Search Results for 'Jason Doherty'

The battle to be the next intermediate champions heats up on Sunday as the championship reaches the quarterfinal stage, with eight teams left battling it out to follow in the footsteps of last year's champions Westport.

Now that the dust has settled on the inter-county season for another year attention turns back to the local scene this weekend with the double header of replays in the Mayo Junior Football Championship on Saturday evening announcing the return to local action. The action will get under way at 6pm with the meeting of Ballycastle and Kilmeena, followed by the clash of Balla and Achill at 7.30pm.

Sometimes it’s not about being the better team, it’s about finding ways to win games when you are probably second best on the day. Dublin were able to do that, they were able to get themselves over the line right at the end when it mattered most and they claimed their third All Ireland title in a row.

Did you ever consider how many miles it would be to fly from Castlebar to Boston? It is very doubtful that sort of random thought came into your head. Do you follow Mayo around the country religiously to every senior game home and away? Well if you’re from Castlebar and take MacHale Park as your starting point for each of those journeys this season, then you will probably have travelled about 120 more miles than it is by air from Castlebar to Boston, by the time you get home from Sunday’s All Ireland final. Crazy as it seems, these are the lengths Mayo fans go to.

"We’ll be competitive and we’ll be looking for a performance every day that we go out and we can be honest in ourselves and we did ourselves and the county proud and we’re going the right direction towards what our goals will be.” That's what Stephen Rochford said back in December 2015 — two days after he was appointed Mayo manager. While there have been days when things haven't quite gone to plan they have always been "honest" in themselves as a team and that's what has brought them to where they are right now, 70 minutes away from their final goal.

All-Ireland final fever is here. I still have to pinch myself to contemplate that Mayo are back in the football showpiece again. Looking at Mayo's run to the final you'd almost forget that it started against Sligo in Castlebar on May 21. The ticket fiasco is still the same, however, with most Mayo folk willing to beg, borrow, or steal to get their hands on that elusive golden ticket. Some novel efforts took to Tinder looking for a female acquaintance, the only catch was they had to have a spare ticket for the game. The most desperate are offering their spouses in return for a match day pass, it's all part of the fun, it's all part of the build up.

This win wasn’t lucky, it wasn’t by chance, it came about through sheer hard-work, believe in themselves and by playing some breathtaking football. It has taken Mayo 21-years to beat Kerry again in the football championship, but the jubilant Mayo faithful - who roared on their hero’s from the first minute to last, know that there is still a big job to do in three weeks time. But that doesn’t mean that this game is not to be savoured.

There have been plenty of talk and plaudits for the attacking return for the Mayo full forward line of 1-10, 1-9 of it coming from play against Kerry last Sunday. While he only registered 0-1 of that total, the influence that Burrishoole's Jason Doherty had on Mayo's ability to get scores was far more influential than a scoreboard analysis will show at first glance.

Dear me, not again. The winners of this year’s Sam Maguire will have their name etched on the famous trophy but there is absolutely no doubt Mayo’s 2017 championship campaign will command the most paragraphs in the championship 2017 yearbook. Bizarre does not even go close to explaining it. Mayo supporters again travelled in their tens of thousands clogging the N5 and N4 all the way to the capital from early morning. It is very obvious that football is more important than Christmas for the supporters of the green and red who now have to contend with a ninth championship game in 2017 after another heart stopping semifinal clash with Kerry in Croke Park. They will not have a cent left for the festive period.

There’s no easy way to win an All Ireland, and boy are Mayo doing it the hard way. It’s back to headquarters on Saturday for another swing at Kerry as the look to book an All Ireland final date in Croke Park in September.