St Patrick’s weekend sees big turn out around the county

Fri, Mar 22, 2013

Balla
Last weekend was a stroke play competition which will count towards the Golfer of the Year award. In the men’s section, Ray Mannion won on 53pts, with Vinny Gibbons second, Bernie O’Connor third, and PJ Brett the gross winner. The ladies’ competition was won by Rose O’Connor on 52pts, Breege Jennings was second, Patricia Conwell third, and Geraldine O’Malley the gross winner.

Kilmovee 10k turns four on Easter Saturday

Fri, Mar 22, 2013

The fourth annual Kilmovee 10k Road Race and Walk takes place on Easter Saturday, March 30 starting at 1pm. This popular event attracted over 400 runners, joggers, and walkers last year. It has an AAI permit issued through Mayo AC and is organised by Kilmovee Shamrocks GAA Club. It is a joint fundraiser with Mayo/Roscommon Hospice and Kilmovee Shamrocks. The hospice is the main beneficiary - with €19,000 raised for them in the past three years. This is the first big road race in Mayo this year. Race organiser, John Roddy and his team are busy putting final plans in place for what is expected to be the biggest version of this event to date.

Special Olympics table tennis event a big success for Mayo athletes

Fri, Mar 22, 2013

Special Olympics athletes showed off their table tennis talents at the Regional event held in GMIT, Castlebar recently. Over 60 athletes from Mayo, Galway and Roscommon, Longford competed on the day. Players battled in out over singles and doubles competition throughout the day.

‘London Calling’ for hurlers on Sunday

Fri, Mar 22, 2013

Last year’s Christy Ring Cup winners will be calling into McHale Park for a visit on Sunday afternoon as Christy Phillips’ Mayo senior hurling side look to put together back to back wins. Mayo will go into Sunday’s game boosted on the back of impressive scoring haul of 4-16 in last weekend’s victory against Armagh in the same venue.

Elwood urges his troops to get physical for Munster showdown

Fri, Mar 22, 2013

Connacht return to RabDirect Pro 12 action after a two-week break with a tough assignment against Munster in Musgrave Park on Saturday (5.45pm).

No quiet men at the Ashford Duathlon

Fri, Mar 22, 2013

Beautiful weather, stunning scenery and a formidable challenge greeted participants at last week’s Ashford Duathlon in Cong, Co Mayo. The event, which included a 5km run, 20 km cycle and final 2km run, took place amid stunning scenery in and around the Ashford Castle estate. Almost 200 participants from top class athletes to complete novices travelled from across the country to race on a course which skirted Lough Corrib, Ashford Castle, Cong Woods and Cong Abbey. The winner, Martin Grealish, put on a masterclass of racing with a time of 55.31, over four minutes clear of second placed Art Naughton. The ladies’ race was won by Anne Marie Egan in a time of 67.30.

Mayo Cycling League moves into gear in Westport

Fri, Mar 22, 2013

Only two weeks to go until the first Mayo cycling league event, last year there were huge numbers racing. This year the hopes are to have an even more successful league, with more new cycling clubs set up over the winter.

Mayo boxers perform well in Connacht finals

Fri, Mar 22, 2013

Mayo boxers won 23 of the 40 contests on the programme for the finals of the 2013 Connacht Championships in Oughterard last Saturday. In one of the 10 all-Mayo contests Declan Mc Donagh (Claremorris) had an impressive win against Padraig McDonagh (Geesala). The Claremorris boy has had a tremendous amount of experience from championship boxing this season, having contested 11 bouts so far this year.

Mayo head south tomorrow looking for final spot

Fri, Mar 22, 2013

Tony Duffy will be hoping that his stint in charge of the Mayo u21s is a bit more successful than the last man who sat in his seat, after moving up from three years in charge of the minor team. Duffy has taken over the side this year from Ray Dempsey, the same man he replaced at the u18 grade three seasons previously. Picking up u21 provincial titles was par for the course for Mayo under the Noel Connelly and Pat Holmes joint ticket in the latter part of the last decade, but for the past three seasons Mayo have not even reached a provincial final, being sent packing by Roscommon in each of the past three championships before the final.

Tomorrow afternoon at 4pm in the Tuam Stadium, where so many Mayo sides could not pick up a win for love nor money for most of the latter part of the last century, Mayo’s u21 season will get under way. Galway got their championship campaign opened up last weekend with a 1-20 to 0-7 win over Sligo in the same venue. Alan Flynn’s side kicked a impressive 1-18 from play with Shane Wash and Gary Kelly each contributing five points apiece to their side’s total, with Sean Moran chipping in with the goal. Galway took an early lead, with Sligo coming back at them following the goal. But Galway managed to score all but one of the last 13 scores in the game to run out easy winners at the end.

No real room left for error on Sunday

Fri, Mar 22, 2013

Wins are important in the league, they may not be the be all and end all of everything in inter county football, but they are important all the same. Not just to ensure that you’re playing against the very best next Spring in preparation for the championship in summer time, but to ensure that you have the right momentum going into that championship.