Time for the house special from Mayo

Sun, Sep 18, 2016

There is a great comfort about diving into some place for a bite of lunch and opting for the same bloody thing every day. The familiarity with which we go back to the tried and tested leaves one leaving the establishment, our appetite sated, but perhaps cursing ourselves for not having the neck to try something different.

Mayo have the potential but Dublin should edge it

Sun, Sep 18, 2016

It is past midnight on Wednesday night, going into the small hours of Thursday morning. My wife and the four kids are all tucked up and gone to dreamland for the past few hours. Only Caesar our faithful dog is keeping me company, as I start to type this column on why Dublin should win the All-Ireland final in a few days time. However, I am having strong flashbacks to the second of September in 2012 and the All-Ireland semi-final.

Time for Mayo to find that winning formula

Fri, Sep 16, 2016

After Brendan Maher lifted the Liam McCarthy Cup high over his head in the Hogan Stand a fortnight ago, he mentioned in his speech that it had been "six long years" for Tipperary waiting for this day. Six years may be a long time in Tipperary, but it was 38 years for Mayo to reach an All Ireland final from the last time they won it in 1951 to their next dance with the girls at the end of the summer in 1989. That particular dance saw Cork go home with girls and since then Mayo have gone back to the same dance hall on six more occasions only to leave by themselves at the end of the night when the jackets were being collected from the cloakroom.

We travel more in hope than expectation

Fri, Sep 16, 2016

It’s game eight of Mayo’s 2016 championship campaign and the biggest one of all, the All-Ireland final against the reining champions and hot favourites Dublin. Mayo are priced at 3/1, the Dubs are 4/11 while the draw is available at 10/1. In layman’s terms the bookmakers don’t see Dublin been beaten. The handicap betting is set at -3 points meaning the expert odd makers feel Dublin will win by about three.

Rochford calls for one last push towards greatness

Fri, Sep 16, 2016

They've been with the team right from the start and on Sunday the Mayo fans will play an important role in getting their side over the line come 5pm. The boost that the side gets from the full-throated following in green and red isn't lost on Mayo manager Stephen Rochford who said he knows that there's no need to issue a call to arms for the supporters who've been with his side right from the off this year. "I'd like to thank the Mayo supporters for their great support throughout the year and over the years. They have stood by the team throughout the year from our first league game in Cork, there was a huge Mayo crowd there at that, and the other away league games, huge crowds attended the games.

From the last line of defence to getting back on the field

Fri, Sep 16, 2016

Two decades ago he was part of a brash young bunch of players who made their way into John Maughan's team that came from nowhere to almost claim an All Ireland title, but lost out to Meath after a replay. But he didn't hold a grudge against the Royal county as he ended up marrying a lady from there who "felt a bit of sympathy" for him. He broke his leg and dislocated his ankle in a game in 1999, and that more or less ended his serious playing career. But at the end of last month he tweeted "Playing Junior C Championship at 42 and at times trying to chase Colm Mcs nephew is a serious recipe for extreme stiffness on a Monday" Who is it you ask that's still playing football club football 20 years later chasing after the nephew of one of his team-mates from that All Ireland final? It's John Madden, the man who stood between the sticks for Mayo in those clashes against Meath.

Mayo’s immortal campaign of 1936

Fri, Sep 16, 2016

They ‘will rank in history amongst the greatest teams that have contested the Championship’, so read the report of a contemporary journalist after witnessing Mayo rout Laois in the 1936 All-Ireland Football Final and claim the county’s first senior football championship. Mayo senior football was peaking that year. The planets had begun their alignment four years earlier when Mayo contested only their third All-Ireland final. A narrow loss to Kerry in 1932 was crushing but oil had been struck and it did not just flow, it gushed throughout the 1930s and Mayo fans bathed in it. The 1932 final was the incendiary event that sparked an era of magnificence in Mayo football. The green and red would eventually see out the decade with a record six consecutive National Football League titles won between 1934 and 1939. With three of the six NFL crowns secured by the first game of Mayo’s championship campaign in May 1936, the aligning planets must have appeared as leather footballs to the success-spoiled county.

The time is now

Fri, Sep 16, 2016

History has weighed heavy on the shoulders of every single man who has thrown a green and red jersey across his shoulders since 1951, every year there is expectation in the county, from those on the sidelines and those spread far and wide across the globe, that this will finally be the year.

Final Leading and learning as he goes

Fri, Sep 16, 2016

He is one of the most successful captains Mayo have ever had on the football field, yet he is still only 20 years of age. This time three years ago, Stephen Coen was preparing to lead the Mayo minors out on to Croke Park in the All Ireland minor final against Tyrone, in the 36 months that have passed since then he has captained Mayo to win that minor final, kicked the insurance score in the Sigerson Cup final this year, lined out for his club in an All Ireland final back in Croke Park, and at the end of the spring he captained the Mayo U21s to the All Ireland title in Cork.

No half measures will do for Carey in any role

Fri, Sep 16, 2016

There is a special kind of resilience in anyone who plays football with Kiltane, perched on the edge of the Atlantic, battling against much more densely populated areas, yet holding their own all the time, breeds that into you. Mayo similarly have shown a special kind of resilience down through the years, through dark days they have raged, and savoured the good ones, with the greatest one still to come to fruition. It should be no surprise then that when Stephen Rochford went looking to complement his backroom team he should look to a Kiltane stalwart he knows and trusts for over two decades to join him on the sideline, and Sean Carey answered that call.

Seven steps to the final

Fri, Sep 16, 2016

Connacht Championship quarter-final
London 0-9 Mayo 2-16

Rochford plans to take down the Dubs performance and quality’

Fri, Sep 16, 2016

Nobody ever said it was going to be easy. And Mayo boss Stephen Rochford was not moving from that script ahead of Sunday's All Ireland final showdown against Dublin. "It will take one massive, massive, effort - and rightly so. How else do you expect to win an All Ireland if you are not going to take out the best team, and that’s the position we find ourselves in" were his parting words to the press before the day.

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