Mayo claim national INDO inter-county title

Fri, Feb 22, 2013

The Mayo men’s darts team created a little bit of history last weekend when they brought home the goods from the annual INDO inter-county championship otherwise known as the All Ireland championships. Mayo sent both a men’s and women’s team to Ennis where this year’s championships were held. The ladies’ team made it all the way to the last eight but were sent packing at the hands of the best that Dublin had to offer and it was left to the men to bring home the glory, which they very much did and brought home the title for the first time. After a tough two days competition in the group stages, Mayo topped their group thanks in no small part to a shoot-out win by Terry McNulty in a vital game.

Registration nights coming up for a number of clubs

Fri, Feb 22, 2013

There will be a number of registration evenings over the next few weeks for a number of clubs across the county. Castlebar Town will be holding a registration day for new and existing members tomorrow Saturday, February 23, from 1.30pm to 3pm in the clubhouse. While there will also be a meeting for anyone interested in playing for the new Castlebar Town senior women’s team taking place this evening, February 22, at 7.30pm in the clubhouse.

McCann and Cooney in national last 16 action

Fri, Feb 22, 2013

Two of Mayo’s finest will go in search of victory in the last 16 of the All Ireland 40x20 Open Championships over the next few days. Tomorrow afternoon in Kingscourt in Cavan Joe McCann will face off against Antrim’s Ricky McCann at 2.15pm. On Tuesday evening in St Comans, Roscommon, at 8pm Stephen Cooney will be up against it when he faces off against Diarmaid Nash from Clare, the Clareman having previously won a World 23 and under title. The draw for the quarter finals of the All Ireland doubles 40x20 Open Championships was also held recently and Mayo duo Joe McCann and Deeise Keegan will square off against Kerry pair Dominic Lynch and JJ Quirke in Tulla, Co Clare, at 2pm on Sunday, March 24.

Derby date for Mayo schools in semi-final showdown

Fri, Feb 22, 2013

Tomorrow afternoon the townland of Bekan will see the meeting of some of the best schools’ footballing talent in the county when St Gerald’s College, Castlebar, and St Colman’s College, Claremorris, come face to face in the Connacht Colleges Senior Football Championship A semi-final.

Moylette and Lynch go for glory in Elite finals

Fri, Feb 22, 2013

There will be plenty of Mayo interest in the action in the National Stadium in Dublin where the IABA Elite National Championships finals will be taking place tonight. St Anne’s Ray Moylette will be up in the fourth bout of the night when he takes on Ross Hickey in what is potentially the bout of the night in the light-welterweight (64kg) grade. Moylette is the defending European champion and ranked number eight in the world, while Hickey is a two time elite champion and is defending his title from last year. Moylette, who had plenty of injury problems last year which curtailed his chances of making it to the Olympics, is back in top form this year and over the past two weekends saw off Patrick Mongan 14-7 in his quarter-final victory and Sean Duffy 18-10 in his semi-final win last Friday night.

Castlebar dream of glory in junior cup

Fri, Feb 22, 2013

It has been a season of rediscovery and rebirth for Castlebar rugby club. Last season saw the men from Cloondeash tumble out of the top division of junior rugby in the province. But they have picked themselves up and gone an impressive run in the league, winning eight of their 11 games, drawing one, and only losing two to sit eight points clear of Ballyhaunis at the top of the table with promotion in their grasp.

But it is in the cup they have really shown their quality over the past few months, they put 57 points on Carrick in the opening round on the first weekend in January, before they went to Creggs in round two and came home 12-0 winners setting up a mouth-watering quarter final away to Westport. The Bulls are a top four side in the division above Castlebar, but that did not bother the Castlebar men who tore into Westport with a powerful forward performance to overcome a half time deficit and come out 10-6 winners in Carrowholly thanks in large part to a David Staunton try. That win has set up Sunday’s encounter with Monivea in the last four. The draw has given Castlebar home advantage and they will be looking for every advantage they can get against the premier junior side in the province. Monivea are currently a massive 15 points clear at the top of the J1 table after 13 games and look odds on to claim their ninth league title in 12 years. But that is not going to worry Castlebar on Sunday, they have got this far thanks to their own abilities and qualities, and with home advantage they will not be fearing Sunday’s visitors. The last time that Castlebar reached a junior cup final was 17 years ago in 1996, and this year’s batch will be pulling out all the stops to make sure it does not go on any longer. Kick off on Sunday is at 2.30pm.

