Preaching to and converting the suspicious

Fri, May 22, 2009

It's late in the evening, when this writer speaks to Adrian Hession, the full time hurling coaching officer with the Mayo county board, but it's always late in the evening when he puts the hurls away and gets to sit down and relax as he spreads the word of hurling in the county.

All-star Power mans an assembly line of future Cat stars

Fri, May 22, 2009

John Power was born in 1966 and played hurling with Kilkenny from 1986 to 2002.

From father to son

Fri, May 22, 2009

The GAA has lots of quirky things in its make-up. Topics and questions that make people quiz themselves and smile and wonder aloud.

Money is wrong motivation for managers, says club boss

Fri, May 22, 2009

Club managers up and down the country are a vital component of the overall success of the GAA as an organisation. From senior to intermediate to junior and right down to under 8s and under 10s this group of very often unsung heroes deserve special mention, and on on this 125th anniversary of the GAA’s foundation Joe Fallon talks to one, Brendan Clarke, Athlone manager.

Summer season swings into action

Fri, May 22, 2009

Balla Golf Club
Last weekend’s stableford competition was won by Ray Mannion who hit a 39, Pat Mohan was in second place with a 35 and Gus Heraty came home in third with a score of 34.

Road race league starts off in style

Fri, May 22, 2009

There was an excellent turn-out of over 200 runners and walkers for the Carramore 10k road race on Saturday evening. This was the first race in the 2009 Vodafone C&C Cellular Mayo AC Road Race League. Despite the bad weather the rain held off until the race finished, but the blustery wind was evident on open sections of road.

Mayo AC had 35 athletes on the start line boosted by the current Fit4Life programme with participants getting a measure on their progress and others preparing for the Mini-marathon. Robert Malseed was the clear winner in the Senior men's race in a time of 32.43 - almost a minute down on 2nd placed John Byrne's winning time last year.

Loose surface autorcross shifts into gear

Fri, May 22, 2009

Mayo and District Motorsport Club’s first loose surface autocross event of the year got off to a strong start on Sunday, with some close racing and plenty of action throughout the field.

Memories of a good summer

Fri, May 22, 2009

I have fond memories of the summer of 1985. The Mayo football team was managed that year by Liam O’Neill. He was an excellent manager and coach, a driven man who really wanted nothing more than a Mayo team to express themselves in a meaningful way on the national stage. The former Galway player left no stone unturned in generating a self belief in the players in order to shake off a perceived mental weakness of the Mayo team back then. He was working with the nucleus of an All- Ireland winning under-21 team that had claimed the title in 1983. We were blessed at the time with a number of great footballers, players like Willie Joe Padden, TJ Kilgallon, Martin Carney, Eugene Lavin, Frank Noone, Jimmy Burke, and Jimmy Browne to name just a few, all talented footballers that in hindsight should probably have won lots more. We lost the Connacht final in the old Pearse Stadium in 1984. I remember big Tom Byrne scoring what appeared to be a perfectly legitimate goal in the dying minutes of that game that would surely have won us the final, but for some reason the goal was disallowed by the referee Mickey Kearins, he of Sligo fame.

London Calling

Fri, May 22, 2009

“London calling to the faraway towns,
Now that war is declared and battle coming down

Semi-final up for grabs on Saturday

Fri, May 22, 2009

“Nobody will remember getting to a quarter final, you only remember the winners.” Martin Brennan has had a pep in his step this week following on from seeing his side overcome Westmeath in last weekend’s Christy Ring Cup losers play-off in Westport. This weekend Mayo have a short trip to Athleague in Roscommon to face Kildare in the second tier competition in what Brennan says is “as close a home game as you can get, we’ve played there a number of times down the year and a lot of the Ballyhaunis and Tooreen lads have played plenty of hurling down there through the years”.

Season really begins to kick into gear

Fri, May 22, 2009

This weekend sees the Mayo soccer season really kick into life, with the premier division and Down being in action over the last few weeks, the time has now come for the Super League sides to get in on the action. Westport United will be looking to make it three titles in a row this season and following on from their extra time Connacht Senior Cup victory over Athenry last weekend they have been set up perfectly for the new domestic season. The Coveys will start their campaign away to Manulla in Carrowmore on Saturday evening. Padraig Burns and Kevin Cusack’s team should expect a tough encounter from the central Mayo side who are capable of taking on and beating anyone on the day, especially at home. The league’s three promoted sides, Straide and Foxford United, Kilmore, and Fahy Rover all face a tough start to the season.

Mayo Hurlers Sink the Lakesiders

Sun, May 17, 2009

he Mayo hurlers caused one of the shocks of the year on Saturday last in Westport GAA Grounds, as they dumped early season favourites Westmeath out of the Christy Ring Cup for 2009. Westmeath came into the tie as 1/7 on favourites, but the bookies got it all wrong as Mayo kept their championship aspirations alive thanks to a dogged display of power and skill.

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