Search Results for 'Michael Conroy'

Once Monaghan had ended Donegal’s three-in-a-row Ulster championship dreams in St Tiernach’s Park in Clones, a couple of hours after Mayo had wrapped up their own hat-trick of provincial titles, this Sunday’s quarter-final pairing was the one that the neutral and plenty of non-neutrals wanted to see come out of the hat. And so it came to pass, not long after 8.30pm last Saturday, the gods conspired to set up a rematch of last year’s All Ireland final, with Cavan man Joe McQuillan the man brokering the peace in the middle of the two packs.

Mayo 5-11

For a few years it looked like Colm Boyle might be joining the long list of players who could have been, but never really quite made it. The 26-year-old Davitts defender was part of the All Ireland winning u21 team in 2006 and in 2008 made his championship debut against Sligo, but not long after he was gone off the inter-county scene, probably not to be seen again.

The final round of group games in both the Treanlaur Catering Senior Football Championship and the Egan Jewellers Intermediate Football Championships took place last weekend. In the senior championship, the defending county champions Ballaghaderreen were held to their second draw so far this year in the championship, when Ballinrobe engaged them in a 0-20 to 2-14 shootout — alas for the south Mayo men it was not enough for them as Garrymore’s win over Aghamore saw them through with Ballagh’ into the last eight.

The dust has just about settled on the group stages of the Mayo championship and there is never a weekend that goes by that you are not intrigued or partly shocked by some of the results. I’m not quite the expert tipster I thought I was- our east Mayo friends in Aughamore let me down (Jimmy Killeen- the lethal Garrymore forward bagging himself eight points) along with Tomas Tierney’s Westport who failed to deliver on their promising victory in Tourmakeady.

The second weekend in July is where the hopes and dreams will end for eight teams in both the Mayo senior and intermediate football championships. For those who finish bottom of their groups, the task of dragging themselves back up for a relegation fight lies in store, while those who find themselves in the no-man’s land of third place in their groups will at least know they will be back to have another crack at it next year. In the senior championship this weekend, everything is up for grabs. In group one Castlebar Mitchels are leading the pack with two wins from two, while Breaffy and Crossmolina are both on two points, with the west Mayo men in front on head to head results and Davitts taking up the rear. The county town team will host Crossmolina on Saturday evening, and it is very hard to see anything but a home win for Pat Holmes' side, who put Breaffy to the sword last time out and a serious dent in the blues’ title ambitions. The other game in the group sees Declan Reilly's Breaffy make the tough trip to the borderline to take on Pete Warran's Davitts. This time last year both sides also met in the group stages, with Davitts winning out and sending Breaffy into the relegation play-offs. Apart from the Castlebar game, Breaffy have looked very impressive this year seeing off Ballintubber, Ballina, and Castlebar in the league, and Crossmolina in the opening championship game. They go into the game knowing that a win should see them through, unless Crossmolina better Breaffy’s win by at least six points in beating Castlebar. But getting that win is a big if, and Breaffy know they will have to be on top form on Saturday evening to make that happen. Davitts named Michael Conroy in their squad for their last championship game and if the Mayo sharpshooter is fit to play, he will be a massive boost to Davitts’ chances on Saturday evening. It promises to be a tough and uncompromising battle and if Breaffy do make it through, it will serve them well for later on this summer.

Welcome to my first column as a writer. For the rest of the summer at least, I intend to discuss, analyse and give my opinion on all matters GAA at club and inter-county level. Feel free to e-mail me any comments or opinions you may have. For the week that’s in it my mind in focused on one thing only and there’s no prizes for guessing what that is. Mayo welcome Roscommon to Castlebar on Sunday for the Connacht semi-final and a right to play either London or Leitrim in the Connacht final. It sounds a bit surreal, but yes, London could be in a Connacht final. With the current upheaval in Leitrim and four players designated to the scrapheap for disciplinary reasons I may just fancy a flutter on London to make the final. Leitrim have a small enough panel to pick from without losing players, most notably Wayne McKeon, arguably one of their best players, but that’s for another day.

With time ticking down to next Sunday’s Connacht semi-final against Roscommon in McHale Park, James Horan and his managment team took the chance of last Monday’s challenge game with Cavan in James Stephens Park to run the rule over a number of fringe contenders for a place in next Sunday’s side. Kenneth O’Malley in goal with Kevin Keane, Shane McHale, and James Burke were all given chances to impress in the defence, while Jason Gibbons put in a good shift, especially in the second half while partnering Aidan O’Shea in midfield. In attack Richie Feeney stepped into the number 11 shirt vacated by Cillian O’Connor because of his shoulder injury, while Darren Coen started at corner forward with Andy Moran in the other. The Ballaghaderreen man got some good game time under his belt in his battle to get back to full match fitness as soon as possible.

The hard yards put in on the muddy fields from Belmullet to Shrule over the wild winter and soaking spring will be put to the test this weekend when the first ball is thrown-in in this year’s Mayo club championships. From Saturday evening to Sunday afternoon, across 16 games in the senior and intermediate championships the shape the summer will take for 32 clubs will start to form.

The hard yards put in on the muddy fields from Belmullet to Shrule over the wild winter and soaking spring will be put to the test this weekend when the first ball is thrown-in in this year’s Mayo club championships. From Saturday evening to Sunday afternoon, across 16 games in the senior and intermediate championships the shape the summer will take for 32 clubs will start to form.