League start date put off a week
Sat, Mar 31, 2012
The Mayo league announced last week that it has put back the start date of this year’s Mayo League due to “circumstances beyond our control”. A statement issued by the league last weekend said: “Due to circumstances beyond our control the Mayo Football League have decided to delay the start of the 2012 season by one week, therefore the opening match of our 2012 season will take place on Saturday, April 7, in Milebush Park with the Charity Shield.
Read more ...Mayo Sports Partnership launches annual funding scheme
Sat, Mar 31, 2012
The board of the Mayo Sports Partnership has announced details of its upcoming Special Participation Grant Scheme for 2012. This scheme invites clubs and organisations which have sport/recreation as their central focus to submit proposals which would increase participation among target groups such as youth at risk, disadvantaged communities, unemployed, women, Travelling community, people with disabilities, and ethnic minorities. This may include setting up new clubs or additional activities which would increase participation within existing organisations.
Read more ...McAdam wins a year’s free golf at Mulranny
Sat, Mar 31, 2012
Balla
Last weekend was the first Golfer of the Year event and in the men’s section, John Walsh was the winner with a score of 52. Mick Mellett came second on 53 and Pat Kilgallon took third with a score of 54. The ladies’ competition was won by Nora Gibbons whose back nine play saw her hold off Geraldine O’Malley in second place when both finished on 52. Aine MhicSuibhne came third. The gross prize was won by PJ Brett.
Fitzmaurice wins Harlequin Adventure Duathlon
Sat, Mar 31, 2012
Glorious weather brought enthusiastic athletes out to enjoy Castlebar last weekend. The event was blessed with the beautiful sunny weather and for the hundreds who took part most could enjoy the views without been overwhelmed by the tough course.
Read more ...Horan happy with 70 minute performance
Sat, Mar 31, 2012
It's been a tough couple of weeks for James Horan. Three defeats on the bounce, two of those when Mayo were leading at half time and had a man advantage, had the annual questioning of the direction that Mayo football was going in; kick in a earlier than normal this year. But a 12 point win over the All Ireland champions in front of a healthy crowd on a glorious evening has washed all those doubts away. Right? Well it's not exactly that simple is it. Mayo were good on Saturday night and at some points very good. But there is always a caveat, while Mayo were good, Dublin were poor and looked disinterested at times and after the game while James Horan knew his side had done well, he was also conscious of the fact that Dublin weren't fully at the races. “It was a good display, we played well today. We did a lot of good stuff and we might have caught the Dubs a bit cold today so we took advantage of it and played our game and played well. So we're delighted with the performance.” Horan went on to say that he didn't know why Dublin were a bit off the boil, but it wasn't his concern “It could have been the travel down whatever I don't know. But we had the intensity to win the game. We've seen Dublin do it in the past, they might not have played as well today as they could, but that's not for me to worry about, we did our stuff.”
Read more ...Return of Dublin based players to midweek training key to success - Moran
Sat, Mar 31, 2012
In his time as a Mayo player Andy Moran has been involved in some incredible highs, such as the 2006 All Ireland semi-final where he came off the bench and scored the goal that turned that game back in Mayo's favour and lows, like the that day in June in Pearse Park, Longford two years ago. Through it all he's always been looking forward to the next challenge, not looking back. A couple of minutes after coming off the field on Saturday night, he was asked was it nights like this he played football for and he responded saying, “I play for just for playing all the time, nights like tonight is great, but it was great going back on to the training pitch on Tuesday trying to fix what went wrong last week and I think in the second half we did that there tonight.” While he enjoyed the win, there's not many other players about who would say that they equally enjoyed getting back on the training field as much as beating the All Ireland champions in front of 10,000 of your own fans.
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The master plan doesn’t change just because of a few defeats – Horan
Sun, Mar 25, 2012
After three defeats on the trot in as many weeks and Dublin and Kerry next up over the forthcoming two weekends, it could be easy for people to think that it's panic stations in the Mayo camp. But after Sunday's latest defeat, Mayo Manager James Horan wasn't for hitting the panic button, just yet. “Ah no, a lot of the stuff we are doing it right and we just have to keep working at it. The master plan doesn’t change just because of a few defeats – if you start to change it then panic sets in. We know what we’re trying to do, it’s a bumpy road but we’ll keep at it.”
However when pressed on whether he felt his side had let two points slip through their fingers, he recognised that this was a chance lost by his side to make sure they are playing division one football next season. “We gave away a couple of hand-passes near the end and that’s what killed us – simple skills execution at key teams. When we needed to hold onto the ball we panicked a little bit. That costs you, which it probably should at this level. We’ll just have to get at it next week.” The failure to close out the game from an advantageous position will worry many and Horan acknowledged that fact “Yeah, and we didn’t. There were a couple of things we didn’t do like we should have – we should have kicked on a little bit more, we gave the ball away at key times in absolutely crazy situations. That cost us ultimately.”
Read more ...Moran positive about improvement from Donegal
Sun, Mar 25, 2012
Three defeats in a row can be hard to take for a player. But Andy Moran has always been one of the most positive characters in the game on and off the field. It wasn't any different on Sunday after seeing a five point lead turned into a one point defeat at the final whistle, but it was heartbreaking he admitted amongst the positives he saw in the game. “Seven days is a long time in football and we can take a lot of positives out of it. If we can improve like that in seven days again, we'll have come a long way. But it's heartbreaking to be honest, it's a big defeat and hopefully we'll respond in the right way.”
Read more ...Serious questions for Mayo to answer on Sunday
Fri, Mar 23, 2012
While the league is second fiddle in how a season is judged as the championship is still the be all and end all, last Sunday’s Mayo performance in Ballyshannon is something that will have every Mayo supporter worrying about how long Mayo’s summer involvement in the championship will last.
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