Three Mayo Boxers advance to National Cadet finals
Fri, Jun 14, 2013
The days of the count back may be over in boxing following the introduction of the 10 point must scoring system, but some of the bouts are equally tight, as was proven in the 2013 National Junior Cadet Championships last weekend.
Read more ...Summer sun sees courses packed across Mayo last weekend
Fri, Jun 14, 2013
Balla
It was President’s Day (John Parson’s) last Sunday and John O’Connor was the winner on a score of 51. Mick Mellett came second with Austin Callaghan third and Junior Prendergast taking the gross prize. Geraldine Evans was the ladies’ winner with Carmel Heverin second, Mary B O’Donnell third and Kitty O’Connor the gross prize winner. The youths section was claimed by Conor Holian, Marissa Brett was second and Adrian O’Connell finished in third.
Mayo AC summer series goes to starter’s gun
Fri, Jun 14, 2013
The fourth annual Mayo AC 5k Summer Series starts next Tuesday evening June 18 and continues on the following four Tuesdays at four other venues, all at 8pm sharp. The series begins at Castlebar on a new route , registration is at the Harlequin Hotel.
Read more ...Top two clash in Saturday showdown
Fri, Jun 14, 2013
The Elverys Sports Super League will hit its penultimate game ahead of the midway mark on Saturday evening and there is only one place any soccer fan should be tomorrow evening, that is Belleek Park in Ballina where the league leaders Ballina Town will host second placed Ballyheane. The home side picked up their fifth win from five league games last weekend when they scored two goals in the final half hour to see off Manulla in Carramore. Ballina were made to work hard for the win, with Manulla succeeding in stifling their attempts until the 63rd minute when Ben McGarry struck and Eugene Gorman made the points safe with their second goal 12 minutes later. Ballyheane, like their opponents, have yet to taste defeat in the league this season, and picked up their second win so far to go with their three draws already in the bank with a five-goal destruction of Claremorris in Ballyheane last Sunday. Ballyheane were three goals to the good by the break with Arek Tobiaz putting the ball in the back of the Claremorris net three times inside the opening 35 minutes. Ballyheane rounded off their win with two goals in the final 20 minutes from substitutes Terry Maughan and Nobert Karo to round off another impressive performance for Ballyheane.
Read more ...Connacht recruits eight younsters for its academy
Fri, Jun 14, 2013
Eight new youngsters will join Connacht Rugby’s academy next season, including current Irish u-20 player, David Panter, who is currently involved in the World Cup in France.
Read more ...Casey's Call
Fri, Jun 14, 2013
Welcome to my first column as a writer. For the rest of the summer at least, I intend to discuss, analyse and give my opinion on all matters GAA at club and inter-county level. Feel free to e-mail me any comments or opinions you may have. For the week that’s in it my mind in focused on one thing only and there’s no prizes for guessing what that is. Mayo welcome Roscommon to Castlebar on Sunday for the Connacht semi-final and a right to play either London or Leitrim in the Connacht final. It sounds a bit surreal, but yes, London could be in a Connacht final. With the current upheaval in Leitrim and four players designated to the scrapheap for disciplinary reasons I may just fancy a flutter on London to make the final. Leitrim have a small enough panel to pick from without losing players, most notably Wayne McKeon, arguably one of their best players, but that’s for another day.
Hands up if you could see Mayo disposing of Galway with such ease (my hands haven’t left the keyboard). Some very wise men expected something of an ambush in Salthill, I expected a very keenly contested game that would go to the wire and was a worried Mayo man as injuries mounted and Galway received a huge morale boost after their u21s bagged another All-Ireland title. For anyone that wasn’t at it, Mayo should have beaten Galway in Tuam in the u21 Connacht semi-final. The sheer difference in physicality between the teams in the senior game in Salthill was there for all to see; boys against men springs to mind. The battle hardened Mayo players looked determined, focused and physically in great shape and wanted to prove they were not scarred from the All-Ireland final loss to Donegal, while the Galway players looked like they had all celebrated the u21 victory a few weeks previous. History suggests it was one of the most comprehensive Mayo victories over Galway on record. There are too many positives to take from this game given the poor quality of the opposition but here are three. (1) Mayo forwards tackled with extreme intensity, (2) Mayo were able to cope without a lot of key players. (3) Alan Dillon and Andy Moran got valuable game time.
