Ballintubber look to take the next big step

Fri, Nov 04, 2011

Last year Ballintubber failed at the first hurdle in the provincial championship. But coming on the back of an emotional first ever win of the Moclair cup, losing out at the first stage of the Connacht championships wasn’t as bitter a pill to swallow as it could be this time around.

Davitts try to deliver again

Fri, Nov 04, 2011

There’s no rest for the men in black and red from south Mayo as their impressive march through the intermediate ranks looks to continue on Saturday afternoon in Kiltoom. Last weekend it was Carrick-on-Shannon where they came out three point winners over the Leitrim champions Melvin Gaels in a hard fought provincial semi-final encounter. They are hitting the road again tomorrow to take on the Roscommon champions Padraig Pearses. Captain Michael Conroy was once again the go-to-man, scoring 1-7 of his sides total of 1-12. Conroy’s goal early in the game pushed his side into a five point lead early on which was vital in the outcome of the game, as Melvin Gaels pushed Davitts hard in the final third of the game. On Saturday, they will need to be on top form again to see off the challenge of the Roscommon champions. Pete Warren will be hoping that Conroy keeps up his good form along with the likes of Colm Boyle, Ronan McNamara and Paul Carey who picked up an injury during last weekends game for tomorrows showdown.

Younger players with notions of grandeur

Fri, Nov 04, 2011

When things are going well for a team every previous match or training session throughout the season is seen as having been a signpost towards success and glory. On the other hand when things are not going so well, we very often forget to scrutinise exactly what may be the reasons for failure. I have spent the last few evenings looking back on Crossmolina’s season identifying the little things that led to our current fight for survival in division 1A of the senior league. Last year we won the league at a canter, without losing a single game. This year we drew four games, lost a few, lost another by a couple of points to an opposition that were reduced to 14 men for the entire second half. We did manage to win a couple by the skin of our teeth but now find ourselves in a play off situation with Ballinrobe and Westport to see who is demoted to division 1B along with Burrishoole.

Connacht back in action tomorrow night

Fri, Oct 28, 2011

Connacht’s only World Cup player, Fetu’u Vainikolo, is in line to make his debut for the province in Saturday evening’s RaboDirect Pro 12 fixture against Cardiff at the Galway Sportsground (6pm). The Tongan World Cup player, who has played on both left and right wings, has been recovering from a medial ligament tear and is expected to make his first start for Connacht this weekend. The 26-years-old, who signed for Connacht from the Otago Highlanders, returned to Galway after Tonga’s exit from the World Cup. After a late call-up to the Tonga squad, Vainikolo was given a starting place in Tonga's 25-20 loss to Canada, and scored a try against Japan in the group matches before suffering a knee injury. Connacht coach Eric Elwood says Vainikolo has returned from New Zealand full of confidence.

Masters meet for a good cause

Fri, Oct 28, 2011

A unique occasion will take place in Milebush Park on Saturday at 2.30pm when the Mayo Soccer Masters take on the Mayo GAA Masters for the Tony McHugh Memorial Cup. The Tony McHugh Memorial Cup is being presented by the Mayo Emigrants Liaison Committee, in appreciation for all the work that he did during his short life for numerous organisations, along with Kevin Bourke from Rehab and Joe O’Dea, manager of the Welcome Inn Hotel. Tony ran monthly dances for Irish people in London, so they had a contact place to meet other Irish emigrants, and in many cases acquired work. It is reckoned that Tony got hundreds of people jobs during the last recession.

Mayo AC members ready to take on Dublin Marathon challenge

Fri, Oct 28, 2011

A large number of members from Mayo AC are getting ready to take on the challenge of the 2011 Dublin Marathon on Monday morning. Almost half of those who are taking part have come into running through the Mayo Fit4Life scheme in Claremorris, Ballinrobe and Castlebar. The women’s senior team consists of Ann McDonnell, Maggie Heneghan, Kathy Connolly, Patricia Gallagher, Paula Prendergast and Yvonne Byrne. The women’s o-40 team is made up of Gwen Daly, Anne Fahy Ronayne, Pauline Joyce, Mary Walsh, Chris Gallagher and Mary Murphy. The senior men’s team is Damien Glacken, Brendan Harrison, Gerry Corley and John Byrne, while the o-50 side consists of Brian Cusack, John Timothy, Jimmy Feeney, Billy Gallagher, Owen Mongan, Chris O’Connell and Tom Hunt.

