Higgins tastes victory in first game as full-time captain

Mon, Feb 02, 2015

Keith Higgins got his tenure as the permanent Mayo captain off to a winning start in Killarney on Sunday, while he was happy to get the points the Ballyhaunis native isn’t getting carried away just yet.

Solid Mayo see off the champions

Sun, Feb 01, 2015

In what was a battle of black and blue in Killarney, Mayo started their national league campaign by showing their respect for Kerry by forming a guard of honor for the All Ireland champions when they entered the field.

Time to get back to business

Fri, Jan 30, 2015

Let the battles commence. With the greatest respect to the FBD league it all starts in earnest for Mayo on Sunday when they travel to Killarney to take on All-Ireland champions Kerry. The FBD league did show one thing, that Mayo are a little bit behind in terms of preparation after succumbing to a well prepared Roscommon outfit in the final game.

Mayo’s princes look to make a statement in the Kingdom

Fri, Jan 30, 2015

Now it starts to get real. While the championship is the ultimate barometer of success in Gaelic games, a successful league campaign is the foundation stone of what happens in the white heat of summer fare.

Browne is back looking to finish what he started

Fri, Jan 30, 2015

In October 2007 he stood on the field in Croke Park after his Mayo ladies’ side had just lost to Cork in the All Ireland final, taking in what went wrong. After guiding Mayo that close to the summit, Frank Browne would have been planning to have another crack at the title the next year, but that was not how things worked out as Mayo entered a number of years of flux with half a dozen managers taking charge over a short number of years. But Browne has come back on board as manager this year after a number of years in the club game, and more recently in charge of the Longford senior hurlers for the last three years where he won a National Hurling League division 3B title and the Lory Meagher Cup last year.

Westport ‘boot’ home the opposition

Fri, Jan 30, 2015

The Westport United FAI Junior Cup bandwagon rolls on and the Covey faithful will be getting ready to hit the road in the seventh round after their 2-0 win over Freebooters from Kilkenny last Sunday.

Next up for the Super League champions is either a game against Sheriff YC in the capital or the long haul to the southeast coast and a meeting with fellow holiday hotspot Tramore, depending on the outcome of the clash of these two sides this Sunday. Westport United will hit the road on either Saturday or Sunday next, February 7 or 8.

Saturday night showdown for Celtic

Fri, Jan 30, 2015

Castlebar Celtic will take on league leaders Wexford Youths in the latest round of action in the Continental Tyres Women’s National League at 7pm on Saturday evening. Celtic are currently sitting in fifth place in the seven team division, 16 points behind their opponents for tomorrow night.

Mayo sides ready for Junior Cup battles

Fri, Jan 30, 2015

The first round proper of the Connacht Junior Cup kicks off this weekend and five Mayo junior rugby teams are in action. Ballinrobe were the first Mayo team into the competition last weekend when they travelled to Tuam in the preliminary round, and the south Mayo team came home with a hard fought four point win over the north Galway outfit. Seamus O’Toole’s team were trailing 11-0 early on but they managed to keep their opponents scoreless for the entire second half, and when Anthony Coleman crashed over the line just before the break the game turned in their favour. Oisín Gill cut the gap to just three points from a penalty early in the second half and when Peter Cosgrove touched down for Ballinrobe’s second try and Gill converted Ballinrobe had that winning taste in their mouths, and they held on to book their place in the first round proper this weekend.

Concentration costs Mayo at the death

Sat, Jan 24, 2015

At the end of the day, it's just a warm-up competition and on the balance of play Roscommon deserved their win in this Hastings Cup semi-final. But Mayo will feel that this game slipped through their fingers right at the death and denied them a place in the final against Galway next weekend, in what would have been another useful competitive game before their Connacht Championship kicks into gear in mid-March.

Heffernan disappointed not to have full squad to pick from

Sat, Jan 24, 2015

For the second week in a row, Mayo u21 football manager Niall Heffernan was lamenting the fact that he hasn't been able to select a number of his players for the u21 side due to commitments with the senior team. Despite the Mayo seniors not having a competitive game this weekend, Heffernan was left short of a number of players for their Hastings Cup semi-final against Roscommon, which they ultimately lost in injury time in Rathcline in Longford.

Speaking after the game Heffernan said: “We won't have another competitive game (until the Connacht championship), but we will have a few challenge games lined up. We've a few prospects lined up for next weekend and the weekend after it. But we have plenty of football coming up, but we need to get the group together to work on the stuff that's going wrong. Games are great and they'll bring you along and show you where you're going wrong but we also need to have time with the players and get our panel together and this week we weren't allowed to have the senior players. We weren't allowed to have three of them again this weekend. It's hard, it's hard and I know Roscommon were missing their senior players as well, but that seems to be the scenario with u21football. But if you really want to take it seriously and you really want to push it on, I think we have to be given our senior players. We're seven weeks away to championship and we need to have access and we need to have the players with us, just so we can build that bit of understanding. We were throwing players into positions today and we haven't a chance to work on it.”

Lam signs up for three more years

Fri, Jan 23, 2015

Connacht head coach Pat Lam has signed a new three-years deal as his squad heads to France for the final European Challenge Cup pool fixture with qualification hopes still alive. Connacht need a bonus-point win from their visit to La Rochlle to qualify for the quarter-finals as one of three best runners-up, but even securing that result could depend on results elsewhere.

Castlebar seal play-off berth

Fri, Jan 23, 2015

Last weekend saw Castlebar secure one of their key objectives for the season when they booked their place in the promotion/relegation play-off for a place in the top tier of junior rugby for next season. While Castlebar would like to have gained automatic promotion and clinched the title, second place and chance over 80 minutes later in the spring to seal the deal will still do nicely.

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