Ballintubber have established themselves as the team to beat
Fri, Oct 28, 2011
When Anthony McGarry took over as manager of the Ballintubber team late last year, he did so from a position of considerable strength. They [Ballintubber] had just won their first county title, and not alone did McGarry get to manage a talented bunch of young men, he also inherited a team that knew how to maximise their playing strengths. He was then given the scope to evolve the team’s style of play by shifting away from the rear-loaded defensive strategy, employed to reasonable effect last year, to a more expansive attacking style this year.
Read more ...Ballintubber doubled up last Sunday
Fri, Oct 28, 2011
It was never going to be easy for Ballintubber this year, following up last year’s emotional first Mayo senior championship title, losing their manager to the county senior team, a new man coming in trying to steady the ship and push on. But they did it again last Sunday and put together back to back senior titles, thanks to a massive effort to overcome a Castlebar Mitchels side who were licking their wounds from last year’s final loss to the Tubber.
Read more ...Davitts to test their mettle against Melvin men
Fri, Oct 28, 2011
It has been a whirlwind couple of weeks for Davitts, a fortnight ago they hung on against Burrishoole to claim their first Mayo Intermediate title in 30 years in McHale Park. They managed to curb the celebrations enough last weekend to beat Kiltimagh by 1-16 to 1-7 to secure promotion to Division 1A of the senior football league for next season, and if Breaffy fail to beat Bohola Moy Davitts on Saturday night they can add the Division 1B championship to the top table for the dinner dance.
Read more ...Up or down or stay the same
Fri, Oct 28, 2011
Last week the Mayo County Board sent out draft new structures to the different divisions for the Mayo GAA league in 2011. The new structures would see six divisions of 12 teams each, going from Division 1A right down to Division 1F. Currently there are seven divisions from 1A to 1G with 11 teams in Divisions 1A, 1B, 1D and 1E. Division 1C has 10 teams, with Division 1F having nine, and 1G eight teams.
The new proposals are pretty straightforward for the top couple of divisions, in Division 1A one team will go down and two teams come up from 1B. In 1B one team will go down, with three teams coming up from 1C. The third rung of the league ladder will see a lot of movement, with the bottom team from 1B dropping down and five teams from 1D coming up, with six of the current Division 1C sides staying where they are. In Division 1D it will be a similar situation with one dropping down from 1C and five coming up from 1E, while in Division 1E six teams will come up from Division 1F and one team drop into it from 1D. The bottom tier will be Division 1F which will be made up of the bottom placed team in 1F this year and three current 1F teams and eight teams coming up from Division 1E.
Read more ...Mitchels look to end finals wipe-out
Fri, Oct 28, 2011
Tonight, if things went to plan for Castlebar Mitchels, would have been a chance to mark themselves out as the premier side in the county across all the big grades this year. But double defeat last Sunday in the county senior and minor finals has left just the U21A title up for grabs for the Mitchels men. The county town side will not want to let this one slip through their grasp and will go into the game as favourites after overcoming a fancied Breaffy side at the last four stage of the competition. Both sides have bounced back from opening day defeats, with Castlebar losing to Aghamore who were beaten by their opponents on Friday night, Hollymount-Carramore at the semi-final stage and the south Mayo men going down to Westport in their first game back in the summer.
On paper Castlebar have the players to take this one home. Danny Kirby, who is fast becoming one of the players to watch for the future for Mayo football, has the potential to take this game by the scruff of the neck and drive his side on. He has a more than capable line-up of supporting actors alongside him, with former Mayo minor captain Aidan Walsh and Mayo senior panellist from this year Eoghan O’Reilly top quality players in their own rights. O’Reilly will probably be given the job of stopping Hollymount-Carramore’s main attacking threat, Darren Coen, which will be a tough task in itself. Coen has been very impressive for the amalgamations intermediate side this term and is who his team-mates will be looking to for inspiration tonight. Mitchels also can boast in their ranks the players such as Cian Costello, Niall McCarney, Fergal Durkan and Shane Irwin who can each have a big influence on the outcome of this contest. However, you can’t rule out the south Mayo men who staged a real snatch and grab raid at the death in their semi-final win against Aghamore a fortnight ago in the same venue.
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Mayo athletes continue to perform well at home and abroad
Fri, Oct 21, 2011
Ann Murray (Mayo AC) won the women's masters race in the Connacht Cross Country championships held in Galway on Saturday.
Read more ...O’Neill lands hole in one in Mulranny
Fri, Oct 21, 2011
Mulranny
Sunday’s Allergan sponsored stableford competition was won by Tom Mulloy with 39pts. Ger Staunton finished second on 35 pts, with Aidan Brett’s 33pts in third place. George Reilly aced the eighth hole, playing in the club four ball semi-final with partner Colam O’Neill. Using an seven iron, this was Reilly’s first hole in one.
Hutton takes over as Mayo League manager
Fri, Oct 21, 2011
The Mayo League last week announced the appointment of Claremorris manager Michael Hutton as the new manager of the Mayo League team for its upcoming Oscar Traynor campaign. Joining Hutton’s backroom team is Paul Ginty who will take on the role of fitness coach/trainer and Paul Byrne who will be one of the coaches. Tommy Rumley will be the kit manager with Padraig McHale the team liaison officer. Mayo have been drawn in a three team group including the Roscommon League and the Sligo Leitrim League.
Read more ...Conroy leads Davitts to historic win
Fri, Oct 21, 2011
It was 30 years in the making but last Sunday evening shortly after 5pm, all the memories of those 30 years were put to bed when Michael Conroy climbed the steps of McHale Park and collected the Sweeney Cup in front of delighted team-mates, family, friends, and supporters from all over the Ballindine and Irishtown area.
Read more ...It was another great few days of football at home last weekend
Fri, Oct 21, 2011
I was at the two under 21 semi-finals in McHale Park last Friday evening. It was a wonderful evening for football and the football on view was good too. The first game between Aughamore and the combined forces of Hollymount and Carramore had a dramatic finish. For long periods Aughamore looked the dominant side and appeared to be cruising to a fairly comfortable victory, but the Holly/Carra boys never stopped believing in themselves and persevered right to the very end. They finished strongly, eventually winning by two points. The Aughamore boys appeared shocked that they had not managed to close out the game and they will scratch their heads for a while yet wondering how they managed to let this one slip away.
Read more ...Morley makes Irish shinty panel
Fri, Oct 21, 2011
Mayo hurler Shane Morley has been chosen on the Irish Hurling/Shinty Senior International side to face Scotland over the coming weeks. Morley impressed Irish manager Joe Dooley (Offaly) at recent trials held in Dublin, and was chosen on the 18-man Irish squad to face the Scots in the two-legged series. The opening game between the sides takes place tomorrow (Saturday) in Athy, Kildare, at 3pm - with the return leg taking place in Bught Park in Inverness on the following Saturday, October 29 at 2pm. The home game in Athy will be televised live on TG4 at 3pm. The side with the best aggregate score over the two legs in the hybrid game will win the series. Morley is one of eight players chosen from Christy Ring Cup counties, with 10 players on the panel being chosen from the McCarthy Cup sides. Michael Rice (Kilkenny) will captain the side in the series, while Tipperary duo Eoin Kelly and Brendan Maher are also included. Other notable names from the McCarthy Cup counties include Joe Bergin (Offaly) and Arron Graffin (Antrim). Twenty-six-year-old Morley (Tooreen) - who is making his first appearance in the Irish jersey - is the only Connacht player included in the 18-man squad.
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