Search Results for 'Martin Flanagan'

“It’s off the mark, it wasn’t spectacular, it’s a win at the end of a difficult week with all the injuries and uncertainty.” John O’Mahony cut a happy figure outside the Mayo dressing room on Sunday after he watched his side see off Westmeath with ease. The two points on the board was the most important thing on an afternoon where conditions dictated that the game would never move above the mediocre in quality for long periods. Mayo were struck with a number of injuries going into the game and O’Mahony is confident most will be back in the reckoning by the time Mayo make the trip to Kerry this weekend. “I’d hope they would, Ger Cafferkey it’s not a serious injury but we didn’t want to take any chances, Pat Harte would have been OK to go in there, but we decided to hold him so we could get another week’s training into him. Barry Moran’s injury was a bad hamstring pull and it could be a long one. Billy Joe Padden, maybe he’ll be back, it was a very bad dead leg he got in the challenge match last week, at least we have another week to buy with them and see. Alan Dillon will be fine, he could have almost started but the extra week will do him good.”

With both club and county championships up and running for the past few weeks, it is an opportune time to cast an eye over the likely winners and losers for the year ahead. Whether you like a small flutter or just a fantasy bet, here are my predictions, for what they’re worth. It’s worth bearing in mind that I’ll probably put the blight on my chosen teams.

Killucan 3-07

Meath 0-18

The long wait is over. Championship football is upon us. After a dismal league campaign, Tomas O’Flatharta’s men will be hoping to give their faithful supporters something to cheer about come Sunday evening. O’Connor Park Tullamore, a happy hunting ground for Westmeath over the past decade, is the venue for the Leinster quarter-final clash with Wicklow with a 2pm throw-in.

Dublin 4-26

The question on everybody’s lips ahead of this weekend’s showdown is whether or not Tomas O’Flatharta’s men can rise to the challenge and lower the mighty Dubs. Croke Park is the venue, with a 4pm throw-in for the Leinster semi-final clash. At stake is a place in the Leinster final against the winner of Kildare and Laois, and a crack at winning a second-ever Leinster title.

Westmeath’s All-Ireland campaign came to a premature end on Saturday evening at the hands of Meath in a wet and windswept Cusack Park, on a scoreline of 1-15 to 1-5.

Last weekend’s action on the playing fields means that the football championships on either side of the Shannon have reached the quarter-final stages. While a lot of football has yet to be played before any silverware is handed out, things have become a lot clearer, now that we have reached the knock-out stage.

With the Westmeath senior club championship now having reached the knockout stages we are in for some serious action this weekend. Garrycastle and Corralstown/Kinnegad are both already safely through to the semi-finals. Their opposition in the semis will be decided over the course of this weekend. Maryland face a challenging outing against Tyrrellspass in Lakepoint Park on Saturday at 7.15pm while Mullingar Shamrocks and St Loman’s go head to head in a must-see tie in Cusack Park on Sunday at 6.15pm.