Search Results for 'Stephen Rochford'

The FBD League threw in last Sunday and Mayo full back Kevin Keane had some new faces for company alongside him in Stephen Rochfords first starting 15 as Mayo manager. The Westport club man was happy to get the year off to winning start and get some miles into the legs in game conditions.

Ever since he was appointed as Mayo senior manager, January 3 2016 would have been circled in Stephen Rochford’s mind as the day that business really began for him as the new Mayo manager. When asked after his sides two point victory over NUIG how he felt this morning waking up, knowing that this day had arrived, he responded saying: “I wouldn’t say I was nervous. I was eagerly looking forward to the game and now that it’s here and done, it’s about next Tuesday, next Friday, and it’s about getting ourselves right for IT Sligo and improving on todays performance.”

When the history books on Stephen Rochford’s tenure in charge of Mayo are written, this game will be a brief footnote in the overall analysis of his term as Mayo senior manager, but it will be a winning footnote. He started just one third of the side that last were in competitive action for Mayo last September and gave debuts to a handful of hopefuls, while a number of probables and returning faces were also given starts in the first game of the 2016 adventure.

Earlier this week the names of a number of returning and new faces who have been invited into the Mayo panel for the early stages of next year's campaign emerged into the public sphere, with the likes of Jason Gibbons, Cathal Carolan, and Shane McHale being mentioned as coming back into the fold alongside the likes of David Kenny, Shane Nally, and Caolan Crowe amongst others.

This weekend Stephen Rochford will take his first training session with the Mayo senior team, just three weeks out from their first game of the 2016. Last Thursday night Rochford met the press for the first time since his appointment and spoke at length about his hopes and the challenges ahead for the next year and much more. 

Sometimes in sport you have to put your hand up and say: “Today we were beaten by a better team.”

The senior Connacht club final has pitted two of the heavyweights of club football against each other when Castlebar Mitchels take on current Connacht and All-Ireland champions Corofin on Sunday in Tuam in what promises to be a mouth watering clash. The Mitchels will need a near perfect ten out of ten performance to dethrone the Galway kingpins.

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.

Next Sunday in Tuam Stadium (2pm) the two best senior club Gaelic football teams in Connacht over the past three years do battle for the Shane McGettigan cup, and the honour of being the 2015 Connacht champions. Corofin are current Connacht and All-Ireland club champions, and they put those titles on the line facing the last team to beat them in championship action two years ago, in Tuam.

Next Sunday in Tuam Stadium (2pm) the two best senior club Gaelic football teams in Connacht over the past three years battle for the Shane McGettigan Cup and the honour of being the 2015 Connacht champions.