Players turn out in force for meeting with executive

Thu, Oct 01, 2015

As the fog descended on Castlebar tonight (Thursday, October 1), a large contingent of this years Mayo senior squad arrived at the ground to meet with top officials from the county board. It had been expected that a small delegation from the panel would be at the meeting, but the turn out of the vast majority of the panel was not expected.

The meeting didn't last that long and the players left without making any comment on the the situation that has taken over the county in the past few days, since news of the no confidence motion passed by the players in the current management leaked into the local media on Tuesday morning.

Gone in 25 minutes

Fri, Sep 11, 2015

Another chapter for Mayo’s House of Pain secured itself after the football team's 2015 adventure came to an abrupt end at the hands of Dublin in the semi final last weekend. In a few years' time people will look back at the result and the score line will suggest that Dublin were comfortable winners but the margins were very tight in this game. A stroke of luck for Dublin and, in my opinion, a poor refereeing decision put paid to any chance Mayo had of reaching the All-Ireland final and for another crack at Kerry.

The end of the latest adventure

Fri, Sep 11, 2015

It might not have had the drama and frustration of how things ended last year in Limerick, but at the end of the day the result was the same and Mayo were bound for home on Sunday evening, with plenty of questions and plenty of regrets in the boot. In the past 12 months, Mayo have played in four All Ireland semi-finals (including replays both years) and not got over the line and back to the All Ireland final. Plenty time will be spent over the winter months picking over where it went wrong again and what could have been done. At the end of the day, the better team won. Dublin should have killed us off the first day when they were seven points up, but they made no mistake last Sunday when we were unable to hold onto a four point lead with the game entering the final straight.

The present is all that matters for Ardnaree

Fri, Sep 11, 2015

"If your feet are in the past, you haven't a leg to stand on in the present," said Ardnaree manager Declan O'Dea this week, when speaking to the Mayo Advertiser about his side's upcoming junior championship semi-final against fellow north Mayo men Ardagh. O'Dea is back in charge of Ardnaree this year after a few years' sabbatical from the post. Ardnaree haven't won the junior championship since 1971 and bringing the Pete McDonnell Cup back to home is something that has gone on too long for all those concerned. Ardnaree have lost three finals in recent times going down in the 2009, 2011 and 2012 deciders, and they're back this year for another crack at glory.

GAA: Mayo GAA JFC Semi Final

Fri, Sep 11, 2015

Achill v Killala
Sunday, September 13 at 3.30pm

Disappointing weekend for Mayo and Galway senior teams

Fri, Sep 11, 2015

Mary Hannigan of The Irish Times is one of my favourite journalists. Her TV View column in Monday’s Times is a must read as her humour, caustic wit, and wry take on things invariably brings a smile to my lips.

Super weekend in the Super League

Fri, Sep 11, 2015

Manulla v Straide and Foxford United
Saturday, September 12 at 6pm

Mayo suffer capital punishment

Sat, Sep 05, 2015

No matter what when on in the build up to this game, the simple truth when it came down to the crunch was that Dublin were the better team and won out in the end. The pantomime theatrics of the crowd booing the perceived villain on either side of the debate gave way to a game of football in the end and Dublin were the side who landed the knock-out blows when it mattered most.

'Seconds out.... round two'

Fri, Sep 04, 2015

Well, have the heart rates returned to normal yet? With just over 24 hours to go until Mayo and Dublin square up again in Ireland's colosseum, anticipation is at boiling point as the gladiators in green and red prepare to do battle once more with the Jacks from the city. While Mayo have named their first 15 on paper already ahead of the skirmish on Jones Road, if we have learned anything this year from Noel Connelly and Pat Holmes' tenure in charge of it is to expect the unexpected. While Barry Moran's inclusion in the quarter-final was a bolt from the blue, the decision to drop David Drake into the cauldron for his first championship start was a bolt from far beyond the reaches of our solar system.

A game of biblical proportions

Fri, Sep 04, 2015

Liam Gallagher once described a gig he played in Slane Castle as biblical, what went in Croke Park last Sunday was nothing short of the same. It was the most anticipated All-Ireland semi final in living memory and it certainly did not disappoint. I arrived early to do a piece with Radio One outside the Croke Park Hotel alongside former Hill 16 favourite Barney Rock and the place was buzzing at 12.30pm. I ran into a few former team mates, namely David Heaney, David Brady, and Kevin O'Neill who had just flown in from the USA for the game. I also had a chat with current Kerry minor and former All-Ireland winning senior manager Jack O'Connor who was rightly cock a hoop about Mayo’s chances. He told myself and Brady that he was coming up to Mayo for a week after they eventually win Sam which he said could be in a few weeks time. I hope he’s right.

Where the game will be won and lost

Fri, Sep 04, 2015

As in every game between two evenly matched sides a number of factors will be decisive in sorting out where the winning and the losing of this game will be. We will look at a few of those factors here.

Mayo showed they have what it takes

Fri, Sep 04, 2015

The GAA patrons in both Galway and Mayo have one thing in common this week, a frantic search for tickets for next Saturday and Sunday’s two sell-out games at Croke Park. It promises to be a hectic 24 hours of GAA action with Mayo replaying Dublin for a place in the decider against perennial favourites Kerry, and the Galway hurlers trying to bridge a 27-year gap that stretches back to Conor Hayes as team captain in 1988.

First to the football, and it is well within Mayo’s compass to get a win this Saturday and I would give them a terrific chance of doing so. Pat Holmes and Noel Connelly should have learnt an awful lot from last weekend’s draw and with Diarmuid Connolly likely to be suspended, Dublin will be without one of their top men. Donal Vaughan will be a loss for Mayo too, however teams can find additional defenders, whereas top scoring forwards are always in short supply and Connolly on his game is crucial to Jim Gavin's cause.

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