Search Results for 'McHale Park'

It’s like waiting for a bus, you wait for ages with none coming and then two come at once in the Mayo club championships. After last weekend’s fixture load of quarter finals at different grades, this weekend sees a patchwork affair of games across the levels. From a senior semi-final right down through senior and intermediate relegation play offs to action in the junior championship. There are 10 games of serious note this weekend to keep everyone entertained.

Castlebar Town Council withdrew part of the planning permission for McHale Park at its monthly meeting last Thursday. The meeting, which was attended by a large number of the residents of McHale Road, but not by members of the Mayo County Board, saw a motion put forward by independent councillor Frank Durcan and seconded by fellow independent councillor and Mayor of the town Michael Kilcoyne passed by six votes to three in the chamber.

This weekend sees the Mayo senior club championships reach the last quarter final stage with all eight sides left in the competition having realistic chances of making the last four of the competition. The action gets under way in the senior championship on Saturday evening in Castlebar, which will host two more games on Sunday, with the fourth clash of the round taking place in Ballina on Sunday afternoon.

I arrived home last Sunday evening from McHale Park exhausted after our championship match against Ballaghaderreen. Anyone involved in team management might understand what I am talking about here. Championship football really does sap the energy and those on the sideline, more often than not, end up suffering greater fatigue than those who actually play the game. It’s hard to explain, but the adrenaline starts to pump, in my case, as early as the Saturday morning, the day before the game. Our pre- match routine involved us meeting up as a group in Crossmolina at 11am for a kick about and a team meeting. It is at this time, when we began to discuss and analyse the strengths and perceived weaknesses of the opposition that the butterflies started to flutter.

There is no shortage of action this weekend on the GAA scene in Mayo with the county senior championship, intermediate championship, and Minor A championship finals taking centre stage.

If you go by tradition alone then Kiltimagh will go into Sunday’s county junior final as hot favourites, but that won’t bother Ardnaree. If you follow that logic then Ardnaree have it all to gain and nothing to loose, but somehow you can’t imagine that they see that they have nothing to lose. The prize of a place in next year’s intermediate championship and the chance to winter the junior crown in their town is something that will make sure both sides leave everything on the field in McHale Park on Sunday.

It was third time lucky for Ciaran McBrien’s men last Sunday as they claimed the Moclair Cup thanks to a three point win over Knockmore in the county senior final. The east Mayo men were deserving winners over an injury hit side from north Mayo who lacked the killer punch up front denied to them by the absence of Aidan Kilcoyne and Damien Munnelly, but that is of little worry to Charlestown who went out and did what they had to do. David ‘Ginger’ Tiernan rolled back the years with a tireless display in the middle of the field which saw him rightfully rewarded with a man of the match trophy after the game but good performances from the likes of Richard Haran which saw him score four points, John Casey in goal who pulled off a few good saves one late on when Knockmore were battling for a goal to save the tie and substitute Brian O’Connell who offered them something different in attack when they needed it, during the final scuffles saw them over the line. And after the celebrations died down this week, attention will turn to the Connacht Club championship, a competition the east Mayo men won the last time they were county champions back in 2001.

Kiltimagh claimed the Connacht Junior Championship in Charlestown on Sunday afternoon after a hard fought 0-11 to 0-10 win over An Spidéal from Galway after extra time. In the club's 121st year it was Adrian Forkan who was the hero for Mick Regan's men, Forkan landed a point from over 40 yards out to seal the win for the east Mayo men. Kiltimagh looked to have the game under control early on and led by 0-5 to 0-3 at the break, but the Galway men came back at them and Brian Gallagher had to score a late point to level the game up at 0-9 each at the end of normal time.

During a discussion on the development row at McHale Park at last week’s Castlebar Town Council meeting, Mayor Michael Kilcoyne told the meeting that he was disgusted that the council did not seek to get a High Court injunction following the breach of a warning notice issued by the council.

There were plenty of Christmas decorations in the Castlecourt Hotel last Monday night, but there was a lack of Christmas cheer from some corners of the convention. The show kicked off with a hour-long debate between the members of Moygownagh and Ardagh and the top table over the issue of voting rights. Both clubs had combined together to play in this year’s junior championship, but both clubs were still under the impression that they would retain voting rights as individual clubs at the convention. They were told by the county board they would not, as to have a vote at convention all clubs have to have played at least one championship game during the past year, but since only Ardmoy (the combined team) had played Ardmoy would get three votes between the two clubs.