A lot done, but still a lot more to do in Mayo League
Fri, Jun 10, 2011
The majority of the divisions in the Mayo League will reach the midway point this weekend with the seventh round of games taking place across all divisions over Saturday and Sunday. Castlebar Celtic are still top of the table in the Super League, but their rampage through Mayo football this year was knocked off kilter last weekend when Westport United knocked them out of the FCS Cup at the semi-final stage with a 2-0 win in Westport.
Read more ...Work to start at Sportsground in readiness of European aristocrats
Fri, Jun 10, 2011
Connacht Rugby is already swinging into gear to cope with an expected increase in supporters after the province drew European blue-bloods Toulouse in Tuesday’s Heineken Cup draw. Covering for the east terrace at the Galway Sportsground is expected to start within the next two weeks to ensure the College Road venue is more conducive to Heineken Cup rugby fans who will welcome four-times European champions Toulouse later this year. Connacht, in tier four of the 24 teams, has been grouped with the current French champions Toulouse, Amlin Cup winners Harlequins, and Gloucester, who finished third in the English premiership.
Read more ...Time to get back to the nitty gritty of the club championship
Fri, Jun 10, 2011
The club championship kicks off this weekend. It is a fact that the majority of teams that play this weekend believe they will be good enough to win their respective matches. However 2011 will undoubtedly cough up its fair share of surprising results. We also have sufficient proof that, on any given Sunday, the majority of teams in the county are capable of beating each other. Form in the league counts for nothing when championship comes around. We have several teams sprinkled around the county that excel in beating more fancied opponents. Our Crossmolina boys are off to Garrymore this Saturday evening to play against a team that rarely suffers in the confidence department! I am very aware of how formidable they can be in their own back yard.
I was also aware that they were down in Ballinrobe last Friday evening having a peep at our match against the local side. We did our best to realign our selection to create some confusion. I hope it worked.
Read more ...Summer starts here as club players take centre stage
Fri, Jun 10, 2011
While the fallout from Mayo’s Connacht Championship opener against London has been the talk of newspaper pages, online discussions, and bar stools across the county for the past fortnight, the real beating heart of Gaelic football in the county is about to be unleashed this weekend. The long hard slog since the turn of the year, through wet, muddy, fields, gym and weight circuits, for the humble club player is about to come to fruition this weekend when Treanlaur Catering Mayo Senior and Intermediate football championship gets under way.
Read more ...Defeat last Sunday would have caused unknown damage to Mayo football
Fri, Jun 03, 2011
I didn’t travel to Ruislip last weekend to see Mayo’s opener in the Connacht championship. I am glad I didn’t. I did, however, listen to the coverage in its entirety on the radio. I am not exaggerating when I tell you that I had a knot in my stomach for most of the match. I had an uneasy feeling that we were going to be beaten and I was considering the type of damage a defeat would cause to the future of Mayo football. Andy Moran, Mayo’s vice captain, is credited with a post-match statement that Mayo players aren’t working hard enough. Do the players realise that once they pull on a Mayo jersey they have a responsibility to themselves, and also to the county, to work hard? In the past lesser players were capable of standing up for themselves and the county whenever they were pressed. There was invariably a manliness about the majority of players picked to represent this county. I, like many others, am a fiercely proud Mayo man. I love this county and I love football. The majority of my close friends within this county are football people. They, like me, are genuinely saddened by the pitiful nature of the performance(s) of the Mayo senior team, not just last Sunday but in recent times.
Read more ...Juniors look to set the standard
Fri, Jun 03, 2011
Everyone is still recovering from the great escape in Ruislip last Sunday, when Mayo were put to the pin of their collar by London in the Connacht Senior Championship. This Friday offers a welcome distraction in the form of the Connacht Junior Championship final in Charlestown which will throw in at 7.30pm. This evening’s game will offer Mayo the chance to dethrone the current All Ireland champions from the Yeats County, who will be under the guidance once again of their senior inter-county manager Kevin Walsh. Mayo for their part have John Kelly running the line for them, with Ray Connelly, Jarlath Cunningham and Vinny Gavin also on sideline duties. In the quarter final Mayo saw off the challenge of a tough Leitrim side after Mickey Moran’s side pushed into an early lead, while in the last four of the competition Roscommon were defeated in Ballyhaunis.
However that win over Roscommon came at a cost, with Michael Forde from Ballycastle, who had been one of the stand-out players against both Leitrim and Roscommon, coming off with a shoulder injury; Forde’s form had seen him drafted in for training with the Mayo senior squad at that point. But the roster has been boosted with the addition of David Kilcullen to the set up. The Ballaghaderreen man has had experience with the senior set up in the past and is eligible to line out for Mayo as he didn’t play with Ballaghaderreen in the county senior championship last season. Another player to come into contention recently is Burrishoole’s James Moran, who stared for his club in their run to last year’s Mayo Intermediate Championship final. He put in a number of eye-catching displays that saw him called up to James Horan’s senior squad earlier in the year. Swinford’s Colin Dempsey, who top scored in both the quarter-final and semi-final, will be one of the main men for Mayo in attack along with Davitts sharpshooter Michael Conroy who, seven years ago, managed to hit the back of the net for Mayo in the All Ireland senior final against Kerry. Other players who will be key to Mayo’s challenge include Islandeady defender Ollie Feeney, Davitts wing back Colm Boyle and Balla’s Connor Walsh. There is a doubt over the fitness of centre half forward James McAndrew going into the game, but Kelly’s men have proven to be a very resourceful side this year already when the chips are down, most notably on the first day out against Leitrim in the quarter-final. It’s been a couple of years since Mayo last claimed this title and this evening they have the look of a team who will be celebrating a Connacht title win come about 9pm.
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Super Sunday evening in Super League
Fri, May 27, 2011
Castlebar Celtic will be hoping to cut their nearest challengers off at the pass on Sunday evening as the Mayo Super League season comes up near its midway point for the year. Declan Kilkelly’s charges go into their sixth game with four wins out of five so far on Sunday. Their nearest challengers are Super League newboys Claremorris who are hot on their heels, only one point behind the leaders. Celtic dropped two points when they drew with Swinford in round two, while Claremorris’s only blotch on their copy book so far came when they lost by the odd goal in five to Manulla in the same round.
Read more ...‘The road less travelled’
Fri, May 27, 2011
I’ve worked hard to convince friends that cycling is a tough sport and that those who compete at the highest level in the sport are mentally and physically superior to the average human being. I had a few of those friends with me last Sunday and Monday as we completed two stages of this year’s Ras. By now they need absolutely no convincing whatsoever that professional cyclists are as tough as nails. I don’t want to confuse the situation here by suggesting that I was riding with the professionals last Sunday and Monday. Far from it…those guys are in a different league.
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