Solan’s men look to bottle Cork’s challenge

Fri, Apr 29, 2016

Ten years ago Mayo met Cork in the All Ireland u21 final in Ennis, and tomorrow afternoon both sides will meet once more in the same venue for the Clarke Cup at stake yet again. Mayo come into the final on the back of their first provincial title since 2009 and a heroic come from behind win late on against Dublin in the semi-final in Tullamore a fortnight ago.

GAA: All Ireland U21 final Ten years is a long time in football

Fri, Apr 29, 2016

There are not too many people who will have kicked 1-6 in an All Ireland final, won the man-of-the-match award and a winner's medal, and has not even watched the game back over the past decade, but that is the case for Mayo's star man in their last U21 All Ireland final win, Aidan Kilcoyne.

Solan looking to drive Mayo to five

Fri, Apr 29, 2016

It is hard to believe on the eve of an All Ireland U21 final, that despite the best efforts of Ray Dempsey, Tony Duffy, and Niall Heffernan on the sideline Mayo had failed to reach even a Connacht decider in seven years until this year. The lack of success at this grade was seen as a worrying indicator to the possible prospects of the senior team who are currently backboned by a strong cohort of those who won an All Ireland U21 title in 2006 and those who were latterly involved in the sides that won Connacht titles in 07, 08, and 09 as their careers enter the final few years at the top level.

Holding down the back line

Fri, Apr 29, 2016

In his first year as a minor Seamus Cunniffe was the rock in the Mayo full back line in a team that went on to claim the Tom Markham Cup. The following year he was back on duty again with the minors as part of a side that reached the All Ireland semi-final, before bowing out at the semi-final stage. Last year he missed out on togging out with the u21s through injury, but he is back this year and has been one of the key men in Michael Solan's sides charge to tomorrow's final showdown.

The defensive crust

Fri, Apr 29, 2016

Coming from the tip of the county, with the Atlantic winds whipping in on top of them, Belmullet has produced a fine line of teak tough Mayo footballers over the years, and the latest of that lineage to don the green and red in am All Ireland final battle is Eoin O'Donoghue.

All roads lead to Ennis

Fri, Apr 29, 2016

No matter what the competition, no matter what the grade, nothing beats the excitement of All-Ireland final day. Tomorrow just happens to be a big one in the GAA calendar. The Mayo u21s travel to Ennis to take on Munster champions Cork 10 years on from their last victory at this grade against the same opposition at the same venue. The players would have felt the buzz all week, our senior team have had to take a back seat for the last few weeks, now it's all about the U21s.

For those of you watching on TV or present in Tullamore, you couldn't have asked for two better semi finals, both filled with a little bit of everything. I played in two All Ireland u21 finals, one against Cork in Ennis coincidently in 1994 and the other against Kerry in 1995. We lost both but I have a special gra for this competition and I am amazed and disappointed the powers that be have decided to abolish it. I’m sure after watching the two semi-finals they wondered, what have we done?

Mayo looking for revenge on orchard county

Fri, Apr 29, 2016

The Mayo senior hurlers will take on Armagh in the second round of the Nicky Rackard Cup tomorrow afternoon in Ballina when they take on Armagh, as they look to book a spot in the semi-final of the competition. Last weekend Mayo opened up their Rackard account with a 4-19 to 0-17 win over Tyrone, but it was very hard fought encounter, as manager JP Coen explained. "It was just bad play and a bit of complacency. We hadn't played a competitive game in a good while, probably the journey too didn't help — it's a lot further than you'd think for a bus journey — that coupled with a small bit of rustiness and it took us a while to get going. In fairness to Tyrone, they came at us at a good tempo and they did very well. While we might have looked to be playing badly, we had a few bad wides that could have had us in front at the break, but we found our range in the second half and took it from there."

Mayo summer 5k series launched

Fri, Apr 29, 2016

The launch has taken place of the seventh Annual Vodafone Mayo AC 5k series of five races. The 2016 series will start on Tuesday, May 24 and continue weekly on the following four Tuesdays, all at 8pm sharp. Mayo AC are delighted once again to have the sponsorship of Vodafone C&C Cellular for the Series. Brendan Chambers was on hand to launch the series and continues to give great support to athletics in the county. The series also serves as a major fundraiser for the club.

Goals galore light up the league

Fri, Apr 22, 2016

Claremorris bounced back from their crushing defeat at the hands of Ballyglass last weekend, with a stunning 6-4 win over Iorras Aontaithe. Goals certainly will not be a problem for the south Mayo men this season, as they produced a sparkling display on Sunday afternoon with last season’s Premier A top goalscorer Dean Roddy opening his Super League account with four goals. Hubert Kowalski and Simon Butler also fired home for Mark Peters' troops, in a game where they led 4-1 at the short whistle. In another game with a bagful of goals on Sunday, Ballina Town recorded a comprehensive 9-0 win over north Mayo neighbours Conn Rangers. It was the ultimate performance by Ballina with Keith Duffy grabbing four goals in a man of the match display. Brendan Lavelle chipped in with two along with efforts from Aidan O’Hora, Conor Quinn and former Castlebar Celtic frontman Paul Fitzpatrick.

Elsewhere, both Ballyglass and Ballyheane gained a share of the spoils in a tightly fought affair on Sunday afternoon as it finished 1-1 at Michael Keaveney Park. It was deadlocked at the break with Robbie Fadden nudging Ballyheane ahead, only for a Chris Maughan own goal to get Ballyglass back on level terms. Castlebar Celtic dished out a 4-0 defeat to Glenhest Rovers who are finding the going tough of late. Jordan Loftus bagged a brace, with Colm Nevin and an unfortunate own goal handing Ciaran Kelly his first league win. Manulla and Westport Utd remained deadlocked on Saturday night in a real humdinger at the Sports Park. An Anthony Elding penalty pushed Tom Healy’s troops clear early on only for Joe Lawless to claw Westport Utd back on level terms.

Mighty Moran claims Moonraker top spot

Fri, Apr 22, 2016

Another chapter of the Alan Moran Magical Forest Rally show was screened at a sun kissed Ballyvourney on Saturday last. The young Foxford man was delighted to kick start his forest season at round two of the 2016 Valvoline Motorsport Ireland National Forest Rally Championship, the Moonraker Forest Rally, in Cork.

Connacht = Champions Cup

Fri, Apr 22, 2016

Champions Cup rugby was the seasonal goal for Connacht. They can now tick it off. For the first time in the history of the European campaign, Connacht have qualified on their own merit for this elite competition.

Mayo look to start escape from third tier

Fri, Apr 22, 2016

It is quite possible that tomorrow afternoon some of the Mayo faithful who make the long trip to the Carrickmore for their Nicky Rackard Cup opener and take a seat in the stand in the ground will have a feeling of déjà vu, because the ground is the new home of the old Nally Stand that was once a fixture of Croke Park before the GAA headquarters was completely redeveloped. The stand of course also has plenty of Mayo connections, being named after Balla native Patrick William Nally.

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