Search Results for 'Pearse Stadium'

Sometimes there can be no hiding from hard facts. And here are two:

News filtered through to Pearse Stadium in Galway early last Sunday evening that Mayo’s midfielder Ronan McGarrity had suffered a nasty broken jaw in a high profile club game between Crossmolina and Ballina. Initial reports suggested that it was an accidental clash of heads, however that canard was quickly rejected for a more plausible and yet much more disappointing scéal that he had been struck off the ball.Too often in the GAA we hear of broken jaws and on far too many occasions it is a raised fist or a deliberately flailing elbow that does the damage.

News filtered through to Pearse Stadium in Galway early last Sunday evening that Mayo’s midfielder Ronan McGarrity had suffered a nasty broken jaw in a high profile club game between Crossmolina and Ballina.

My uncle worked in the pub business all his life. It’s all he really knew. I remember clearly one day as a young lad when he asked me what a pub needed to survive. I was young and innocent so I spoke of good food, passing trade, live music, a good pint of Guinness, a growing demographic in the area and some sponsorship of local teams and events. Yada, yada, ya.

Alan Dillion/Trevor Mortimer v Diarmuid Blake

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.

The news that Ronan McGarrity had been selected to play in Sunday’s Connacht Senior Football Final (subject to passing a fitness test on Sunday morning) against Galway in Pearse Stadium was a major boost for Mayo when John O’Mahony named his side on Wednesday evening. The Ballina midfielder looked to all intents and purposes to be out of the game after he picked up a fractured cheekbone in Ballina’s Mayo senior football club championship clash with Crossmolina almost a fortnight ago.

Alan Dillon/Trevor Mortimer v Diarmuid Blake

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.