O’Mahony was right to be critical
Fri, Mar 20, 2009
I didn’t get to Kerry on Sunday due to my own club commitments, but reports from the south would appear to be encouraging. My spies tell me Mayo could have won, or at least drawn, the match, which is more than anticipated. Rightly, John O’Mahony was critical afterwards of the demands being made on certain players. Take a footballer like Kevin McLoughlin, who didn’t play on Sunday due to an injury – he has come through a Sigerson Cup campaign, his senior debut, and the start of the u21 championship, all in the space of a few weeks.
Read more ...Winning an All Ireland title means everything
Fri, Mar 20, 2009
The AIB club championship finals and their well designed and created advertisements on TV have a way of sucking you in and making you feel welcome and part of a greater cause. The interlinking of club and family is a terrific hook to hang a slogan on, and in many ways it fits the bill perfectly. Again, last Tuesday afternoon the image of family, friends, wives, children, mothers and fathers, mentors and club supporters running onto the green field in Croke Park and hugging each other in intense bear hugs is one that we never tire off.
Read more ...Roscommon next hurdle for Mayo
Fri, Mar 20, 2009
The rapid fire nature of the u21 championship means it’s all over from start to finish in little under two months. So there is no rest for Mayo this weekend, who seven days on from their nail biting win over Galway last Saturday in Charlestown will host Roscommon in the same venue tomorrow. The 2-6 to 0-11 win over Galway last weekend was a lot closer on the scoreboard than in it was in general play on the field, an issue Mayo manager Pat Holmes hopes will be rectified this weekend. “We were delighted to get over last weekend, it was a tough battle at the end, which we knew it would be but we came out on top. We are going to have to be even better this Saturday as this Roscommon side won the All Ireland minor title three years ago and will be a tough task on the field.” Mayo’s lack of proficiency in front of the posts against Galway is something that needs to be rectified before Roscommon cross over the border, and Holmes has faith that his side will be able to do it. “We have to take our chances against Roscommon, because we won’t get as many against them as we did against Galway. The frees didn’t go as well as we would have liked last weekend, and we have to up our accuracy on that if we are going to make the Connacht final.”
Read more ...Ballina battle for Mayo men
Fri, Mar 20, 2009
Fixture pile ups usually occur for club sides in Mayo in late summer, if the senior inter-county team are involved in championship action at the business end of the season. But last weekend, as it will again this weekend, it came to a log jam for both the senior inter-county side and u21 side. Normally before inter-county games the senior team management announce their team on a Thursday evening, bar any niggling injuries that may be hanging around. But last week, John O’Mahony informed the press and public through county PRO Kevin O’Toole that there would be no side named until Sunday morning due to the involvement of the u21s in Connacht Championship action.
Read more ...Mayo see off Roscommon after nail biting affair
Fri, Mar 20, 2009
Mayo 4-14
Roscommon 2-15
Gaughan sends Iorras to within one step of the final
Fri, Mar 20, 2009
Fairview Rangers 1
Iorras Aontaithe 1
Elliott takes the honours on Mayo Stages Rally
Fri, Mar 13, 2009
Patrick Elliott has made rather a habit of winning in recent times. Last year he clinched the Dunlop National Rally Championship with six wins. He started 2009 in a similar vein, winning the opening round in Birr two weeks ago. And on Sunday he added the latest success to his portfolio of wins with victory on the 2009 TF Royal Hotel and Theatre Mayo Stages Rally.
Read more ...Captains drive ins gets season under way in clubs
Fri, Mar 13, 2009
Mayo Teachers’ Golf Alliance
The Mayo Teachers’ Golf Alliance 2008 – 2009 season's sixth outing took place recently at Belmullet (Carne) Golf Course. A special thanks to Erris Tourism for providing the course. Patsy Sheridan from Balla was the overall winner and the ladies’ winner was Antoinette Casey from Castlebar. Take note that the time sheet for the next event, which takes place in Enniscrone Golf Club, on Saturday March 21, is contained on the Mayo Teachers’ Golf Alliance website. The website address is www.mayoteachersgolfalliance.ie. New members are very welcome and should contact Michael Herr, sec/treasurer at 096 31779 (H), 086 8223830 (M).
