Ladies Football: Connacht Senior Football final

Fri, Jul 10, 2015

On Sunday at 4pm the Mayo Ladies senior footballers will go looking to reclaim the Connacht Senior Championship from their southern neighbours after a few years of dominance in the province by Galway. Frank Browne is back in charge of Mayo this year after being the man who guided Mayo to the All Ireland final back in 2007 only for his tenure to end in controversial circumstances, before he could build on that success the next year.

Result was more than a minor surprise

Fri, Jul 10, 2015

I thought I was hearing things when I tuned into Midwest radio last Saturday evening to see how our minors were getting on against our bitter rivals Galway. I did not make it to the game because of the lure of what was on TV as I wanted to see how Roscommon would respond after their embarrassing defeat at the hands of Sligo. Mayo’s defeat to Galway by a whopping 17 points has to go down as one of the darkest days in Mayo football at minor level. I do not recall any Mayo minor team taking a pasting of that magnitude.

It is slightly ironic that it is the same margin of victory as our seniors had in Salthill in 2013 when Galway football was well and truly embarrassed. What is probably even more bizarre is that prior to throw in this was viewed as a 50/50 game. Mayo have never lost a minor championship game by more than eight points before. Mayo were dealt a severe blow losing two key players before the start  and their team captain midway through the first half but losing by 17 points is really inexplicable for a county with a proud football tradition which was going for three Connacht championships in a row. I have no doubt there will be an inquiry as to how such a poor performance occurred.

Minor hurlers begin All Ireland title defence

Fri, Jul 10, 2015

The Mayo Minor Hurlers start the defence of their All Ireland Minor C title against Sligo at the Connacht Centre of Excellence in Bekan tomorrow Saturday, July 11, at 3.30pm. Mayo are in contention for three in a row at this grade having defeated Ulster champions Monaghan in 2013 and 2014 to win the title.

All tight at the top with some big clashes this weekend

Fri, Jul 10, 2015

Ballyglass v Ballyheane
Saturday, July 11 at 7pm

Saturday, July 11 at 7pm

Where did the seats go?

Thu, Jul 09, 2015

Speaking on Mid West Radio this morning, Connacht GAA Council Secretary John Prenty outlined where most of the stand tickets for the big game went to. Prenty said that the capacity of the stand in Dr Hyde Park is 3,612. The competing counties were allocated 1,800 stand tickets, 1,000 tickets for player and sponsors of the three competing teams on the day including the minor final, 300 seats went on sale in Super Valu shops which is part of the agreement with the shops, 100 tickets for the Galway three in a row team that are being honoured on the day and there will be 48 invited guests of the Connacht Council.

Prenty also said that the decision was made to put the season ticket holders on the sideline concrete seats that are not covered as it was the fairest thing that everyone with a season ticket would be treated the exact same way. He also said that the Connacht Council had warned the GAA before that there could be a problem in with seating season ticket holders in the stand in the province as the majority of the grounds in the provience didn't have the capacity to give all the season ticket holders a seat.

Galway end minors summer in style

Sat, Jul 04, 2015

There was 17 points between these sides at the end and it could have been 27 if Galway had kept up the pace they showed in the first half in the second period. They went in leading by 11 points at the break and had their place in the Connacht final already secured before the final 30 minutes of the contest.

No room for minor errors tomorrow evening

Fri, Jul 03, 2015

Last Sunday in Croke Park, Kildare booked their place in the final of the Leinster minor championship with a swashbuckling win over Dublin. This was despite the fact the Lillywhites had already been beaten in the championship by Louth back in April. However in Connacht there are no second chances for teams, until the final where both sides are guaranteed a place in the All Ireland quarter-final.

Elite eight now known in senior and intermediate grades

Fri, Jul 03, 2015

The contenders and pretenders have been sorted out in both the Mayo senior and intermediate championship after last weekend's third round of action in the group stages of both competition.

Kiltane edge through in day of drama

Sun, Jun 28, 2015

After this weekends final round of action in the group stages of the Mayo GAA Senior Football Championship we now know the eight sides who’ll be contesting the knock-out stages. Breaffy, Castlebar Mitchels, Ballintubber and Kiltane all won their groups and Knockmore, Ballina Stephenites, Aghamore and Garrymore joined them after finishing in second place in their respective groups.

Heigh Ho, Heigh Ho it's off to the Hyde we go

Fri, Jun 26, 2015

There was plenty of shock on Wednesday evening when it was announced by the Connacht GAA Council that Hyde Park in Roscommon would be the venue for this year's Connacht Senior Football Championship final between Mayo and Sligo. All indications up to that point were that the game would be played in either Castlebar's Elverys MacHale Park or Galway's Pearse Stadium.

Roscommon did not see that one coming

Fri, Jun 26, 2015

There had not been one shock so far in the first round of the All-Ireland football championship, a few landslide victories that we did not see coming, but no underdog eliminating any overwhelming favourite from their provincial championship. That all changed last Saturday evening in Markevicz Park in Sligo where the home side completely outplayed and outfought a Roscommon side that seemed to believe all their own hype.

I would imagine it was mentioned in the pre-match team talk. I listened to Roscommon manager John Evans on 2fm’s Game On the Monday after they defeated Down in the division two league final declaring his team will be competing against Dublin and Kerry in the near future in All-Ireland finals. Not a mention of Mayo or any team in their province, Sligo were not even on his radar, he wanted to catch a whale, he should have started with a mackerel. I cringed listening to Evans declaring how brilliant his team were, some will call his ideals open and honest, it was more like stupid to me. You are setting yourself up for one giant humiliation and that is certainly what occurred in Sligo.

Five spots in last eight still up for grabs in senior championship

Fri, Jun 26, 2015

As the last weekend of action in the group stages of both the senior and intermediate championships gets ready to throw in for action this weekend, there are still an awful lot of things to sort out. The only certain things are that Castlebar Mitchels, Knockmore and Breaffy will be in the last eight of the competition when it recommences later this summer, leaving five more places still up for grabs from three of the groups.

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