Mayo head north once again in Oscar Traynor Trophy

Fri, Dec 14, 2012

The Mayo League Oscar Traynor Trophy side will be making an almost 300 mile round trip from the home of the Mayo League in Milebush, Castlebar, to Buncrana this Sunday looking to book their place in the next round of the national interleague competition.

McStay and McHale are doing a great job

Fri, Nov 30, 2012

I sent a brief text to Liam McHale and Kevin McStay last Sunday evening congratulating them on guiding St Brigid’s of Roscommon to a Connacht title. These two lads were brought in by the Roscommon club to launch a serious bid for All-Ireland, an honour which, understandably, placed and places them under huge pressure. Had they not managed to at least achieve a provincial title, they would have been perceived as failures. On the evidence of last Sunday, I believe they have a fantastic chance of going all the way with this team.

Mayo AC athletes put in strong performances in Clarinbridge

Fri, Nov 30, 2012

It was another winning weekend for Mayo AC over the Galway border. The Clarinbridge Charity 10k had more than 300 finishers led home by Steve McKeigue from Ferbane AC in 33:17 on a demanding course which included some 3km of forest trail. Mayo AC's Paddy O'Toole was third in 34:59, and TJ McHugh fifth overall in 36:05. Catherine Conway was fourth overall and first woman in a brilliant personal best time of 36:03. This was just one second better than her 36:04 second place at the Athenry 10k in Jan 2010.

Ballina Winter League comes to a conclusion

Fri, Nov 30, 2012

Ballina
The final of round of the Rouse Jewellers Winter League saw the team of B Kilgallon, R Tighe, T Cronin, and S Sweeney come out as winners with a score of 44.1. The foursome of P Howley, G Forde, P McLoughlin, and P Devers came second. The plate competition was taken by the team of D Flaherty, P Cawley, PJ Melody, and G Tuffy, with N Dee, C McLoughlin, C Gilmartin, and K Desmond coming second. This Sunday sees the resumption of the four ball competitions with a shotgun start and the draw for tees taking place at 8.45am sharp. The club AGM will take place on Thursday, December 13.

Carnacon look to defend their title

Fri, Nov 30, 2012

For five of the past six years, the All Ireland Ladies senior club championship has been taken home by one of this year’s finalists. And on Sunday it will be making it’s way to either Donaghmoyne from Monaghan for a third time or back west with green and red ribbons on its handles to Carnacon for the fourth time.

Fresh injuries cause Conncht selection headache

Fri, Nov 30, 2012

Connacht coach Eric Elwood faces another injury conundrum ahead of tomorrow’s visit of Edinburgh to the Galway Sportsground at 5pm. Having welcomed the return of Andrew Browne and captain Gavin Duffy in recent weeks, Elwood is now concerned with a new batch of injuries that include Ireland’s recent man of the match against South Africa Mike McCarthy, who is struggling with a back injury, props Ronan Loughney (knee), Rodney Ah You and Nathan White, and hooker Ethienne Reynecke (calf). Add in the longer term injuries to Eoin Griffin, John Muldoon and George Naoupu, and Elwood describes his latest injury woes as “not a pretty picture”.

“We have a lot of injuries, and when you take into consideration the injuries we had - on top of Griffin, Muldoon, and Naoupu, we are struggling on the injury front,” he says.

Tributes paid to a man who gave his all to soccer in Mayo

Fri, Nov 23, 2012

The news of the tragic death of Jeremy Dee last Sunday shocked and stunned all who knew him. Anyone who was involved in soccer in any capacity in Mayo and even further afield could not but have encountered Jeremy on a number of occasions, and had to have been touched by his love for the game and his infectious attitude towards it. This writer on a couple of occasions was also on the end of a good natured ribbing from him when Jeremy thought more coverage was deserved to this or that team. Invariably he was right and more coverage was deserved to whomever he was on about. Jeremy was always very giving of his time whenever this writer had the pleasure to contact him about anything at all, and also in his role with Mid West Radio commentating on soccer games, a number of cramped press boxes were shared over the years with him. He will be sadly missed by all those in the press who worked with him.

Benson and King winners of inaugural Henry Downes award

Fri, Nov 23, 2012

The service of two football men in Mayo has been recognised this year by the Mayo Football League. Both Donal Benson, Swinford, and Aiden King, Westport, have been announced recently as the inaugural winners of the Henry Downes Service to Football award for 2012.

Masters teams ready for kick-off of new season

Fri, Nov 23, 2012

The ever popular Westaro Mayo Masters League will kick-off again for the 2012-2013 season on Wednesday week, December 5 at Milebush Park on the astro-turf. This year 13 teams will take part in the competition across two different divisions. Division One is made up of Claremorris, Fahy Rovers, Iorras Aontaithe, Manulla, Straide and Foxford United, and Westport United. Division Two comprises Castlebar Celtic, Fahy Rovers B, Glenhest Rovers, Newport Town, Straide and Foxford United B, Swinford and Urlar United. The action will take place over 12 Wednesday nights between week next, December 5 and the middle of March next year, with 10 rounds in division one and 12 in division two. Also taking place will be the Oliver Kelleher Cup during the run of the competition. Games will take place at 7pm, 8pm, and 9pm each evening, with two games talking place at a time, a number of Saturday evenings have also been put aside for playing outstanding games that have had to be called off for any reason.

Social media seminar for sports clubs

Fri, Nov 23, 2012

Following the very successful club development seminar held earlier this year Mayo Sports Partnership is calling all sports clubs in the region to sign up for the 2012 social media seminar for sports clubs in the Mayo Education Centre, Old Westport Rd, Castlebar, on Wednesday December 5.

Ballagh have to put it in for the full 60 minutes on Sunday

Fri, Nov 23, 2012

On what will be a unique day for football as a club from the geographical county of Roscommon will be Connacht champions. This will be the first time that St Brigid’s from Roscommon and Ballaghaderreen from Mayo/Roscommon will contest a provincial final. This unique pairing has presented an opportunity for some people to debate the age old argument of whether the Mayo boys should in fact be playing in Roscommon. As we all know, the town is administered by Roscommon County Council and for all intents and purposes is a Roscommon town, but it has declared its football allegiance to Mayo for the past 124 years. Whatever your views are on the issue, all of Mayo will be staunchly supporting the Ballagh boys in McHale Park on Sunday. I am not so sure they have the armoury to beat the Roscommon champions who, incidentally, are managed and coached by Kevin McStay and Liam McHale. I was in the Hodson Bay hotel during the week (Brigid’s territory) and many I spoke to are confident that not alone will Brigid’s win a Connacht title, but they feel they are good enough to win an All-Ireland this year. I’m not so sure but Sunday will give us a fair indication of their true worth. Ballaghaderreen, on the other hand, have been quite patchy in their recent performances. In their semi-final victory over Curry they were fortunate to be behind by just two points at half time. Had it been Brigid’s they were playing on that occasion Ballagh would have been out of sight by then. It could have been seven or eight. They did not get motoring until after half time and in fairness they were brilliant when they eventually did, playing arguably their finest football of the year in that second half. But if they are to stand any chance of winning on Sunday they will definitely need to perform for the entire 60 minutes.

Mayo AC gearing up for twenty fifth anniversary celebrations

Fri, Nov 23, 2012

Mayo Athletic Club will celebrate 25 years of success since the club was founded, at an anniversary function to be held in the Failte Suite at The Welcome Inn Hotel, Castlebar, on Saturday December 1 at 8pm.

E-paper

Read this weeks E-paper. Past editions also available from within this weeks digital copy.