Preparations picking up pace on both club and county level
Fri, Mar 13, 2009
I was in Aughamore with Crossmolina for a challenge match against the local club last Friday night. It was an opportunity for both sides to have a workout as they try to shake off their winter coats before the commencement of the league in a few weeks time. Aughamore have really impressive facilities and their flood lit pitch, in particular, is a credit to everyone involved up there. We were delighted with the opportunity to stretch the legs, after a number of weeks of circuit training, against a young talented team that have caught the eye in recent times. The underage structure in Aughamore is very obviously paying dividends at senior level and having seen them up close I now appreciate that they will have no problem whatsoever in mixing it with some of the big boys in the senior championship later this summer. Incidentally they were deserving winners on the night.
I watched the Galway v Tyrone match on Saturday night, played in Healy Park, Omagh. Galway proved once again that they are making significant strides this year under the guidance of Liam Sammon. There were a number of people who had a few reservations about Liam’s appointment last year as it was his first time managing a senior inter-county football team. They need not have worried as these Galway lads are playing with tremendous confidence under his watch. They took the initiative from the throw in and led the game from the start. So good were they in a game played in arctic conditions that at one stage I thought they would run away with an easy victory. But Tyrone are no ordinary side and despite playing this match without a number of their big guns they hauled in the Galwegians and equalised with sufficient time left on the clock to record a home victory. The momentum had swung in Tyrone’s favour and I honestly expected them to drive on and win the match in front of their adoring fans. But they didn’t and instead it was the Galway boys with Joe Bergin and the wily old Padraig Joyce in particular who provided the experience to kick two magnificent points from play into the biting wind to claim the two precious points. This victory will have a lot more than the John Joe Hallorans from Clonbur leaping around the place with excitement. Galway really look like they mean business this year and while I recognise there will be lots of twists and turns yet along the road before championship battle, I am predicting they will be a tough nut to crack for other teams this year.
Read more ...Stockwell a true legend of the game
Fri, Mar 13, 2009
There was sadness in Tuam and Galway this week with the end of an era for Galway football with the death of the great Frank Stockwell at the age of 80 after a long battle with illness. Frankie was the second member of a foot-balling double act, which was almost as famous and successful as Laurel and Hardy in their prime.
The famed “Terrible Twins” – Stockwell and Purcell -inspired their beloved Tuam Stars to a record seven Galway SFC titles in a row from 1954 to 1960, and Galway to the 1956 All-Ireland final where Stockwell, lining out at full-forward scored 2-5 in their glorious win over Cork on a score-line of 2-13 to 3-07. Stockwell's 2-5 was never beaten in a 60 minute final. Indeed such was the high regard that they were held in Tuam, that two new roads in Tuam were named after them over the past decade. Those two men cast a long and glorious shadow on Galway football over the past 40 years with their famed skill, success, and humility. Even after the exploits of the three-in-a-row team, those men were still mentioned regularly as the benchmark for talent and sportsmanship. Hopefully they are back re-united and selling a few dummies and hitting a few scores again up in headquarters this week. We will not see their like again. Ní bheidh ar leitheidí arís ann.
Read more ...Mayo face tough trip to the Kingdom
Fri, Mar 13, 2009
While Mayo were busy dispensing with the paltry challenge put up by Westmeath last Sunday, the flashbulbs were frantically popping in Bellaghy as the prodigal son of Kerry football, Tadhg Kennelly, made his return to the Gaelic fields of Ireland after his nine year excursion on the fields of Australian rules. Mayo will make the 300 mile round trip from home base in McHale Park to Tralee to take on a side which has seen off Donegal, Tyrone, and Derry in their last three games, and are brimful of confidence as they try to impress Jack O’Connor who has taken over the reins of the side for the second time this year.
Read more ...