Search Results for 'James Horan'

First there were five, now there are seven, in the hat to become the next Mayo senior football manager. Last weekend Mayo county secretary Seán Feeney confirmed to the Mayo Advertiser that the county board had received expressions of interest in the role from two outsiders in the position. Last Monday at a county board meeting those two outsiders were revealed to be former Dublin managers Tommy Carr and Tommy Lyons. Carr recently finished up a stint as Cavan manager, having previously managed Roscommon as well as Dublin. Lyons has also previously managed Offaly, winning a Leinster title in 1997, before taking over Dublin. Both men’s entry into the ring has heated up the competition for the role. But as John Maughan reveals in his exclusive Mayo Advertiser column this week, one other former inter-county manager would have liked to express his interest in the role, but didn’t because of distance he lives from Mayo.

The Mayo county board have received a number of expressions of interest in the position of Mayo senior football manager other than from those who where already in the public domain, the Mayo Advertiser has learned.

I know what it feels like to lose, having been there on several occasions throughout my sporting career. It never gets any easier and you just cannot prepare for it. I was in the losers’ enclosure with the Crossmolina football team again last Sunday, having come up short against Knockmore for the second year running. It is standard practice that the manager of a team would say a few words on such occasions and it is not an easy thing to do. I tell them that the hurt they are feeling can help to push them on for next season. The ugly feeling can propel them to greater heights if channelled in the right direction, and there is no point in apportioning blame on anyone or anything just now. It is not a time to be feeling sorry for themselves, but I can and do fully understand why they look so weary and broken-hearted. I tell them how proud I am of their efforts and in my eyes they are not losers. These lads prepared as professionally as any inter-county team. They are ordinary lads with ordinary jobs who made an extraordinary effort over the past eight months. Many postponed holidays, left building sites hours ahead of schedule to train with the club. I acknowledge that enormous effort, but at the same time I tell them that there are no guarantees in sport. Winning a county title does not come easy, irrespective of what people might think. I mention the enormous effort and sacrifices men made decades earlier just to get to see a football match never mind play in them. There is no point lamenting what might have been, but the preparation for next year must start now. It is important that young footballers continue to grow and develop and equally important that they do not give up after a defeat. Crossmolina are top of the league table with four games left and we will be doing our best to win that title. It is important that we do not throw away the opportunity to continue to progress.

The curtain came down on Mayo’s involvement in the All Ireland series last Sunday as Tony Duffy’s brave and battling minors bowed out in the All Ireland semi-final. But 62 days on from Pearse Park in Longford and their senior counterparts’ exit from the championship in the first round of the qualifiers, how far has the shaping of the future of Mayo football gone since just after 9.30pm in the underbelly of the stand in Pearse Park, when John O’Mahony announced that he was standing aside after four years?

Ballintubber v Ballina

There was plenty of anticipation in the Café Bar of the Royal Theatre last Tuesday night as the winners and losers of the senior, intermediate, and junior championship group stages gathered to find out their fates for the last weekend in August. Only those sides in the senior and intermediate championship which finished in the no-man’s-land of third place in their group had no interest in the draw, with quarter final and relegation pairings to be decided by the luck of draw from the hat (or Pyrex glass bowl in this case). With the draw about to begin, the unmistakable theme tune from the 1980s classic TV show and 2010 summer blockbuster flop The A-Team pierced the ears of those in attendance, but the errant ringing phone was quickly silenced as there was important business to be taken care of.

Following the penultimate weekend of action in the group stages of the Royal Theatre senior football championship seven of the eight quarter finalists have emerged. On Saturday evening, Ballina and Knockmore booked their places in the last eight draw. Knockmore topped section four with five points from their three games thanks to a 0-15 to 0-9 win over 2008 champions Ballaghaderreen. The east Mayo men now have to navigate their way through the relegation play offs to ensure they hold on to their senior status for next season. Ballinrobe who were drawn in the group of death for not the first time in recent history, had a great chance to make the quarter final going into the last round of games. They were a point ahead of Ballina and had a home draw against the Stephenites, but it was the north Mayo men who came out on top steam rolling to an easy 3-7 to 0-9 win over Norman O'Brien's side. The performance by Ballina was a fine tribute to the late mother of Paul McGarry who died earlier in the week.

For three of the four groups in this year’s Royal Theatre Mayo senior football championship it is D-day this weekend. With every group still in the melting pot it promises to be an exciting weekend of action across the county.

A week after one of the lowest ever ebbs of Mayo football, it’s back to home turf for all the players involved when the second round of the Royal Theatre football championships throws in this weekend across all three grades. The senior championship is where most eyes will be, last weekend the last round one game was played when Aghamore were able to pick up a win against Moy Davitts. In section one John Maughan’s Crossmolina will be hot favourites to see off Claremorris. The south Mayo men were given a hammering by Garrymore in the last round, and while Crossmolina were made sweat against Ballintubber in the last round they should have more than enough to win this one.

The Mayo senior and intermediate football championships kicked into life this weekend, with most sides getting to grips with the white heat of championship fare for the first time this season. The big surprise of the weekend occurred on Saturday evening when Norman O'Brien's Ballinrobe destroyed Ballaghaderreen in Charlestown. The south Mayo men pulled off a 1-11 to 0-5 win over the 2008 county champions and restricted them to a solitary point in the second half, Kenneth O'Malley also saved a penalty from Andy Moran in the game.