Connacht prepare for tough six days as they head to Exeter

Fri, Oct 24, 2014

Connacht, leading pool two, travel to Exeter for Saturday’s second European Challenge Cup fixture to face the top seeds and pool favourites. In their first home fixture, the Chiefs are expecting to come out with all guns blazing to ensure they maintain their push for qualification, and there is little doubt Saturday’s game will present a different challenge than that posed by La Rochelle last weekend.

Higgins, Boyle and O’Connor get All Star awards

Fri, Oct 24, 2014

For their efforts this summer three Mayo players will pick up All Star awards at tonight’s banquet. The ever reliable Keith Higgins picked up his third All Star in a row for his displays this summer after being selected in the corner back position.

Westport pick up fourth win on the bounce

Fri, Oct 24, 2014

After a shaky start that saw them go down to league leaders Connemara and Ballinasloe in the opening two rounds, Westport picked up their fourth win in a row in the division 1A of the Connacht Junior League last weekend, with a 24-17 win over Galwegians in Carrowholly.

Ballintubber were brilliantly ruthless when needed

Fri, Oct 24, 2014

Congratulations to Ballintubber who clinched their third Moclair Cup in five years against last year’s county and Connacht champions, and their fiercest rivals Castlebar Mitchels. It is a marvellous achievement for a team that was playing intermediate football in 2007.

It was a somewhat strange game with long periods of play where neither teams registered a flag but that will not bother Ballintubber in the slightest. Shane Conway and Alan Nolan decided that their impressive defence was good enough to go man on man with a dangerous forward line that could boast three current Mayo senior players, who along with Padraig O’Connor, Damien Coleman, and Alan Plunkett completed a formidable striking unit who all knew where the goalposts were. Castlebar aided by the unusual swirling breeze simply did not take advantage and very often over cooked passes into the full forward line.

Ballyhaunis look for final berth

Fri, Oct 24, 2014

There is not much time to rest in the east Mayo town of Ballyhaunis these days, fresh off the back of county title success for the intermediate footballers and senior hurlers the small matter of Connacht success is up for grabs for both teams over the next few weeks.

Last Sunday the intermediate footballers booked their place in the Connacht semi-final with a 3-13 to 0-6 win over Dromahair and on the upcoming Bank Holiday Monday, the Ballyhaunis hurlers will be in action in the Connacht intermediate hurling final against Roscommon champions Four Roads at 2pm in Athleague. Up for grabs is a place in the final of the competition against the Galway intermediate champions next month.

Carnacon back looking for more glory

Fri, Oct 24, 2014

Just as Halloween is about to roll around again for another year, one of the other seemingly annual events is also coming up this weekend, Carnacon are in a Connacht senior club final and the favourites for victory.

Ballintubber crowned champions for third time in five years

Sun, Oct 19, 2014

Goals win games and there was no recovering from the two goals they shipped inside the opening ten minutes for Castlebar Mitchels on Sunday in MacHale Park.

Brilliant Byrne leads Moy Davitts to glory

Sun, Oct 19, 2014

A brilliant performance from Moy Davitts saw them take home the Mayo minor A championship for the first time in the clubs history on Sunday afternoon in MacHale Park.

The moyside outfit were by far the better team, with captain Paul Langan, midfielder Maksyiulun Babianwyk and centre-half forward Conor Byrne the leading lights for them. For Claremorris, Conor Diskin lead their resistance in attack, while Keith Saunders put on an outstanding display between the posts for the south Mayo men, pulling off a number of great saves.

Westport rearguard action sees them grab minor ‘B’ title

Sun, Oct 19, 2014

Westport held their nerve when it was put up to them in MacHale Park on Sunday lunchtime to claim the Mayo minor B title by six points.

Bidwell takes Breaffy 10k in style

Fri, Oct 17, 2014

The extended summer sunshine lit up a glorious October Sunday for the fourth annual Breaffy 10k on Sunday last. It was also the final race in this year's Mayo AC Move2Improve Series. The event was brilliantly organised by Maggie Heneghan and team, comprising the local Breaffy community and GAA club. They were also assisted by Castlebar Fit4Life and Mayo AC. One hundred and forty finishers made it to the finish line outside race HQ at the national school. The warm sun and a few uphill sections between the 5k and 8k marks made for a challenging event, and there were the usual scenes of joy, pain, exhaustion, and sheer exhilaration at the finish line.

Connacht in a good place as European challenge begins

Fri, Oct 17, 2014

After a successful start to their season, Connacht take a break from Pro 12 action to open their European campaign in the Sportsground on Saturday (5pm). Pat Lam’s team takes on first-time French visitors La Rochelle in pool two of the competition. After their exploits in the top level of European competition in the past few years, Connacht must have loftier ambitions than just competing.

A European final or a trophy is a conceivable target, but Lam believes getting out of their group is their first priority (the pool winners and best three runners-up advance to the quarter-finals). “We want to win it, but you can’t do that till you get out of your pool. The bottom line is we have a tough group, so it’s vital we start well,” Lam says.

Ballina hope to finish the season on a high

Fri, Oct 17, 2014

One can only imagine what odds you would have got at the start of the year that Glenhest Rovers would pitch up against Ballina Town on Sunday, in the Connacht Gold Shield Final. Last year’s Super League winners will feel that they should be taking part in the showpiece event a couple of hours later but it has been that sort of season for Ballina. After losing a string of top quality stars it was always going to be tough to repeat the kind of form that parachuted them to glory last season.

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