Search Results for 'the Hogan Stand'

When Mayo needed a man to show the leadership in a clutch situation, their star man came good right at the death. Cillian O’Connor showed why he was picked by Stephen Rochford as his captain, when he created the space he needed to shimmy inside and drill the ball through the drizzle over the bar and electrify the Mayo faithful in Croke Park to haul his side level at the death.

History has weighed heavy on the shoulders of every single man who has thrown a green and red jersey across his shoulders since 1951, every year there is expectation in the county, from those on the sidelines and those spread far and wide across the globe, that this will finally be the year.

After Brendan Maher lifted the Liam McCarthy Cup high over his head in the Hogan Stand a fortnight ago, he mentioned in his speech that it had been "six long years" for Tipperary waiting for this day. Six years may be a long time in Tipperary, but it was 38 years for Mayo to reach an All Ireland final from the last time they won it in 1951 to their next dance with the girls at the end of the summer in 1989. That particular dance saw Cork go home with girls and since then Mayo have gone back to the same dance hall on six more occasions only to leave by themselves at the end of the night when the jackets were being collected from the cloakroom.

The woman who brought the Rose of Tralee title to Galway for the first time in 1980 (and proved a good luck emblem for the hurlers two weeks later) is to be a judge at this year’s International Rose of Tralee Festival.

After the historic high of climbing the steps of the Hogan Stand last Saturday afternoon and lifting the Nicky Rackard Cup, it's back to even more serious business tomorrow for the Mayo senior hurlers. Unlike the Christy Ring Cup, winning the competition does not guarantee you promotion to the next level of the senior hurling championship, so it's back on the road again for Mayo and a date with Derry in Ballinamore in Leitrim for the right to have a place in the draw for the Christy Ring Cup next season.

Families beckoned them over to the edge of the stand for photos to remember this day for ever, tears of joy were being wiped from eyes as the Mayo players tried to take in what had just happened on the field of battle.

Ray Silke

We were reading the papers last Friday night when a few texts hit the phone to say that Joe McDonagh had died. Even with the knowledge that Joe had been seriously ill over the past while, it was still difficult to comprehend that such a gregarious, energetic and vibrant man had passed away at such a young age.

We all like someone good batting for us. Someone who can go out, without resort to a note or a rehearsed rote-learned speech. Who sounds lyrical but not flowery. Who speaks sense. Who preaches what is right. We all love it when our leaders are people who orate easily, who can melt hearts with their smiles and their personality, who can defuse the most tense of situations with an ability to bring sides together. Because when our leaders look and sound well, we think that we look and sound well. If these are the people who represent us, by extension, then we are all the better for having them lead us.

We were reading the papers last Friday night when a few texts hit the phone to say that Joe McDonagh had died.