Rugby: Pro 12 Connacht ‘buzzing’ ahead of top-of-table-clash with Leinster

Fri, Mar 25, 2016

An interprovincial that is also top of the table - it does not come much bigger or better for Connacht Rugby. With just five Guinness Pro 12 fixtures remaining, Connacht face Leinster in the Galway Sportsground on Saturday (5.15pm) in front of a capacity 7,300 crowd, live on both TG4 and Sky Sport, and with the world's top referee Nigel Owens in charge.

Understandably the Sportsground was sold out by early Wednesday morning, including an extra 1400 seats specially for this encounter as Connacht bid to continue their lead at the top of the Pro 12 and Leinster, just a point behind, look to overtake them.

Handball Murphy wins national u17 title

Fri, Mar 25, 2016

Claremorris Handball had a win in the 40x20 Juvenille All Irelands in Kingscourt last weekend. Patrick Murphy won his u17 final against Padraig Delaney of Laois on a 21-10, 21-16 scoreline. The first game was an even match up to the 10-point mark. At that stage, Patrick's more consistent kill shots and effective roof play began to show on the scoreboard. Patrick eventually pulled clear to finish it out 21-10. The second game was a mirror image of the first, up until Patrick led 20-11. At that stage, Delaney put the pressure on in an attempt to save what looked like a lost cause. Delaney managed to pull back a few aces and at 16-20, was asking a few questions of Patrick. However, Patrick took a timeout, composed himself and continued to finish out the game (21-16), winning his first singles All Ireland and the first by a Mayo player in the boys U17 grade.

Goal glut sends Mayo back into the final

Sat, Mar 19, 2016

Mayo booked their place in the Connacht u21 final for the first time in seven years in Páirc Seán Mac Diarmada on Saturday night thanks to a four goal haul in a 20 minute period either side of half time on a sun splashed evening.

Mayo held by Leitrim in Saturday showdown

Sat, Mar 19, 2016

Following on from their heavy defeat last weekend in the first round of the Connacht Minor League last Friday night, Mayo picked up their first point in this years Connacht GAA Minor Football League.

Strong team named for todays u21 clash

Sat, Mar 19, 2016

New Mayo u21 manager Michael Solan has named a very strong looking team for his sides outing against Leitrim in Carrick-on-Shannon on Saturday evening. The majority of this years crop of u21s were involved in the All Ireland minor winning campain three years ago with a number of players making the step up to the senior side in recent years. 

GAA: National Hurling League

Sat, Mar 19, 2016

Mayo make the trip to the Athletic Grounds in Armagh today to take on the Orchard County in what is a must win game for JP Coen’s men. After winning three out of three in their opening games in the league this year, Mayo slipped into third place in the table and out of the placings for a spot in the league final and a crack at promotion to Division 2A for next year after their disappointing loss to Wicklow last weekend in Castlebar.

Ballyboden inflict capital punishment on underperforming Mitchels

Fri, Mar 18, 2016

For the second time in three years, Castlebar Mitchels dream of bringing the Andy Merrigan Cup home with them was stopped at the final stage by opposition from Dublin. Unlike this time two years ago when the Mitchels adventure came on the back of their first county title in 20 years, this was a Mitchels side who had came back again this year and saw off last year’s champions Corofin, before seeing off Crossmaglen in an epic semi-final. However, they met a Ballyboden St Enda’s side who had a game plan that worked to a tee, with runners from deep causing Castlebar all sorts of problems and the static nature of the Mitchels attack playing straight into their hands. Castlebar will be disappointed with how they performed on the day and will know they could have done much better than they did.

Heartbreak for Mitchels again

Fri, Mar 18, 2016

It was a devastating loss for Castlebar Mitchels when they came up against a far superior and prepared Ballyboden St Enda’s yesterday. The comprehensive 13-point victory, wasn’t at all flattering on the Dublin men. Despite all the hype around Castlebar and through Mayo over the last few weeks, the huge support that came out to back them left Croke Park with heartbreak once again. From as early as the first minute when Colm Basquel burst through the Castlebar rearguard to finish in fantastic style, Castlebar were in trouble.

St Joseph’s bring back All Ireland title

Fri, Mar 18, 2016

There were great celebrations in east Mayo on Wednesday afternoon, when St Joseph’s Community School in Charlestown claimed victory in the All Ireland Post Primary Schools Post Primary D championship to bring the Br Edmund Ignatius Rice Cup back to Mayo.

U21s looking to lay down a marker

Fri, Mar 18, 2016

It will be seven years this year since Mayo last claimed the Connacht u21 title. Since then Galway have gone on to claim two All Ireland titles at the grade and Roscommon have appeared in two All Ireland finals, while both of the Connacht minnows, Leitrim and Sligo, have appeared in provincial finals. In the last six u21 campaigns Mayo have managed just three wins out of nine games, all at the preliminary round stage, beating Leitrim in 2010 and 2015 and Galway in 2012 before they exited the competition at the next stage.

Wasteful Mayo facing serious battle to avoid the drop

Sun, Mar 13, 2016

There will always be quibbles with the referees decisions in games, there were plenty to pick over from Rory Hickey’s display. In particular in the 26th minute when Aidan O’Shea was manhandled to the deck by a couple of Kerry players including Aidan O’Mahony, who were aided by Kieran Donaghy testing the strength of the material in the black and lime Mayo jersey. Aidan managed to scoop the ball over the bar somehow from being right under the crossbar for a point, but Hickey should have blown for a penalty before he ever got the shot off. But it wasn’t refereeing decisions that cost Mayo in MacHale Park, it was just bad decision making, poor execution of skills and just not being at the races in the final 35 minutes, all their own doing.

Performance turns into points for Mayo

Fri, Mar 11, 2016

Mayo had to dig deep last weekend to pick up their first two league points of the season and get their first victory in the win column for the new season. It was a tough encounter on the field against Monaghan, but Mayo came through at the end and midfielder Tom Parsons was happy to have the season up and running. "Tough tough game out there, especially when the heat came on and Monaghan came back at us, but fair play to Robbie for showing the composure to kick the two frees at the end of the game. "

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