Players must listen to their bodies and I should know

Fri, Mar 27, 2015

After hearing Joe Brolly on the Saturday Night Show a few weeks ago on about player burn out and injuries because of over training it made for a fascinating listen and really struck a chord. I’m having my fourth surgery in six years today in the Beacon hospital in Dublin. I put my body through the mill for club and county and played games that I really shouldn’t have, most notably in 1999, when my injury nightmare started.

I needed pain killing injections for every game for Mayo that year. It also ended up being my last year as an inter-county footballer. I had to retire at the tender age of 25. I have gone under the knife on eight occasions in total. For the last four operations I haven’t even been active in competitive sport, but needed the surgery just to get by in everyday life, walking is a struggle at the moment. Surgeons are baffled by my re-occurring condition which is called a “Morton’s Nueroma”. If you Google it you’ll find it’s a condition common in middle aged women who wear tight high heel shoes, so there’s another fetish out in the open, here’s hoping it gets sorted this time.

Mayo in battle to avoid the drop

Fri, Mar 27, 2015

The Mayo senior hurlers have two chances to avoid the drop to Division 3A of the National Hurling League over the next three weeks. On Sunday in Páirc Seán Mac Diarmada in Carrick-on-Shannon they will face Donegal in the Division 2B relegation play-off, if they win that game they will secure their status for next season. If they lose that game, they will then enter a promotion-relegation play-off against the winners of Division 3A in a final fling clash over the weekend of Saturday, April 11 and Sunday, April 12. The final of Division 3A is down for decision on Easter Saturday, April 4 when Tyrone and Monaghan meet in the title decider.

Minors take on Galway in third game in a week

Fri, Mar 27, 2015

The Mayo minors threw-in on their 2013 season last Saturday and tomorrow they will be in action in their third game in seven days. Enda Gilvarry’s charges will head to Tuam to take on Galway in the third round of the Connacht Minor League at 5pm tomorrow evening.

Mayo need to bounce back against Cork on Sunday

Fri, Mar 27, 2015

The Mayo minors threw-in on their 2013 season last Saturday and tomorrow they will be in action in their third game in seven days. Enda Gilvarry’s charges will head to Tuam to take on Galway in the third round of the Connacht Minor League at 5pm tomorrow evening.

Tribesmen end Mayo’s U21 adventure

Sat, Mar 21, 2015

Mayo’s search for back-to-back wins in the Connacht u21 football championship for the first time since 2009 will stretch into 2016 at least after the exited the competition at the semi-final stage on Saturday evening. In a game that wasn’t ill tempered Roscommon referee Paddy Neilan dished out three black-cards and late red card to Mayo’s Patrick Durcan, as Galway deservedly claimed their spot in the final against Roscommon in a fortnights time.

Mayo v Galway (Live)

Sat, Mar 21, 2015

Welcome to our live rolling coverage of this evenings meeting between Mayo and Galway in the Connacht u21 Football Championship semi-final in Elverys MacHale Park. 

Tribesmen stand in the way of final date for Mayo

Fri, Mar 20, 2015

Tomorrow evening in Elverys MacHale Park, Mayo will be looking to make it back into the Connacht u21 final for the first time since 2009 when they take on Galway in the provincial semi-final.

Coen’s Mayo need to win on Sunday

Fri, Mar 20, 2015

The Mayo senior hurlers slumped to their third straight defeat last Saturday, when Kildare put them to the sword in Newbridge. That defeat along with the two before at the hands of Meath and Down now have Mayo sitting second from bottom of the league table on two points, with just the winless Donegal below them.

Davitt girls go for glory

Fri, Mar 20, 2015

It has been a long road for the girls of Davitt College in Castlebar to get to tomorrow’s All Ireland final against Cross and Passion Secondary School, Kilcullen. This will be their eighth championship game this year, but their path to the final has been rooted in coming back from disappointments time after time over the past half-a-dozen years for most of their panel.

When everything goes wrong

Fri, Mar 20, 2015

I could not believe the crowd that turned up in Elverys McHale Park last Saturday evening, there was a lot more than the 13,500 recorded, I am guessing closer to 16,000. I do not imagine there was ever a bigger crowd for a National league game in Castlebar. Most championship matches would not attract such attention. What makes the support even more impressive was that the game was broadcast live on Setanta Sports and also that the Ireland and Wales game in the Six Nations would have meant a few would not have travelled.

No question Dublin and Mayo are the two best supported counties in GAA. When you consider there were just over two thousand to watch the Clare hurlers in Ennis (and they won the All-Ireland two short years ago) you have to credit both sets of supporters. The carnival atmosphere the Dubs bring unfortunately did not have the fairytale ending we were hoping for as they dished out a proper hiding to a lacklustre Mayo.

Masters put in good showing

Fri, Mar 20, 2015

Seven Mayo AC masters athletes competed in the National Masters Indoors Track and Field Championships last Sunday in the arena at Athlone IT. It was the second big event in the club's 2015 National calendar, having had a good contingent competing in Tuam last month in the Masters Cross Country. The first events went off at 11am and continued until 7pm - a hectic schedule due to record entries.

Ballina battle bravely but come up short

Fri, Mar 20, 2015

Despite a very brave effort in Monastery Field, Ballina came up just short on a scoreline of 12-11 against Connemara on Tuesday afternoon when they lost out to an injury time drop goal from the boot of Shane Sweeney which sealed the league title for the Gaeltacht All Blacks, but confirmed that Ballina will now have to battle for survival in Division 1A of the Connacht Junior League in the promotion/relegation play-off.

Ballina faced an almost impossible task if they wanted to avoid the play-off before the game even kicked off. On Sunday last Galwegians routed OLBC on a scoreline of 63-0 which left Ballina needing to win by 53 points against a side who needed either a win or a draw to claim the title. But the north Mayo outfit did not just throw their hat at the game and accept what was inevitable, they put it up to their hosts right to the death, and only for Sweeney’s last gasp kick, they would have won the game and handed the title to Moinvea.

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