Search Results for 'Keith Higgins'

The All Ireland quarterfinal is where Mayo wanted to be when the season threw in and they have got back there, they have taken a somewhat more circuitous route than they would have hoped, but that goal has been achieved. Mayo's championship form has been patchy all year, no more so than last weekend when they mixed the good with the bad, but they still got the result if not the full performance, they wanted to get there.

Mayo made hard work of progressing to the last eight of the championship against Westmeath in Croke Park on Saturday afternoon, despite leading by 12 points at one stage early on.

Mayo put in their best 70 minutes of football under Stephen Rochford's watch to easily account for Kildare in their third round qualifier in sun drenched Elverys MacHale Park last Saturday. There is no question it had to have been the most relaxing 70 minutes Rochford has had since he took over the reins. The opposition has to be taken into account however. Kildare are no longer a force in football, they struggle to beat division four teams, they are probably the fifth best team in a Province that has only one decent team, but as the saying goes Mayo can only beat what is put in front of them.

Mayo will be heading back to Croke Park next Saturday when they face Westmeath in the final round of the qualifiers with a place the last eight up for grabs. Keith Higgins was out to meet the press this week ahead of the game and he's looking forward to getting back to GAA HQ next weekend. "That's where everyone wants to play, we're delighted to get back there and hopefully and we'll have another day out there."

Was it a penalty? Probably not looking at the replays, but Aidan O’Shea has been fouled and dragged down enough times in his inter-county career and not gotten a free he deserved, some day a break was going to have to go his way.

Meetings between Mayo and Fermanagh have not been the most regular of clashes down through the years, you have to go back nine years for the last time the sides met in serious competition, and four years further for their last meeting in the qualifiers. The last time that Mayo tussled with Fermanagh in competitive action was way back in March 2007, when they squared off in the league in March of that year in Clones. Mayo ran out 0-12 to 0-7 winners that day, of the team that started for Mayo nine years ago, only three of them survive in the panel now, with Keith Higgins the only one who started in Clones on the starting 15 for Mayo's last game against Galway. Higgins lined out at corner back in that game, while both Alan Dillon and Andy Moran were in the full-foward line for a John O'Mahony managed team that was guided home to victory due in no small part to a six point return from Conor Mortimer over the hour.

There's no more room for error for the Mayo seniors of 2016, after five successive Connacht titles, rather than looking forward to a Sunday afternoon showdown for the Nestor Cup, they are back on the chicken and chips circuit of the qualifiers for the first time in six years looking to rebuild their fortunes on the backstreets of the championship. The first step in moving from those backstreets to the main streets is tomorrow afternoon when they host a dangerous visitor from Ulster at 3.30pm

There is so much going on in the sporting world it's hard to keep up. The football championship is in full swing, the Euros are around the corner, the passing of Muhammad Ali has grabbed all the front and back pages and then there is the not so small matter of the Mayo hurling team's fantastic win in the Nicky Rackard Cup last Saturday evening in Croke Park. Things look very rosy in the Mayo GAA world and we are still only in the second week in June and yet we have two national titles in the bag.

After the historic high of climbing the steps of the Hogan Stand last Saturday afternoon and lifting the Nicky Rackard Cup, it's back to even more serious business tomorrow for the Mayo senior hurlers. Unlike the Christy Ring Cup, winning the competition does not guarantee you promotion to the next level of the senior hurling championship, so it's back on the road again for Mayo and a date with Derry in Ballinamore in Leitrim for the right to have a place in the draw for the Christy Ring Cup next season.

Last Tuesday night most of the teachers who are involved in Extra-Curricular activities during the school year at The Jes on Sea Road in Galway city where we teach, went out for a bite to eat and a few beverages in An Pucán just off Eyre Square.