Search Results for 'Patrick Durcan'

In any other league campaign Roscommon defeating Mayo wouldn't bother me. We could use the usual excuses like Mayo were tired after a long campaign last season, Mayo tried out new tactics and tried to blood players while trying others in different positions. We could all tell ourselves that the game was Roscommon's All- Ireland, why wouldn't they be up for it?

Two years ago Castlebar Mitchels travelled to Tuam Stadium as rank underdogs against a Corofin side that were expected to see them off with ease and set up a Connacht final with the then All Ireland champions St Brigid's. But football doesn't always go along expected lines and a dogged and fearless Castlebar Mitchels side, who rode their luck at times early on in that game, ground out a deserved victory to kick-start a journey that went all the way to St Patrick's Day.

After the start they got, Castlebar Mitchels made it much harder than it should have been as they booked their place in the Connacht Senior Club Final in a fortnights time with a four point win over Roscommon champions Clann na nGael in Hyde Park on Sunday.

Breaffy v Garrymore

Liam Gallagher once described a gig he played in Slane Castle as biblical, what went in Croke Park last Sunday was nothing short of the same. It was the most anticipated All-Ireland semi final in living memory and it certainly did not disappoint. I arrived early to do a piece with Radio One outside the Croke Park Hotel alongside former Hill 16 favourite Barney Rock and the place was buzzing at 12.30pm. I ran into a few former team mates, namely David Heaney, David Brady, and Kevin O'Neill who had just flown in from the USA for the game. I also had a chat with current Kerry minor and former All-Ireland winning senior manager Jack O'Connor who was rightly cock a hoop about Mayo’s chances. He told myself and Brady that he was coming up to Mayo for a week after they eventually win Sam which he said could be in a few weeks time. I hope he’s right.

Well, have the heart rates returned to normal yet? With just over 24 hours to go until Mayo and Dublin square up again in Ireland's colosseum, anticipation is at boiling point as the gladiators in green and red prepare to do battle once more with the Jacks from the city. While Mayo have named their first 15 on paper already ahead of the skirmish on Jones Road, if we have learned anything this year from Noel Connelly and Pat Holmes' tenure in charge of it is to expect the unexpected. While Barry Moran's inclusion in the quarter-final was a bolt from the blue, the decision to drop David Drake into the cauldron for his first championship start was a bolt from far beyond the reaches of our solar system.

"What we do need to concentrate on is being at our very best in June, July, August, and September, and whatever we have to do to be in the best shape we can be, that's what we have to concentrate on," said Noel Connelly on a wet and cold evening last November when he and Pat Holmes sat down to meet the local press for the first time after their appointment as the new Mayo senior management ticket. This coming Sunday is last Sunday in August, and things have gone exactly to that plan so far. If they are to keep going until September then the next step is to get over Dublin on Sunday.

Traditionally, once the starting 15 was announced all talk would move towards the various match-ups that would occur on the field. But even with Mayo announcing their starting 15 on Wednesday night for Sunday's big game, most of the talk was shifted towards "is that how they will actually line out". Since Pat Holmes and Noel Connelly threw the curve ball of dropping Barry Moran into the starting 15 for Mayo's win over Donegal in the quarter final win over the Ulster men, the chances of their doing the same for Dublin became a more real possability.

Mayo qualified for a mouth-watering All-Ireland semi final with Dublin after an emphatic and clinical display against Donegal in the quarter final. I’m not going to lie, I was worried about this one, and I wasn’t sure how Mayo would cope against a team with 14 or 15 players constantly behind the ball. It’s very easy to get the life sucked out you playing against such tactics; in this regard Mayo were superb.