Search Results for 'David Heaney'

With the front door closed by Galway after the Connacht final, Mayo go in search of squeezing themselves through the back door starting with Tyrone tomorrow afternoon. The two-time All Ireland champions, who were kicked to touch at the quarter-final stage of the Ulster championship by Down and have come through the first two rounds of the qualifiers, seeing off Louth and a 13-man Westmeath side last weekend, to arrive in Croke Park with a bit of steam built up.

McHale Park will get its first airing this season on Sunday when the All Ireland champions Tyrone come to town for the final round of the Allianz National Football League. Mayo will be looking to pick up where they left off against Galway in Tuam Stadium a fortnight ago, where a stunning second half performance saw John O’Mahony’s side overturn a six point half time deficit to squeeze past Galway by a single point and secure a one point win. The win leaves O’Mahony’s side in fourth place in the division one table on six points, equal on points with Mickey Harte’s side. A draw on Sunday would ensure both sides’ status in division one for next season, but a defeat coupled with a high scoring win by Dublin over an already relegated Westmeath and a win by Donegal over Derry could drag either side back into the bottom two of a very tight division one table.

For what it’s worth, and irrespective of what you might have heard on the streets since, I didn’t meet a single person who believed that Mayo would beat Galway before last Sunday’s game in Tuam. That is why that one point victory had people giddy with excitement after the match. It was an incredible result. Let’s be honest here for a minute. The form shown in Ballina exactly one week earlier against a mediocre Dublin outfit was to say the least very ordinary. Yet here, a week later, 14 of that very same starting 15 are brimming with confidence after taking the scalp of the form team of 2009. It’s not too difficult to analyse the reasons for the victory. Put the maroon and white of Galway in front of a green and red jersey and you have a different attitude and approach to the whole occasion. Clearly it’s a mindset. There is no doubt that there would have been lots of smiles, not to mention a bounce in the step of all who participated in the morale boosting victory last weekend. Because the win is worth an awful lot more than the two points on offer that more or less saw Mayo scramble away from the relegation zone and into mid- table that will surely guarantee Mayo division one football next year. This victory reminded everyone that the age-old rivalry that exists between these two teams is very much alive and well. Long may it continue! Both sides just love having a go at one another, out on the pitch and extending into the terraces too.

We are officially up and running now, with the championship opening in 16 days on another continent all that we were waiting for was the 30 names who would make up the championship panel for 2009. When the list was announced on Sunday evening there were no major surprises as John O’Mahony and his backroom team set out their stall for the summer. As was widely expected James Nallen, Keith Higgins, David Heany, and Trevor Howley were all included in the panel despite none of them taking part in the league campaign. In total 22 of those picked for last year’s squad at the same stage of the year were selected again this year, with the likes of Colm Boyle, James Gill, and Michael Mullins all not making the cut this time around. While the veterans Nallen and Heany were included Aidan Higgins, whom many thought might have got the nod, was not selected despite lining out in a recent challenge match against Offaly in Castlebar.

It all starts here on Sunday at 3pm local time (8pm at home), the All Ireland senior football championship in its celebratory 125th year gets under way with the footballers of Mayo taking to the field in Gaelic Park, roughly 3,047 miles from home in McHale Park, Castlebar.

I am confused as to the real potential of this Mayo team. I can’t honestly say how good this team is, as I doubt they have ever played an easier inter-county match in their lives, nor will they play an easier one ever again. I suggested here in this paper last week that I fully expected Roscommon to put it up to Mayo for 40 minutes or so but that ultimately Mayo’s greater fitness, ability, and general know how, would surface and they would pull away from Roscommon in the last 30 minutes possibly winning by 5/6 points. As you now know we won by 20! I had alluded to Roscommon’s morale-boosting victory over Leitrim a few weeks earlier that would have seen them arrive in Castlebar full of hope and brimming with confidence. I met a few of their supporters before the match in the Sportlann who had the audacity to suggest that they were in fact well capable of beating this particular Mayo team, and for me not to be one bit surprised if they pulled off a famous victory. Oh how wrong they were. This was arguably the worst performance from a senior Roscommon team in a championship encounter that I or many others have ever witnessed. Fergal O’Donnell, the messiah who had guided the county to their historic minor All Ireland victory in 2006, was in charge and their supporters were giddy with excitement and expectancy. Eleven of that minor squad were involved in one way or another last Saturday and they appeared to be relaxed and in confident mood as I watched them go through their paces in the warm up on the back pitch a half hour before the game.

Mayo 2-12

I paid a visit to Anthony Finnerty’s hostelry in lower Salthill before the game last Sunday. There was a great buzz about the place with plenty of Mayo supporters popping in for the crack and banter before the short hop over to Pearse Stadium. One of the first people I met on arrival was PJ Kelly from Moygownagh. He is a great passionate football man and was eagerly seeking everyone’s opinion as to who they thought would win the game. “Would we win it? Are we good enough to win it”? I got the impression that PJ was happy with the answers coming from the gathering and would have left for the stadium pretty confident that Mayo would win their first provincial title since 1967 at the city venue. If I am to be perfectly honest here I have to admit that I found it very difficult to predict the outcome in advance of Sunday’s game. I know from experience that Galway v Mayo encounters take on a life of their own and the form book goes out the window when these two sides meet. Irrespective of form coming into a championship encounter, there is rarely more than a point or two separating these two great rivals. Galway looked so ordinary against Sligo a few weeks ago that punters could have been forgiven for believing that this would be a relatively ‘handy’ match for the Mayo boys. Mayo, on the other hand, looking hugely impressive when carrying out a demolition job on Roscommon in the semi-final. I suggested, prior to the game, that our poor run of results in Pearse Stadium in recent decades would be a factor. Because of that I felt we would have to be five or six points a better team than Galway to beat them in a venue where we hadn’t won a provincial championship since 1967.

After Kerry hammering the lard out of Dublin last Monday it is difficult to predict any victors now with any huge degree of confidence.

Meath 2-15