Read more ...Feeney gets the nod to fill O’Connor’s boots
Fri, Jun 14, 2013
Castlebar Mitchels man Richie Feeney has been handed the number 11 shirt for Sunday’s Connacht Senior Football Championship semi-final against Roscommon in McHale Park. The versatile Feeney will replace the injured Cillian O’Connor who dislocated his shoulder in a club championship match for Ballintubber against Claremorris, the week after Mayo’s opening round victory over Galway in Salthill.
Read more ...Horan looking for more progress next Sunday
Sun, Jun 09, 2013
In the build up to Mayo's Connacht semi-final showdown against Roscommon next Sunday, Mayo manager James Horan has said that he doesn't mind Mayo being grouped in as potential All Ireland winners as that's where his team want to be. When asked did it bother him at last weeks pre-game press conference the Mayo manager said “Not at all, we're an ambitious team, we're looking to be as good as we possibly can and we feel that we have a lot of ability and that's OK, we'll take that. We're making progress and we're going the right way. So we're just going to June 16 and see can we take the next step.”
However he did repeat his warning to supporters not to be getting to carried away just yet. When asked about the warning to supporters he issued last week as to why he felt that way, he said that. “I suppose the couple of hundred people who have said to me it's great to have Cillian and Micky Conroy back for August. We're not in a Connacht final, we're in a Connacht semi-final, never mind an All Ireland quarter-final. That's the game that we have to play, that dictates then what happens next. Any of that kind of talk is just daft, it's natural, but it's daft in terms of our preparation, but thankfully we have a lot of smart guys that just can see through that and are really focused on each session we have.”
Read more ...Mayo prepare for Roscommon challenge with victory over Cavan
Fri, Jun 07, 2013
With time ticking down to next Sunday’s Connacht semi-final against Roscommon in McHale Park, James Horan and his managment team took the chance of last Monday’s challenge game with Cavan in James Stephens Park to run the rule over a number of fringe contenders for a place in next Sunday’s side. Kenneth O’Malley in goal with Kevin Keane, Shane McHale, and James Burke were all given chances to impress in the defence, while Jason Gibbons put in a good shift, especially in the second half while partnering Aidan O’Shea in midfield. In attack Richie Feeney stepped into the number 11 shirt vacated by Cillian O’Connor because of his shoulder injury, while Darren Coen started at corner forward with Andy Moran in the other. The Ballaghaderreen man got some good game time under his belt in his battle to get back to full match fitness as soon as possible.
Read more ...Benson storms into Yellow with another win
Fri, Jun 07, 2013
Already 114 riders have participated in this year’s Mayo Cycling League with youth, ladies, club, junior and senior racers in the mix. Karl Benson of Castlebar took his second win of the league last Wednesday night in Swinford to take the leader’s yellow jersey out-sprinting the bunch on the drag to the finish. With the notable absence of the yellow jersey and the fact that Western Lakes was sending a racing team to Ras Dhun Na Gall the pressure was on the other contenders to place and try to take something from the race.
The 50k lumpy route started in Swinford heading for Ballyvarry, on to Balla via the Prison Road, left before Balla into Kiltimagh, and right after Kiltimagh back to Swinford, finishing on the N5. In the shake-up Castlebar's local knowledge managed to secure five top 10 spots. Cunga also performed well with Jarlath Togher second and Gary Collins fifth. David Brody completed the podium taking third. In the team classification Castlebar are now 300 points clear of Westport Covey Wheelers who are in second with 486 points, just ahead of Western Lakes on 468 points.
Read more ...Ballina Town race clear at the top
Fri, Jun 07, 2013
Is the race for the Elverys Sports Super League over already? With four games gone from 14 for six of the eight sides, Ballina Town have found themselves six points clear at the top of the table with four wins from four. Packed neatly behind them on six points are three sides, Ballyheane, Manulla, and Snugboro United, with Castlebar Celtic and Westport United tied together on four points in fifth and sixth places. Claremorris and Iorras Aontaithe make up the bottom two, with Claremorris just one point behind the two flagship names of Mayo soccer, and Iorras Aontaithe who have only played three points have just a point to show for their efforts so far.
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