Search Results for 'All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final'

Roscommon's All-Ireland U21 football champions of 1966 are guests of honour at the 2016 Connacht senior and minor finals in Pearse Stadium on Sunday.

It is Enda Gilvarry's fourth year in charge of the Mayo minors and on Wednesday night he guided a third batch of minors to the provincial decider in those four years with a big win over Leitrim in Carrick-on-Shannon, but there is still plenty work to do he said afterwards. "There was some good and some bad, it's fantastic and great for the players, a great opportunity now over the next number of weeks to prepare and we're into an All Ireland quarter final. We will need to improve in a lot of aspects of the game to compete in the Connacht final and then in an All Ireland quarter-final, but it's great to have an opportunity to do that. We're all really looking forward to that, you can see it in their reaction after the game that they are delighted."

When a cool head was needed as things looked like they might be about to fall apart right at the end, the man who was making his 132 appearance for Mayo equalling James Nallen’s record number who steadied the ship and calmed the nerves with a brilliantly taken point. Andy Moran’s score three minutes into injury time pushed Mayo back into a two point lead after Donal O’Hare’s brilliantly taken goal had brought the Mourne county men right back into the game and had Mayo hearts racing and fingers checking twitter feeds to see how things were developing elsewhere.

With Mayo booking their place in the All Ireland semi-final for the fifth time in a row last Saturday with a win over Donegal, all roads lead to Croke Park on Sunday August 30 for what promises to be an enthralling encounter with Dublin in the final four showdown. With ticket demand for the game expected to be at fever pitch levels, the Mayo GAA county board has announced its ticketing details for the big game.

Not long after captaining Mayo to their fifth All Ireland semi-final in as many years, Keith Higgins reflected on what had just happened out on the field of action in Croke Park. The swashbuckling Mayo number four had scored one point and been part of a new look Mayo defensive set up that nullified Donegal's main attacking threats over the 70 minutes on the field. "Satisfying is one word, I would suppose. I don't know how you would describe it to be honest" was his initial reaction when asked to describe what had just happened.

Fresh from putting in a man of the match performance, the first thing asked of Lee Keegan in the concrete catacombs under Croke Park as he waited to board the bus following Mayo's win over Donegal last Saturday night was, had he meant to go for goal when he scored Mayo's second and vital third pointer just after the break. "Absolutley, there's no debate and I'll take it to my grave if I have to," smiled the Westport powerhouse.

My first permanent teaching post was at St Gerald’s College, Castlebar, 20 years ago this September. And having taught in the county for eight years, I appreciate the ravenous and deep rooted desire that exists there for a senior All-Ireland success. The school principal at the time was big Brother Thomas Durnin from the De La Salle Order, and he asked me to bring the Sam Maguire Cup down in 1998. The reaction of the older members of staff was revealing. They would take the canister. Look at it, and then hand it over quickly, with a certain amount of disdain, muttering something like; “I don’t want it. Or want to touch it, unless we have won it ourselves.” 

Mayo qualified for a mouth-watering All-Ireland semi final with Dublin after an emphatic and clinical display against Donegal in the quarter final. I’m not going to lie, I was worried about this one, and I wasn’t sure how Mayo would cope against a team with 14 or 15 players constantly behind the ball. It’s very easy to get the life sucked out you playing against such tactics; in this regard Mayo were superb.

Mayo got over their heartbreaking loss to Galway in the Connacht final with a 24 point win over Tyrone in their qualifier game a few weeks ago, while Mayo were totally dominant in that game, the return to action of Claire Egan after missing the whole league campaign and the championship up to that was one of the most pleasing things for Mayo manager Frank Browne.