Search Results for 'Diarmuid O'Connor'

The real stuff starts now. Losing to Galway wasn't ideal - but it has taken Mayo as many games through the back door to get to the same stage as the newly minted Connacht champions.

On paper and in the hours before the build-up, this game seemed to have it all. Two sides with a storied rivalry going back before the foundation of the state; both with much to prove after their last outings up in the big city, now meeting on a sun-splashed day that looked like July even if it still had the nip of Spring in the air when a cloud circled overhead and 25,000 partisan fanatics packed in to watch battle on the freshly laid turf in the old colosseum on MacHale Road.

They could have forced it to extra time at the death, when Aiden Orme took aim from the stand side of the field and kicked for a point but his effort tailed just wide of the target and from Connor Gleeson’s kick-out David Coldrick blew the final whistle.

There's nothing quite like a Mayo versus Galway championship encounter to whet the appetite for championship football. Rivalries have come and gone in other provinces, the likes of Meath and Dublin in Leinster and Cork and Kerry in Munster are no longer as appealing as they once were because of the dominance and stranglehold that Dublin and Kerry possess within their provinces.

The real stuff starts now. The league is a thing of the past, put away neatly in a box until early next year. it's championship time and while the Easter Eggs may still be lingering around the house ready to be finished off, Sunday is the start of a new main course and there are few tastier ones than Mayo and Galway in the championship.

Mayo go to Croke Park on Sunday, looking to claim a 13th National Football League title when they take on Kerry in the competition decider.

Over the years most of Mayo's league campaigns in division one have required last round victories and even last ditch equalisers to keep the green and red in the top tier of football.

Mayo find themselves joint top of division one of the national league alongside Kerry and Armagh on five points after a fully deserved and encouraging win against an out-of-sorts Dublin in round three.

After last weekends downing of Dublin in Croke Park, there is little respite for Mayo as they take on one of the form teams so far in this years National Football League on Sunday.

Mayo picked up their first win over Dublin in the league in a decade and first in the capital in since the 1970s with a comprehensive victory over their old foes on Saturday night.