Search Results for 'Robert Hennelly'

It'll be hard to find a county final that will have as close of neighbors going toe-toe in it, and have two brothers lining up in opposite colours (Tommy O'Reilly for Breaffy and Eoghan O'Reilly for Castlebar), but that's what this years Mayo senior football championship final has in store in a fortnight's time. Breaffy booked their very first appearance int he final with a historic win over Charlestown, while Castlebar Mitchels overcame Knockmore, despite being without the services of their man-of-the-match from last weeks quarter-final win over Ballina Stephenites ,Barry Moran and losing Aidan Walsh early in the game through injury. Mitchels beat Breaffy comprehensively in the group stages of the championship back in early summer, but Declan O'Reilly's have inflicted a defeat on Pat Holmes' side this year with a win in the opening league game of the season.

It was a weekend for shocks and surprises last weekend as the two teams who have won the last three Moclair cups between them bowed out at the quarter-final stage. The biggest surprise of the weekend arguably was Breaffy’s victory over Ballaghaderreen in the first of Sunday’s games.

Mayo people living in Galway have really been showing their colours over the past few weeks and I hope Mayo finally come good and get over the winning line.

Mayo 1-16

In the immediate aftermath of Mayo’s win over London last Sunday, as the celebrations died down, the only thing that Alan Dillon was getting ready for was whoever comes out of the hat tomorrow night in the All Ireland quarter-final draw. “Our focus is the All Ireland series, we’ll be keeping the heads down for the next few weeks and focusing.” The Ballintubber clubman was honest in his appraisal of how his side performed on the day saying: “We made it difficult at times for ourselves, our use of the ball at some stages in the game wasn’t as clinical as it should have been. We’ve a lot to work on, it’s a short period now until the next game and it was good to see some of the lads get game time on the pitch, we’ll really put a huge effort in over the next two weeks and all roads lead to Croke Park. We let it drop for periods today, which is disappointing and when we got our chances we took the goals.”

The distraction of Wednesday’s news that Conor Mortimer has decided to leave the Mayo senior panel is the last thing that Mayo manager James Horan will have wanted ahead of Sunday’s Connacht final showdown with Sligo in Hyde Park. Horan’s side had only just been announced by the county board online and through traditional methods a matter of hours when news broke of Mortimer’s decision to leave the panel, bringing the eye of the national and local media on Mayo ahead of Sunday for reasons other than what happens on the field. Mortimer being the second member of the panel to make themselves unavailable for Mayo in a matter of weeks, following Robert Hennelly’s decision leave the panel due to work commitments a few weeks ago.

The big news of Conor Mortimer’s withdrawal from the Mayo squad earlier this week did not take me by surprise.

On the far side of the field from the stand in McHale Park, on a Sunday evening just five weeks ago, Mayo manager James Horan told the massed press pack: “The masterplan doesn’t change just because of a few defeats - if you start to change it then panic sets in. We know what we’re trying to do, it’s a bumpy road, but we’ll keep at it.”

Almost as soon as it began the group stages of the FBD League will wrap up this weekend. For Mayo the competition so far can be given good grades. Two wins out of two, a number of new players given their introduction to the inter-county game and a place in the final of the competition against NUIG to look forward to in a week’s time.

Castlebar Mitchels 3-8