Battle at the top heats up

Fri, Jul 24, 2015

Straide and Foxford United v Charlestown Athletic
Saturday, July 25 at 7pm

Westport push ahead while Conn continue revival

Fri, Jul 24, 2015

As a result of the torrential rain all weekend a number of games were pulled for the safety of the players. However, those that did go ahead threw up some cracking ties amid the shocking conditions. In the Elverys Sports Super League, Castlebar Celtic had gone into an early lead thanks to a Jordan Loftus goal after only 20 seconds, but with the rain getting heavier and the surface water in Celtic Park causing problems, referee Jimmy Cawley called both sets of players aside and abandoned the game after only nine minutes. Westport Utd were pushed all the way by Iorrais Aontaithe on Saturday night in what can only be described as a thriller. And the star of the show most definitely was Phil Keegan who bagged a hat-trick in a stunning display. Deadlocked at 2-2 at the break the Covies found something extra after the break with Keegan grabbing the late winner. Dave Cameron also got in on the act for Westport, with Ivan Barrett (two) and Kyle O’Reilly on target for Iorrais Aontaithe.

Good results in tough conditions

Fri, Jul 24, 2015

Mayo AC runners were in action at various events over the weekend and had top three finishers at Roscommon, Killarney, and Crossmolina. John Byrne finished second in Roscommon Harriers' 10 mile race on Saturday. His 53:53 finish was a great time over this classic distance given his career span, it was just 45 seconds outside his 2010 Craughwell 10 mile personal best of 53:08. A tough windy stretch mid-race cost finishers a good few seconds. Mark Kirwan (Raheny Shamrock AC) was the winner in 52:32. Well done too to Brendan Hession who had a great run to finish 16th overall with a  personal best in 62:15.

Paula Prendergast was third woman home in the Killarney Half Marathon in a time of 88:29. That is a fine return to form for her and a great confidence boost ahead of the National Half Marathon Championhsip in two weeks where she will be part of the club's senior women's team. Prendergast will be joined on the East Wall start line by Sarah Syron who came through another test following return from injury, and was happy with her win in 41:15 on home terrain in the Crossmolina Festival 10k.  It was Syron's first 10k race since Balla last year where she was third in 40:52. The Crossmolina men's race was won by Robert Malseed (Westport AC), second place went to David Sands (Liquid Motion), and third place to Ray McNamara (Ballina AC) in a new personal best of 36:59.

Captain's Day excitement in Mulranny and Westport this weekend

Fri, Jul 24, 2015

Balla
Last weekend's rumble competition was won by the trio of Aine MhicSuibhne, Aodan MacSuibhne, and Mary B O'Donnell who scored a combined total of 83pts, second place went to the duo of Adrian O'Connell and Pat Mohan. Another trio came home in third place, with that prize going to Julie Loftus, Mary Lavin, and Aisling Prendergast. This weekend's competition is a stableford event. The club open week will commence on Monday July 27 and will run until Monday August 3, a great week with a number of competitions lies in store.

Connelly looks forward to the next challenge

Mon, Jul 20, 2015

For a number of Mayo players it was their fifth Connacht title in a row on Sunday in Hyde Park, but for the Mayo management team of Noel Connelly and Pat Holmes it was their first in the senior job. Speaking after the game Noel Connelly said that, “We were pleased with the performance, everybody worked hard and that’s all you can ask of them going out and they delivered in fairness to them and now it’s about moving on to three weeks time.”

The men who made it five from five

Mon, Jul 20, 2015

Mayo used 21 players yesterday on the field in their historic win over Sligo as they picked up their fifth Connacht title on the bounce, we run our eye over the performance of all those 21 players.

Mayo hammer home their dominance in Connacht

Sun, Jul 19, 2015

Whatever lingering doubts there were at the start of the year of Mayo’s ability to retain their place at the top of the tree in Connacht, were put to bed with barely six minutes of this Connacht final elapsed on Padraig O’Sullivan’s stopwatch. At the end of the day Mayo had claimed their fifth Connacht tile on the bounce and dished out the kind of hammering to Sligo that will be of no use to either side as they move on to their respective next stages of the championship.

O’Shea happy with collectors item goal

Sun, Jul 19, 2015

The O’Shea house will be bursting with more medals and awards this week after Aidan and Seamus O’Shea picked up another Connacht medal each and Aidan got his hands on the man-of-the match award. Eldest brother Seamus, had to bow out of the action early doors on Sunday after he picked up an injury, but he reckons it’s not too serious. “I gave my groin a bit of a pull after 20 minutes, we’ll see what the medical team say, hopefully it won’t be to bad. I was in a tackle, what ever way I twisted or turned I gave it a bit of a pull, hopefully it will be all right.”

Holding the line in the drive for five

Sun, Jul 19, 2015

This season has seen David Clarke regain the starting spot between the posts for Mayo and the Ballina Stephenites man put in another good showing on Sunday in Hyde Park, pulling off two great saves during the 70 minutes. Asked after the game about how he felt following Mayo’s fifth Connacht title in a row he said, “It’s great, as a group of players and it’s the standard we set ourselves and we’re after hitting another target we set at the start of the year.”

All systems go for Sunday

Fri, Jul 17, 2015

Mayo have made two changes for Sunday's Connacht final clash with Sligo from the team that lined out against Galway in Pearse Stadium in their semi-final win in Salthill five weeks ago. Back into the starting line up comes Ger Cafferkey and Donal Vaughan, with the Ballinrobe man wearing the number three shirt and Cafferkey the number two jersey. Whether both men actually play in those positions on Sunday remains yet to be seen, with Cafferkey normally occupying the full back position. Out of the side have gone Belmullet's Chris Barrett and Westport's Kevin Keane, Keane missing out after he picked up an injury in last Sunday's A v B game in Elverys MacHale Park.

The captain's call

Fri, Jul 17, 2015

Half a decade ago, Mayo were bounced out of the Connacht championship by Sligo in the shadow of Benbulbin, it was one of those bad days for Mayo football where nothing went right.

Greeting from the border line

Fri, Jul 17, 2015

It is not the Connacht final we expected to see but it certainly is one that has been widely anticipated after Sligo threw away the form book when comprehensively disposing of Roscommon in the semi final. It is slightly ironic that it is the 40th anniversary of Sligo’s famous win against Mayo in the final. The big question on everybody’s lips is will they be able to produce again against the current Connacht kingpins to prevent the green and red going for an unprecedented five in a row.

E-paper

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