Search Results for 'County Board'

When Anthony McGarry took over as manager of the Ballintubber team late last year, he did so from a position of considerable strength. They [Ballintubber] had just won their first county title, and not alone did McGarry get to manage a talented bunch of young men, he also inherited a team that knew how to maximise their playing strengths. He was then given the scope to evolve the team’s style of play by shifting away from the rear-loaded defensive strategy, employed to reasonable effect last year, to a more expansive attacking style this year.

A unique occasion will take place in Milebush Park on Saturday at 2.30pm when the Mayo Soccer Masters take on the Mayo GAA Masters for the Tony McHugh Memorial Cup. The Tony McHugh Memorial Cup is being presented by the Mayo Emigrants Liaison Committee, in appreciation for all the work that he did during his short life for numerous organisations, along with Kevin Bourke from Rehab and Joe O’Dea, manager of the Welcome Inn Hotel. Tony ran monthly dances for Irish people in London, so they had a contact place to meet other Irish emigrants, and in many cases acquired work. It is reckoned that Tony got hundreds of people jobs during the last recession.

Last Sunday’s county final, which ended all square, was certainly action-packed and full of incidents.

I managed to take in four of the five matches at McHale Park last weekend. The weather was particularly nice for football and I thoroughly enjoyed the majority of the action. I am partial to giving the GAA at administrative level the odd short-arm tackle over the way they do business when it comes to entrance fees to matches. No such complaints last weekend and I have to applaud the fact that the County Board decided an entrance fee of €10 to be an appropriate rate on both days. This represents excellent value for money, even in these economically depressed times. However when you consider that €20 gave you access to five games I was disappointed that the crowds did not flood into the venue over the weekend.

The hurling board has selected a committee to find the replacement for John McIntyre as county senior hurling manager.

Last weekend was certainly a good one on the sporting front.

In 2004 as All Ireland weekend approached the Mayo senior football management discussed the option of getting in a guest speaker to have a chat with the footballers before we lined out against Kerry. Certain individuals were suggested. . . the usual suspects from the various codes of sport. In recent times lots of teams have used big stars/names as they seek to gain the edge on match day. The likes of Roy Keane, Bernard Dunne and Keith Wood have all being invited to provide words of wisdom and reassurance on the eve of big matches. We invariably hear about the wonderful job these guys did if, and only if, the team manages to go on and achieve victory.

The clock is ticking down to hurling’s biggest day, and the hunt for those all-important tickets is once again underway.

I got a text last Sunday morning suggesting that Sunday’s result would be dictated by the free takers on either side because of the atrocious conditions. After our failure in this particular department in our two opening games of this year’s championship, I wasn’t exactly buzzing with confidence that we would win the match if it was to be decided in this way. But ultimately it was a very significant reason why Mayo were crowned champions last weekend. Mayo management passed the responsibility of free taking onto the young shoulders of Cillian O’ Connor. He was coolness personified throughout as he kicked eight out of nine frees in the match. Donie Shine on the other hand missed two crucial ones that could possibly have seen his team over the line.

On Wednesday night the revised Mayo GAA Strategic Plan was passed at a county board meeting bringing to an end a messy week inside of Mayo GAA. On Monday morning the Mayo GAA Strategic Action Plan committee, who had been brought in last year to steer the direction of the plan, released a statement disassociating themselves from the draft plan published by the county board which was passed on Wednesday night. The committee, which was chaired by Liam Horan, produced their report last February and it has been a hot topic of debate ever since in Mayo GAA circles.