Ballintubber have established themselves as the team to beat

Fri, Oct 28, 2011

When Anthony McGarry took over as manager of the Ballintubber team late last year, he did so from a position of considerable strength. They [Ballintubber] had just won their first county title, and not alone did McGarry get to manage a talented bunch of young men, he also inherited a team that knew how to maximise their playing strengths. He was then given the scope to evolve the team’s style of play by shifting away from the rear-loaded defensive strategy, employed to reasonable effect last year, to a more expansive attacking style this year.

Ballintubber doubled up last Sunday

Fri, Oct 28, 2011

It was never going to be easy for Ballintubber this year, following up last year’s emotional first Mayo senior championship title, losing their manager to the county senior team, a new man coming in trying to steady the ship and push on. But they did it again last Sunday and put together back to back senior titles, thanks to a massive effort to overcome a Castlebar Mitchels side who were licking their wounds from last year’s final loss to the Tubber.

Davitts to test their mettle against Melvin men

Fri, Oct 28, 2011

It has been a whirlwind couple of weeks for Davitts, a fortnight ago they hung on against Burrishoole to claim their first Mayo Intermediate title in 30 years in McHale Park. They managed to curb the celebrations enough last weekend to beat Kiltimagh by 1-16 to 1-7 to secure promotion to Division 1A of the senior football league for next season, and if Breaffy fail to beat Bohola Moy Davitts on Saturday night they can add the Division 1B championship to the top table for the dinner dance.

Up or down or stay the same

Fri, Oct 28, 2011

Last week the Mayo County Board sent out draft new structures to the different divisions for the Mayo GAA league in 2011. The new structures would see six divisions of 12 teams each, going from Division 1A right down to Division 1F. Currently there are seven divisions from 1A to 1G with 11 teams in Divisions 1A, 1B, 1D and 1E. Division 1C has 10 teams, with Division 1F having nine, and 1G eight teams.

The new proposals are pretty straightforward for the top couple of divisions, in Division 1A one team will go down and two teams come up from 1B. In 1B one team will go down, with three teams coming up from 1C. The third rung of the league ladder will see a lot of movement, with the bottom team from 1B dropping down and five teams from 1D coming up, with six of the current Division 1C sides staying where they are. In Division 1D it will be a similar situation with one dropping down from 1C and five coming up from 1E, while in Division 1E six teams will come up from Division 1F and one team drop into it from 1D. The bottom tier will be Division 1F which will be made up of the bottom placed team in 1F this year and three current 1F teams and eight teams coming up from Division 1E.

Mitchels look to end finals wipe-out

Fri, Oct 28, 2011

Tonight, if things went to plan for Castlebar Mitchels, would have been a chance to mark themselves out as the premier side in the county across all the big grades this year. But double defeat last Sunday in the county senior and minor finals has left just the U21A title up for grabs for the Mitchels men. The county town side will not want to let this one slip through their grasp and will go into the game as favourites after overcoming a fancied Breaffy side at the last four stage of the competition. Both sides have bounced back from opening day defeats, with Castlebar losing to Aghamore who were beaten by their opponents on Friday night, Hollymount-Carramore at the semi-final stage and the south Mayo men going down to Westport in their first game back in the summer.

On paper Castlebar have the players to take this one home. Danny Kirby, who is fast becoming one of the players to watch for the future for Mayo football, has the potential to take this game by the scruff of the neck and drive his side on. He has a more than capable line-up of supporting actors alongside him, with former Mayo minor captain Aidan Walsh and Mayo senior panellist from this year Eoghan O’Reilly top quality players in their own rights. O’Reilly will probably be given the job of stopping Hollymount-Carramore’s main attacking threat, Darren Coen, which will be a tough task in itself. Coen has been very impressive for the amalgamations intermediate side this term and is who his team-mates will be looking to for inspiration tonight. Mitchels also can boast in their ranks the players such as Cian Costello, Niall McCarney, Fergal Durkan and Shane Irwin who can each have a big influence on the outcome of this contest. However, you can’t rule out the south Mayo men who staged a real snatch and grab raid at the death in their semi-final win against Aghamore a fortnight ago in the same venue.