Almost forty finals and semi-finals on the cards this weekend

Fri, Feb 15, 2013

Following last weekend’s action in the preliminary and quarter finals of the 2013 Mayo championships in the Peter Callaghan Centre home of St Anne’s Boxing Club in Westport, the action will move to north Mayo this weekend, over Saturday and Sunday, where two days of boxing will kick off in the Killala Community Centre at 11am Saturday. On the weekend’s card are 18 semi-finals and 19 finals. In order, the bouts are as follows in the semi-finals; James Collins (Eagle) v Eohan McGowan (Ballina) in Boy 1 39kg, Darragh Gaughan (Knockmore) v Padraig McDonagh (Geesala) Boy 1 42kg, Matthew Murphy (Ballinrobe) v Declan McDonagh (Claremorris), Boy 1 42kg, Ciaran Roddy (Eagle) v Paddy Ward Charlestown), Boy 2 39kg, Ciaran Brogan (Knockmore) v David Livingstone (Castlebar), Boy 2 39kg, Eileen McDonagh (St Anne’s) v Lauren Finn (Ballyhaunis) Girl 2 42kg, Terence Lawrence (Ballina) v William McHale (Castlebar) Boy 4 39kg, Edward Cleary (Ballyhaunis) v Gavin Roache (Castlebar) Boy 4 44kg, Aaron Daly (Castlebar) v Darren Cadden (Ardagh/Cross), Peter Butler (Ballinrobe) v James Carolan (Geesala) Boy 4 52kg, Brian O’Neill (Ballyhaunis) v Martin F Collins (St Anne’s) Youth 1 52kg, James McDonagh (Claremorris) v Jason Sweeney (Knockmore) Youth 1, 52kg, Adam Brennan (Ardagh/Cross) v Liam McStavick (St Anne’s) Youth 1, 52kg, Terri Gleeson (St Anne’s) v Claire McDonagh (Castlebar) Girl 5 57kg, Evan Heneghan (Ballinrobe) v Stephen Chambers (Castlebar) Youth 1 60kg, John J Ward (Gurteen) v Kevin Ward (Castlebar), Youth 1 60kg, Patrick McDonagh (St Anne’s) v Jonathan Mongan (Gurteen), Youth 1 70kg, Benjamin Garrett (Castlebar) v Sean Reilly (Ardagh/Cross) u18 60kg.

Spring leagues in full swing around the clubs of Mayo

Fri, Feb 15, 2013

Balla
Vinnie Gibbons was the winner of the men’s competition last weekend in Balla after scoring back 34pts. His back nine play on the last few holes kept him just out in front of John O’Connor in second and Bernie O’Connor in third place. The ladies’ competition was won by Geraldine Kilgallon who also scored 34pts, second place went to Breege Moran, and Aine McSuibhnie finished in third place. The Winter League after nine rounds sees Jimmy Sheridan and Breege Moran in the lead on 431pts, Chris Mannion and Tim Evans are chasing them down on 418pts in second place, and John O’Connor and Nora Gibbons are third on 413pts.

Medal haul for Mayo AC at indoor masters

Fri, Feb 15, 2013

Following their cross-country success last week in Derry, Mayo AC's versatile masters women, plus a couple of men, competed at the new track in Athlone AIT in the Woodie’s DIY Indoor Masters track and field championships on Saturday last. For two of the women, it was their debut in this annual indoors event. Newport based Pauline Moran has been winning all over the place since joining the club and it was another gold medal display – after her Derrygold last week. She ran in three races, winning silver in the 800 metres and gold in both the 1500 and 3,000. Another debutante was Swinford based Margaret Glavey, who also ran three races in the W60 category and won all three – golds in 800, 1500, and 3,000. Glavey has also been in fine form and medallist at a number of distances on the road in recent years. Ann Murray has been a regular medal winner at these championships and she won gold in the 400 and silver in the 800 metres in the w45 category. Jim Gaughan returned to training in the New Year and competed in the M60 1500 metres where he won silver behind Martin McEvilly (GCH). Also taking place last weekend were the Kilbride 10k in Roscommon and the Enniscorthy 10k in Wexford. In Roscommon, Gerry Galvin was the first Mayo AC runner home finishing in ninth place in a time of 39.27, with Patrick Walsh taking first place in the M40 section in a time of 39.51. Ann Lennon came home in second place overall in the women’s race in a time of 41.04. In Enniscorthy, TJ McHugh in a time of 34.32 was the first Mayo AC runner over the line and finished in 19th place while Catherine Conway finished the women’s race in third place in a time of 36.14.

Mayo head into break with plenty think about

Fri, Feb 15, 2013

It will be another 15 days before Mayo get back out on the field in competitive action when they take on Dublin in Croke Park on Saturday, March 2. In the coming 15 days and in the five days since they lost at the death a game they really had no right to hold the upper hand in at all, Mayo will have had plenty of time to ponder last Sunday’s events against Tyrone.

Mayo sides hit the road this weekend in the Connacht Cup

Fri, Feb 15, 2013

The only Mayo side to have been afforded the luxury of a draw in this weekend’s fourth round of the Connacht Cup is Iorras Aontaithe who will entertain Galway League side St Brendan’s on Sunday in the Barony of Erris. The other half- a-dozen Mayo sides left in the competition will all be packing up and heading all over the province as they look for a place in the fifth round of the competition. Castlebar Celtic will be hoping they will have a happy trip north when they take on Sligo League outfit Aclare Celtic. Last year’s Connacht Shield winners and Mayo League Premier A champions Ballyheane have been riding a wave of success this past 12 months and they hope it will continue on Sunday when they face West United from the Galway Premier League. While Ballyheane face the men from West United, the defending champions Westport United will also face Galway opposition in the shape of East United. Manulla will also be heading to Galway city to take on Mervue United in what looks to be a very tricky away tie for the men from Carramore. Also on the road on Sunday are Charlestown Athletic who will be looking to keep up their surprise run to this stage when they take on Loughrea in the fifth round. The action in the cup for Mayo sides actually gets under way on Saturday night when Fahy Rovers take on Shiven Rovers from the Roscommon and District League at 7.30pm.