Mayo. Try to imagine what it would have been like managing both teams; virtually impossible. You would probably cope during the week where you'd have training with both teams on alternative nights but it's the weekends that would constitute the big problem.

Roche would literally have been on a football pitch seven nights of the week. The Mayo manager's job, which is practically full time, means all of your Saturdays and Sundays are for the cause, between fitness testing, endurance training, tactical training, team meetings, meetings with selectors, and, in Mayo's case, dealing with a massive injury list would surely have left no time for any other concern. I wouldn't imagine Corofin would have been best pleased if his entire weekend was spent with Mayo, which it would have had to be. I imagine Mayo folk wouldn't have been too pleased if his time was been spent with the Galway club, while his Mayo team made an uncertain start to the league. As I said, it was all a “what if" scenario but we should be grateful to Castlebar for not putting Rochford in that particular predicament.

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