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.
Read more ...
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.
Both sides kept up their winning form last weekend, when Castlebar Celtic beat Westport United 2-1 in Celtic Park and Claremorris piled on the pressure on pointless Ballinrobe Town with a 5-1 at Concannon Park. Derek Glynn, who is back playing for Claremorris this year after a couple of years away, bagged his second hat trick in as many games for Claremorris. He hit Ballinrobe for three inside of 25 minutes last weekend after the bottom placed side had taken the lead early on, while Celtic had the O’Boyle brothers (Ronan and Ger) to thank for grabbing a goal in each half to see off the challenge of Westport United in Celtic Park.
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.
Paul Early, the former Roscommon footballer, contacted me last November and asked me to do a stage or two of the eight stages of the Ras. He, Eamonn Ó Muircheartaigh and Declan Darcy had decided to pull a group of former footballers and hurlers together to cycle the Ras route for charity. I didn’t take much convincing as funds were being raised for two very worthy causes. Over the past number of months I had trained fairly regularly and considered myself to be reasonably well prepared for the 95 miles from Dunboyne to Portumna on Sunday followed by the 100 miles from Portumna to Kilrush the following day. I travelled to Dunboyne last Saturday evening where my friend Gerry Fitzmaurice (former Roscommon great) had arranged accommodation for both of us with his good friend Freddie Preston. Freddie’s wife Anne is from Achill as it happens. She and Freddie were most welcoming and provided us with good food and a bed for the night. When Anne heard we were availing of their hospitality she made sure the Green and Red bunting was displayed about the place.
Read more ...Tough conditions for bog week cycle
Fri, May 27, 2011
Strong winds and heavy rain made the going really tough in Tully Cross for the first Bog Week two-day stage race. JJ Flaherty of Western Lakes CC was the race director for the weekend. A smaller than usual turnout from the Connacht cycling clubs didn't dampen the racing even if the rain did.
Read more ...Horan shuffles the deck as half a dozen make debut
Fri, May 27, 2011
Mayo manager James Horan has named six players who will make their championship debut on Sunday in London. The game against the exiles will be Horan’s maiden championship contest in the Bainisteoir’s bib. The half dozen who will make their first championship starts are Robert Hennelly in goal, full back Alan Feeney, and his brother Richie Feeney at wing back. The midfield pairing of Jason Gibbons and James Kilcullen will also be making their first championship start, while Jason Doherty, whose goal-getting ability lit up Mayo’s National Football League campaign, has unsurprisingly been given the number 15 shirt for the championship opener.
Read more ...From Mayo to London, via Toronto
Fri, May 27, 2011
“I’ll be supporting London, which will be strange because normally I’d be backing Mayo.” London GAA PRO Yvonne Morley is steeped in the tradition of Mayo GAA, despite being born and raised in Toronto, Canada. Her parents John and Kathleen Morley are from Knock and Claremorris respectively and will be making the trip to Ruislip on Sunday to support the green and red, while Yvonne will be squarely behind the exiles’ charge to knock Mayo out of the Connacht Championship. “They’re making the trip to the game, my dad is a football fanatic and was massively involved in the GAA in Toronto and we used to make the trip to New York for the game over there when Mayo came over, but I’ll have to be supporting London this time around.”
Yvonne, who is in her first year as PRO for London and also works as a GAA development officer in the UK capital, has been working hard to ensure that everything runs smoothly over the course of the weekend. “It’ll be a manic week in the build up. Not only with the game on Sunday, but we’re launching a book chronicling the history of the GAA in London over the past 100 years. A huge amount of work has gone into that book and the launch on Saturday night is a massive thing.” The book incorporates some 30 years of work by GAA people in London, collecting facts, figures, stories and photographs of Gaelic games in the city.
Read more ...Strategic plan passes, but steering committee goes in a different direction
Fri, May 20, 2011
On Wednesday night the revised Mayo GAA Strategic Plan was passed at a county board meeting bringing to an end a messy week inside of Mayo GAA. On Monday morning the Mayo GAA Strategic Action Plan committee, who had been brought in last year to steer the direction of the plan, released a statement disassociating themselves from the draft plan published by the county board which was passed on Wednesday night. The committee, which was chaired by Liam Horan, produced their report last February and it has been a hot topic of debate ever since in Mayo GAA circles.
Read more ...Interfims and society competition in Ballina this weekend
Fri, May 20, 2011
Balla
In the men’s competition sponsored by Roche’s, Balla, last weekend, Richard Murphy was the winner with a score of 52. He finished three ahead of PJ Brett in second place with Bob Leggett taking third spot. In the ladies’ competition Mary Conlon was the winner finishing with a score of 51. She was closely followed by Catherine McNulty and Mary Brett. The gross prize winner on the day was Dermot McMahon with a score of 64. With two rounds of the golfer of the year competition gone, Richard Murphy leads the gents’ section with Aine McDonald out in front in the ladies’. The next club presentation night will take place on Friday week, May 27 in Mannions Bar, Balla, at 9.30pm all prize winners are asked to attend.
