Search Results for 'Lee Keegan'

With just over a week to go until the All Ireland final throw in at Croke Park, the excitement around the county is slowly building up by the day. On Wednesday evening Mayo held their press night ahead of the final and James Horan was in confident mood that he will have a fully fit squad come Sunday week. When asked about those who were injured in the semi-final and their outlook, he said: “We’ve a couple of guys still on rehab programmes at the moment and are progressing very well and I’d be very confident in the next couple of days they’ll be raring to go.”

It is sometimes hard to remember that Cillian O'Connor is only in his second year out of minor football. Last years national young footballer of the year, stepped up in front of the Hill on Sunday and slotted free's and 45's over the bar like he was just out practicing shooting by himself in his native Ballintubber. Right from the off, O'Connor showed no sign of nerves effecting him at all when he stood up to take his first effort at a 45 early on. “Yeah, they’re not ideal, they’re not as easy as 14 yard frees but if you don’t love kicking ‘45s into the Hill on a sunny day in Croker, you’re playing the wrong game. I was excited, I couldn’t wait to get out there, I suppose they were two difficult ones but you have to want to take them and thank God they went over. I suppose they set me up then for the rest of the game, gave me a bit of confidence”

Mayo 0-19

It has taken a little over 210 minutes of championship football to get here. Leitrim, Sligo and Down all stood in the way, but were not up to the challenge. On Sunday things get very real, but this is what Mayo have been preparing for ever since the final whistle blew in the same venue in last year’s All Ireland semi-final against Kerry. They are back to where they want to be, their fourth championship game in a five game series they hope will end in victory and a place in the All Ireland final for the first time in six years and another crack at bringing Sam Maguire back to Mayo. But that is another battle to be fought at a later date, and all that will be on Mayo minds on Sunday is the game ahead of them.

Ballaghaderreen v Garrymore

Mayo 3-18

The group stages of the Mayo senior and intermediate championships came to an end on Sunday evening with some drama in group two and Ballinrobe will feel the hardest done by in the senior grade. Norman O'Brien's charges hit the ground running on the last weekend in May in round one, by going to Crossmolina and beating the Deel Rovers by 2-13 to 0-11. That result seemed to mark a transition with Ballinrobe on an upward curve and Crossmolina on the way down. But roll on to the second last weekend in July and it's the men from Crossmolina who are in the last eight, while Ballinrobe will have to go away and lick their wounds for another year.

I thought the Mayo team looked a little bit spooked last Sunday in Hyde Park and I really do not know why they appeared that way. Some might suggest that Conor Mortimer’s surprise departure from the squad placed a difficult burden on Mayo. I don’t believe it did. On the other hand I bumped into the Mayo manager in Castlebar last Saturday and could see he had the weary look of a man that had a belly-full of the Mortimer issue over the previous few days. I am sure he is sleeping a little more soundly since Sunday as his squad did just about enough to get over the line against a typically sticky Sligo challenge. As I stood to watch the presentation of the Nestor Cup, I engaged with a few Mayo supporters who were just as relieved that Mayo won the match. And I have to agree with their view which was that winning is the most important thing.

Mayo 0-12

The distraction of Wednesday’s news that Conor Mortimer has decided to leave the Mayo senior panel is the last thing that Mayo manager James Horan will have wanted ahead of Sunday’s Connacht final showdown with Sligo in Hyde Park. Horan’s side had only just been announced by the county board online and through traditional methods a matter of hours when news broke of Mortimer’s decision to leave the panel, bringing the eye of the national and local media on Mayo ahead of Sunday for reasons other than what happens on the field. Mortimer being the second member of the panel to make themselves unavailable for Mayo in a matter of weeks, following Robert Hennelly’s decision leave the panel due to work commitments a few weeks ago.