The unstoppable force meets the immovable object

Fri, Aug 23, 2013

They have been there and done it three times in the past decade, while we are still waiting to do it for the first time in over 60 years, and on Sunday in Croke Park the Mayo juggernaught will collide with the Tyrone colossus for a place in the All Ireland final in four weeks’ time. Mayo have breezed through Connacht and swatted aside the challenge of the reining All Ireland champions en route to this showdown, while Tyrone have taken the scenic route that has taken them from defeat in May in Ballybofey, on to Tullamore, Roscommon, Newbridge, and Croke Park to get to the semi-final. James Horan named an unchanged side from the one that beat Donegal in the quarter-final on Thursday afternoon, with Tom Cunniffe getting the nod despite limping out of the Donegal game.

From back to front, Higgins is ready for anything

Fri, Aug 23, 2013

Keith Higgins had his fair share of ups and downs with Mayo in the eight years he has been on the scene with the senior team, but the move up the field to the half-foward line from corner back was one that took most people by surprise before throw in for the All Ireland quarter final at the start of the month. But it was something that the Ballyhaunis man enjoyed, even if it did not last that long with Tom Cunniffe’s injury forcing him back into the full-back line before the half-time break. “As I said it was a new experience, but the fact the game went so well, it made it easier for the 20 minutes it lasted,” he laughed at last week’s press night.

Minors have answered every challenge put in front of them

Fri, Aug 23, 2013

“Whatever hurdle I put in front of them and as much as I push them, they seem to get stronger with each hurdle I put in front of them.” Is what has most impressed James Mitchell, the Mayo minor trainer and selector about this years crop of minors. Mitchell’s training and input to the side has been signposted by his manager Enda Gilvarry as one of the key reasons that Mayo will be throwing down against Monaghan on Sunday lunchtime in Croke Park.

Their four wins so far in this years championship, have seen two very tough examinations against Galway and Roscommon sandwiched between two very impressive victories over Leitrim and Westmeath.

No minor matter for the players on Sunday

Fri, Aug 23, 2013

Getting put up at the top table at a press conference can be a daunting and painful enough task for professional sports people, never mind the senior players in Gaelic games, so it must be even more of a shock to the system for a handful of 17 and 18-year-olds to do so. But three of Mayo’s rising stars put their fears behind them last week in Breaffy House and were very much focused on the challenge ahead that is Sunday’s meeting with Monaghan in Croke Park.

Mayo international cup is back for its second outing

Fri, Aug 23, 2013

The second Mayo International Cup 2013 is an elite soccer tournament, taking place across Mayo this weekend kicking off today, August 23 and running until Sunday and it will see five teams taking part. The five teams are the Castlebar FAI Regional Centre of Excellence u15s, Republic of Ireland u15s, Millwall FC, Bradford District Metropolitan (UK schools champions 2013), and Glentoran FC from Northern Ireland.

Keegan bids to reach senior final

Fri, Aug 23, 2013

It was a good week for Ballaghaderreen handballer Dessie Keegan who partnered Joe McCann to reach the last four of the all-Ireland senior doubles championship with a comfortable 21-8, 21-7 victory over Munster’s only challengers, C J Fitzpatrick and Paul Hedderman of Limerick.

Roscommon duo Damian Martin and Ricky O’Gara defeated the other Mayo quarter-finalists, Campbell Brennan and Vincent Moran, by a similar margin to book their place in the semi-final at Broadford, Limerick, on September 14.

Barrett takes ‘Rose’ 10k title in Tralee

Fri, Aug 23, 2013

Almost 1,000 competitors took part in the inaugural Rose of Tralee International 10k Road Race through the streets of Tralee last Sunday morning. Athletes from all over the world lined up for the event as part of the Tralee International Marathon Series. The winner of the men's event was Roger Barrett from Ballina, clocking a time of 32:38. The Mayo man only decided to run in the race the day before.

