Gruelling RÁS challenge has two Mayo stages this year

Fri, May 01, 2015

There are less than three weeks to go until the 2015 An Post Rás kicks off with a plethora of international teams competing, and the added excitement of two Mayo stages.

Adventure racing this weekend on Clare Island

Fri, May 01, 2015

Clare Island is to welcome an influx of adventurous mainlanders to its shores tomorrow (Saturday May 2) for the third annual Clare Island Adventure Race, which starts at 1pm.

Mayo hurlers head to Derry for Christy Ring Cup opener

Fri, May 01, 2015

The Mayo hurlers are hitting the long road to Owenbeg to face Derry this Saturday and get their Christy Ring Cup campaign off to a start for another year.

Mayo fared well in the competition last year, making their way to a semi-final spot but lost out to Kerry. The cup was eventually won by Kildare.

Big entry expected for Westportif ‘Ring of the Reek’

Fri, May 01, 2015

A big entry of more than 1,200 cyclists is expected for this year’s Westportif cycle, which takes place on Saturday July 18 to raise funds for local charity Mayo Roscommon Hospice.

‘Roscommon will make things tough for Connacht challengers’

Fri, May 01, 2015

I was on duty for Radio One sport last Sunday, alongside Donegal’s Martin McHugh and host Darren Frehill.

Breaffy win derby battle while Crossmolina, Hollymount-Carramore and Kilmaine keep up winning runs

Sun, Apr 26, 2015

A two goal first half salvo from Aidan O’Shea inspired Breaffy to their first win in the Mayo GAA Senior Football League this season as they saw off local rivals Castlebar Mitchels in Munnelly Park in Castlebar on Sunday. Both sides lined out with out key players for this contest with Seamus O’Shea serving a one match suspension for Breaffy after being dismissed early in their loss to Ballintubber a fortnight ago, while for Castlebar Mitchels neither Tom Cunniffe or Patrick Durcan were available for selection.

Quinn nicks it for Ballina Town

Sun, Apr 26, 2015

Ballina Town left it late on Saturday evening to claim their third win on the bounce in the Elverys Sports Super League, but they were full deserving of their 2-1 win away to Castlebar Celtic in Celtic Park. The game was delayed for just under 45 minutes early in the first half when Ballina Town full-back Dara O’Boyle twisted his leg badly on the clubhouse side of the ground and had to be removed by ambulance from the pitch. The game was further held up when referee Martin Regan wasn’t happy with the pressure in the match balls on a number of occasions in the first half, which ended just 25 seconds shy of an hour and a half after it kicked off.

Regan suffers injury set back

Fri, Apr 24, 2015

Ballina Stephenites attacker Evan Regan suffered a reoccurrence of the injury that ruled him out of the majority of the Allianz National Football League on Tuesday night in training. The young Ballina attacker broke his collar-bone in training with Mayo which is expected to rule him out of action for another 12 weeks until mid July. This will rule Regan out of action for Mayo’s championship opener against Galway/Leitrim or New York on June 16, with Connacht final taking place on Sunday, July 19.

Winning matters more than the spectacle

Fri, Apr 24, 2015

After the horror show a few weeks ago in Croke Park between Dublin and Derry in the National League, opinion is again divided as regards the state of Gaelic football. That game finished 0-8 to 0-4 in Dublin’s favour with many describing it as the worst game of all time. It really upset Joe Brolly who apparently left the game early with his young son such was his disgust at what he was watching.

The following evening on 2fm’s Game On Brolly described the current trend of copycat negative football as “myxomatosis” with terrible football tactics spreading right down to underage teams who would succumb to anything necessary in pursuit of victory. Brolly had a right go at Tyrone manager Mickey Harte who declared that football was about results, not entertaining the public. He also had a pop at young pundits who found the negative tactics and “blanket defence” fascinating. I’m sure Joe watched both the national league semi-finals that were extremely high scoring and entertaining and exciting to say the least, so I find his criticism a little over the top after one dreadful game.

Back to the basics on Sunday

Fri, Apr 24, 2015

After a weekend without any action in the top divisions of the Mayo GAA senior leagues, round two of the senior football leagues. Ballintubber who saw off Breaffy in round one in an ill tempered affair that saw both Seamus and Aidan O’Shea along with Ruaidhri O’Connor get red carded will host Ballina Stephenites on Sunday afternoon. The north Mayo men went down by a single point to Hollymount-Carramore in the first round of games and facing the defending championship winners will be another serious examination for them early on this season. The aforementioned men from south Mayo will host another north Mayo outfit when Knockmore come calling on Sunday afternoon. Knockmore earned a hard-fought point in their first game when they drew 1-8 a piece with Kiltane thanks to a last-gasp, Kieran Lanagan goal a fortnight ago.

Super League previews

Fri, Apr 24, 2015

Ballyheane v Westport United
Saturday April 25 at 6.30pm

Iorras Aontaithe look to take down big guns

Fri, Apr 24, 2015

The last Mayo League side standing the Connacht Junior Cup will be looking to take a big scalp when they head to Galway on Sunday afternoon. Iorras Aontaithe will take on Mervue United in the quarter-final stages of the competition and look to do what fellow Super League side Ballyheane were unable to do in the last round, knock out the Galway city outfit. Mervue are currently sitting in second place in the Premier Division in Galway, five points behind leaders Athenry, with one game left to go in the league and are one of five Galway sides to make the last eight of the Connacht Junior Cup.

E-paper

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