He has been there and done it all with Crossmolina Deel Rovers over the years, but former Mayo player Peadar Gardiner is still doing his bit for his club. On Saturday evening, Crossmolina Deel Rovers once the standard bearers for club football in the county, will be looking to take a notch off a Castlebar Mitchels side who have taken up that mantle in recent years.
"It's a very tough test for Crossmolina obviously Castlebar Mitchels are coming into it off the back of playing in an All Ireland final back in March, so it's going to be a really tough task and one that we are really looking forward to, and we'll be ready to give it our best shot against the county and Connacht champions at the weekend," Gardiner told the Mayo Advertiser this week at the launch of the Connacht Senior Football Championship. Gardiner was at the event to help launch Connacht GAA and the HSE's partnership in the #Littlethings and the Connecting for Life strategy with his role as project manager at Mindspace Mayo.
While Crossmolina have fallen down the pecking order at the top of the tree in club football in the county in recent years, the work is being done to ensure that they get back up there again in the near future Gardiner belives. "We're in a bit of a transition at the moment in Crossmolina, but we're very hopeful for the future there. It's all about making progress again this season and building a strong base for the future. We're delighted that we had a few members of the u21s who won the All Ireland, but we've got a good squad and are putting in the ground work for a successful future we hope."
Last weekend saw Cross take a point off another of the big guns in the league and he hopes to see that kick them on a bit tomorrow, "We've only had two games in the league but we definitely showed some good improvement against Ballintubber last weekened getting a draw, so we're looking to progress on that again this weekend against Mitchels in the championship. Castlebar are the team that everyone in Mayo football are looking to aspire to be now at the minute, they have some fantastic players, established county players, guys who've been in with senior squads and played underage with the county, and had success in their own right with the club."
As for his own involvement on the field he is still happy to be out there. "Ah yeah, trying to play away and keep up with the young lads if I can, Crossmolina is a great club and I'm just delighted to be still involved and a part of this group of players."
