Captain’s and President’s prizes take centre stage

Fri, Jul 04, 2014

Balla
Last weekend’s men’s competition was won by Stephen Walsh who shot 55 nett to hold off Eamon Donnellan in second place. The gross prize was won by Bert Eagleton with Aodan McSuibhnie finishing in third place. The ladies’ competition was won by Marian Gormley who scored 52 nett, Delia O’Hara finished in second place, with Mary B O’Donnell in third place, and Marie Flanagan winning the gross prize. Lady Captain Patricia Conwell will host her Captain’s Day competition this Sunday July 6.

Is it time for a two tier championship?

Fri, Jul 04, 2014

The World Cup has reached the quarter final stages, Wimbledon has almost reached its climax, yet the Provincial finals in the GAA championships have yet to yield their winners despite starting two months ago. When you think how fast these other tournaments are run off it makes you feel for the inter county players with the long drawn out season with gaps of up to six weeks between games. None of the big hitters has been eliminated in the football championship, and before you say what about Derry, they were never going to win the All-Ireland. One team I felt may be able to put it up to Dublin, physically anyway, was Monaghan. They are lucky to be still in the Ulster championship and they have no greater incentive to win their replay with Armagh than avoiding a replay against Tyrone in the qualifiers. Monaghan more than likely felt great about themselves after beating Tyrone, and clearly took their eye off the ball playing against Armagh, while probably looking ahead to an Ulster final repeat against Donegal without actually having qualified for it. They got the wake up call necessary and I am sure they will win the replay.

Westport just keep on winning

Fri, Jul 04, 2014

Outside the Box was off last week. But some things don’t change, and Westport United kept on winning, making it ten out of ten so far in the Elverys Sports Super League. I don’t know if any bookmakers are giving odds on the men from the Sportspark going through the whole season with a 100 per cent record, never mind unbeaten, but if they are they are surely shrinking with each week that goes by. This weekend they will make the trip to Charlestown Athletic to take on a side who have more than held their own with the rest of the league this season, and picked up their fourth win last time out with a 1-0 win over Fahy Rovers in Moneen. But when these sides met in round three of the league back at the tail end of April, Westport United ran out 7-2 winners with a side that was shorn of many of their biggest names.

Defending champions Ballina Town fell to their fourth defeat of the season when they coughed up a two goal lead away to Straide and Foxford United last weekend, to lose out 3-2. It’s the second time this year the men in tangerine have beaten their northern neighbours, putting a dent in their title defence. On Saturday evening, Straide and Foxford United will make the trip to Castlebar to face Castlebar Celtic in a game that could see the Hoops pull four points clear of their guests if they pick up the win. Celtic had a big 7-3 win over Moy Villa last weekend, with Jason Hunt scoring a goal for the ages for the Hoops by all accounts. Celtic have two games in hand on the league leaders from down the road, but even if they manage to win those games they’ll still be nine points behind Westport United in the table. If Celtic were not distracted by their Connacht Cup final appearance at the start of the domestic season, “Could they have made a stronger challenge for the title?” is a question that many will be mulling over. But with the Mayo League preferring summer soccer and most other leagues going for winter football, it is a clash that will continue to arise for teams who are successful in out of Mayo competition.

Board working well with management team - Horan

Fri, Jul 04, 2014

Mayo manager James Horan said this week that his players and management have not wanted for anything from the county board during his tenure and they have a very good working relationship. Speaking this week he said, “I’ve been in this job four years and to be honest, the players and the management have not wanted for anything really from the county board. I know, no more than the managment team, they can get a lot flack and abuse. We’ve had our ups and downs for sure, but we’ve worked very, very well. Vincent Neary has come in and is exceptional and works very well with us. So overall, very happy with the relationship with the county board. Everyone has to be pointing the one way for a unit to be successful, but we’re getting there.”

Minors take advantage to book Connacht final spot

Sun, Jun 29, 2014

It was never going to be an easy assignment for Enda Gilvarry's new batch of Mayo minors, opening their championship account against a well fancied Galway side in the home of Galway football in Tuam Stadium. John Donnellan's side came into the game on the back of having already had a championship game under their belt against Sligo last weekend and a growing reputation.

Gilvarry was happy to have got out of Tuam with the victory

Sun, Jun 29, 2014

Over in the far corner of the field in Tuam on Saturday evening, the Mayo minor panel were involved in their warm down, while the Galway panel stood and sat around on the grass wondering what had just happened. The Mayo minor manager, Enda Gilvarry was just after watching his side battle their way to what looked a times to be an improbable victory and was a happy man. “Heart stopping stuff again” were the first words out of his mouth when asked his feelings on the game. It's the second year in a row his minor team have seen off Galway in dramatic fashion in the Connacht championship, as for him being worried in the build up to the game, Gilvarry was honest about having some fears. “To be honest, I was worried coming, Galway are an extremely good team, they were playing on their home patch, they took the game to us and really showed us up. I think the fact that they had a game last week was a benefit to them. It took us a long time to settle by when we did, we were there or there abouts. But we had to pull back a fairly significant lead.”

Summer series gets under way at Mayo AC

Fri, Jun 27, 2014

The Mayo Athletic Club have opened its summer 5k series.

Huge medal haul for Mayo Special Olympics team at ‘electric’ games in Limerick

Fri, Jun 27, 2014

Medals aplenty were returned to Mayo from the Special Olympics National Games in Limerick.

No room for error when Mayo minors face Galway

Fri, Jun 27, 2014

There is no backdoor for the Mayo minors to make a return if they fail to beat Galway tomorrow evening in Tuam in the semi-finals of the Connacht Minor Football Championship.

Mayo’s know-how and superior strength will show

Fri, Jun 27, 2014

As I expected, Galway qualified for the Connacht final after a somewhat facile victory over Sligo in the semi-final in Markievicz Park last weekend.

It still took them until the 60th minute to put the game to bed to set up a July 13 final against Mayo in Castlebar.

Mitchels lay down a marker in round two

Sun, Jun 22, 2014

The second round of games in the Treanlaur Catering Mayo Senior Football Championship saw plenty of action and excitement over the last two days. The defending champions, Castlebar Mitchels laid down another marker of their intentions to retain their title with a top drawer display against the former star attractions of the competition Crossmolina Deel Rovers in MacHale Park on Sunday afternoon in group one. The county town men rand out 2-22 to 1-5 winners showing little hospitality for their guests on the field. Mitchels hit an impressive 1-11 in each half of the game and went in leading 1-11 to 0-1 at the break as their powered through the Crossmolina defence at will. The Mitchels were superior in every area of the field with their inter-changeable attack and midfield players running riot against a weakened Deel Rovers side.

Who will Mayo face in three weeks’ time?

Fri, Jun 20, 2014

By Ray Silke
Galway are hot favourites tomorrow night to beat Sligo up in Markievicz Park (7pm) in the Connacht semi-final. However, the question that has to be asked, is why?

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