Search Results for 'the Hogan Stand'

And breathe. There is no word in the English dictionary to describe what went on last Sunday. Mayo produced their gutsiest performance ever to snatch a draw against raging hot favourites and current champions Dublin in Croke Park in the All-Ireland final. The tone was set long before throw-in as the teams entered the field. I happened to be on the sideline doing a piece with Radio 1 as I watched Stephen Cluxton lead his team out to a deafening roar. I was left stunned to see Cillian O'Connor burst out the tunnel through the Dublin players, followed closely by Aidan O'Shea and the rest of his team mates. Misinformed initially, I was told Mayo lay in wait for Dublin to ruffle their feathers. The reason for this coming together was the fact that Dublin were meant to enter the field at 2.56 and Mayo at 2.58. This clash occurred at 3.02.

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.