Search Results for 'Pearse Stadium'

I drove away from Ballina last Sunday afternoon feeling pretty miserable if I am to be totally honest. Yes, Crossmolina had won the championship encounter against their near neighbours Ballina Stephenites, but the game had attracted much attention for all the wrong reasons. There was an ugliness and a nasty undercurrent from start to finish throughout this encounter. Two players were sent off during the game and, as we now know, Ronan McGarrity suffered a serious injury that may possibly jeopardise his participation in the Connacht final on Sunday week. I am conscious of not elaborating on the issue to any great extent, as I am led to believe that there is to be an investigation into the game and a number of incidents that took place during it. I fully endorse and welcome this investigation and if any player from either club is found to have broken the rules, then there is a mechanism in place to deal with those issues. I sincerely hope McGarrity is fit to play against Galway as I fully recognise his importance to the Mayo football team. Needless to say his loss would be significant as Mayo do not have another midfield player of comparable ability to replace him. I wish him well and sincerely hope he recovers sufficiently to take his place in Pearse Stadium.

There was much to admire about Galway’s impressive win last Saturday night over Tyrone in Healy Park Omagh. Any time you beat the current All-Ireland champions is a good evening’s work and some of the Galway players enhanced their reputations with some sterling performances.

Kilkenny's faith in this year’s National Hurling League is once again back in their own hands after a fine victory over a very disjointed Galway side last Sunday.

It was a pleasure to have been in Pearse Stadium last Sunday to watch the brilliant display of forward play by Caltra’s Michael Meehan.

I was delighted to hear on Saturday evening that Ronan McGarrity had participated in the A v B game in McHale Park, it was good news for all concerned and his inclusion in the Mayo team announced on Wednesday night gives the county and the player himself a great boost going into this weekend’s Connacht final. Normally before matches of this nature, I’m fairly confident in predicting in advance who will win, but this time I’m finding it difficult. Mayo’s performances in the championship to date have been hugely impressive albeit against weak opposition. And on the other hand Galway have been deteriorating since half time in the league game in Tuam, when Mayo came back in the second half in impressive style to win the game. Since half time in that game, every time Galway have togged out they have had question marks hanging over them. In Sligo they were very lucky and had to use six different combinations at midfield to see off the Yeats county men who, if they had a bit more conviction when goal chances were presented, could have sent Liam Sammon’s side into the qualifiers at that stage.

Galway 1-16

A winnable game it certainly is, but that simply adds to Galway's pressure on Sunday. A fortnight ago when Kilkenny thumped the maroons on a grim afternoon at Pearse Stadium, Galway were forced to deal with the usual pessimism that accompanies such a hiding.

Mayo 2-12

I paid a visit to Anthony Finnerty’s hostelry in lower Salthill before the game last Sunday. There was a great buzz about the place with plenty of Mayo supporters popping in for the crack and banter before the short hop over to Pearse Stadium. One of the first people I met on arrival was PJ Kelly from Moygownagh. He is a great passionate football man and was eagerly seeking everyone’s opinion as to who they thought would win the game. “Would we win it? Are we good enough to win it”? I got the impression that PJ was happy with the answers coming from the gathering and would have left for the stadium pretty confident that Mayo would win their first provincial title since 1967 at the city venue. If I am to be perfectly honest here I have to admit that I found it very difficult to predict the outcome in advance of Sunday’s game. I know from experience that Galway v Mayo encounters take on a life of their own and the form book goes out the window when these two sides meet. Irrespective of form coming into a championship encounter, there is rarely more than a point or two separating these two great rivals. Galway looked so ordinary against Sligo a few weeks ago that punters could have been forgiven for believing that this would be a relatively ‘handy’ match for the Mayo boys. Mayo, on the other hand, looking hugely impressive when carrying out a demolition job on Roscommon in the semi-final. I suggested, prior to the game, that our poor run of results in Pearse Stadium in recent decades would be a factor. Because of that I felt we would have to be five or six points a better team than Galway to beat them in a venue where we hadn’t won a provincial championship since 1967.

Galway 1-14