A job is there to be done and let’s do it

Fri, Aug 23, 2013

The time has arrived again, another trip to Croker, our third semi-final in a row under James Horan, and it is time for all the talking to stop. It is game five of six as Mayo take on Tyrone in Croke Park on Sunday for a place in the All- Ireland final on September 22. I have one small fear ahead of the game, I’m sure it is only among the supporters and not the players, but a lot of people are dismissing Tyrone’s chances and are already wondering who Mayo will play in the final, I have never seen as many Mayo flags bought and as many green and red flags on cars and houses for a semi-final, we normally wait for a final for this to happen and that is a very dangerous way to be thinking before taking on the Red Hand. Confidence is one thing but cockiness is another. Have people forgotten that Tyrone have won three All- Irelands in the last 10 years and they completely demoralised far more superior Kerry teams than themselves in the not too distant past in finals. In the 2008 final, Kerry’s Tommy Walsh and Kieran Donaghy, the twin towers, were considered un-markable but Mickey Harte and the McMahon brothers found a way to do the job. Tyrone have an unbelievable capacity to frustrate you and get in your face, so to speak. They will annoy you and remind you of their success and Mayo’s failures in All-Ireland finals.

The man behind the main man

Fri, Aug 23, 2013

While most of the attention that is paid to the Mayo sideline is concentrated on what James Horan is doing and possibly thinking, one of his main lieutenants, Tom Prendergast, is as much an important cog in the Mayo wheel. Horan’s trusted ally since their days together with Ballintubber is another deep thinker on the game, but likes to keep things simple when talking about how Mayo have got to where they are. “It's like everything in life, you get out of it what you put into it,” he said last week.

Ladies ready for Kingdom challenge

Fri, Aug 23, 2013

St Brendan’s Park, in Birr, will host the next stage of the Mayo ladies’ senior team’s road towards a fifth All Ireland senior title and a first in a decade. On Saturday at 12.30pm they will face off against Kerry in the All Ireland quarter-final having seen off Westmeath with ease in the last round of qualifiers after they were beaten by Galway in the Connacht final in Tuam.

Back and ready for business

Sun, Aug 18, 2013

Although he was powerless to do anything to help his team-mates, from his place; injured and on the bench in the Hogan Stand as Mayo took on more water early on than they could bail out over the seventy minutes of last years All Ireland final, Andy Moran still has taken plenty from that most recent sunken Mayo adventure into late September football. Shipping two goals inside the opening ten minutes was never going to be an easy task to navigate, but the final hour of that game and one moment in particular has steered Mayo's ship this year, back to within one game again to the having a crack at the final leg of an epic journey according to the Mayo captain. “I think, you can't underestimated it (Mayo's performance in the final hour). The guts and the courage the lads showed right from where I'd pick out a pivotal moment was,when David Clarke saved from Colm McFadden for what would have been their third goal, I think he nearly broke his own leg and Colm's leg, he was going to save that ball and it drove us on to be honest with you. To me that is the major point of that game and yes we lost the All Ireland, it was another one we lost, but we lost it fighting and that was a key thing.”

Top two battle it out for league cup crown

Fri, Aug 16, 2013

Ballina Town and Ballyheane will go toe to toe in Milebush Park on Sunday afternoon with the FCS Cup up for grabs. Sunday’s final will be a meeting between the two sides placed in first and second place in the Super League table as the home stretch approaches in the league. Ballina Town, who had a weekend off from league action last weekend, currently sit four points clear of Ballyheane and Westport United who are locked together on 18 points each.

Ballyheane, who are back in the Super League this year after a brief drop down to the Premier A, are the only unbeaten side left in the top division this season, winning four and drawing six of their 10 games so far. But they have hit a winning run in their last two games, putting seven past Snugboro last Saturday after they put three in against Castlebar Celtic in their previous league outing. The men from Quigley Park have built their season around a strong defence and have only conceded nine goals in their 10 league games this season, the lowest in the division. In this year’s FCS Cup, Ballyheane have seen off Manulla in their quarter-final, before disposing of Celtic in the semi-final to book their spot in Sunday’s decider. Ballina Town blitzed Claremorris in their quarter-final, before seeing off Westport United in the semi-final. The two sides already met in the league once this season back in June, with the sides sharing the points after a 1-1 draw in Belleek Park, and the sides are due to meet again in the league in Ballyheane at the start of September. When the teams met in that league game, Ballyheane secured the draw thanks to a Barry McLoughlin goal in the final 10 minutes after John Durkan had put Ballina Town into an early lead. That game was the first one where Ballina Town dropped points in the league, having won their previous five games in the division. Ballina only dropped points once more in the division when they were beaten by Iorras Aontaithe in early July.

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