All go all winter at Western lakes

Fri, Oct 23, 2009

BMX open day
Western Lakes CC will hold round two of the BMX League on Saturday October 24 at 11am sharp, the league is open to all categories from adult right through to u-8s. A variety of races and jump and skill competitions will take place during the day. An open session will be held where jumps and specific BMX skills will be thought by experts. The BMX track is situated at the cycling centre on the Kilmaine road out of Ballinrobe Co Mayo.

We can’t but admire the consistency of both finalists

Fri, Oct 23, 2009

Reasonable observers of this year’s senior county championship wouldn’t be too happy with the fare served up so far. At a personal level I am hugely disappointed not to be involved in the county final with Crossmolina. I am not being disrespectful to any team when I suggest that I thought we would have made the final, particularly having beaten Ballaghaderreen in the quarter final. Several fancied outfits, other than us had their frailties exposed too when push came to shove.

Kennelly hullabaloo a calamity of errors of his own making

Fri, Oct 23, 2009

Kerry’s Tadhg Kennelly had been having a most magnificent year in a Gaelic footballing context, until last Sunday morning. Home from Oz, back with the Kerry panel, he collects a national football league medal, an All-Ireland medal and only last weekend an All-Star. Happy days. Just sit back and enjoy the harvest over the next few months, either in Kerry or back in Australia.

Ardnaree and Kiltimagh look to move up

Fri, Oct 16, 2009

If you go by tradition alone then Kiltimagh will go into Sunday’s county junior final as hot favourites, but that won’t bother Ardnaree. If you follow that logic then Ardnaree have it all to gain and nothing to loose, but somehow you can’t imagine that they see that they have nothing to lose. The prize of a place in next year’s intermediate championship and the chance to winter the junior crown in their town is something that will make sure both sides leave everything on the field in McHale Park on Sunday.

Experience comes to the fore

Fri, Oct 16, 2009

You can’t beat experience or class. Despite the flamboyance and arrogance of youth, the old experienced warhorse who’s been there, done that, invariably realises that something clever is required if his team is going to prevail. And so it was last Sunday with Charlestown edging past Castlebar, just when some might have felt a shock was on the cards. In Crossmolina’s case in our semi-final defeat to Knockmore it looked as though we had too much experience and not enough youthful exuberance. Last Sunday Castlebar had plenty of youthful energy around the field, but when the game was there to be won, Charlestown had that little bit of guile and know-how to close out the deal. With all their experience they knew how to win this game and advance to yet another county final.

Mayo’s handballers lose out in World Championships

Fri, Oct 16, 2009

It was a somewhat disappointing World Championships for Mayo’s handballers overall, despite some fine performances the county drew a blank in terms of titles. Both Dessie Keegan and Joe McCann made surprisingly early exits from the feature Men’s Open event, Keegan losing out to Louis Moreno of the US while beaten finalist Alan Garner put paid to Joe McCann’s progress in the second round. Stephen Cooney lost out to Diarmuid Nash in the third round of the boys 19 and under, while he an Ian McLoughlin had a great run in the Men’s A doubles, only to lose out to the Tipperary-Tyrone combination of Ger Coonan and Caolan Daly at the semi-final stage.

Kerry and Cork set to dominate the All Stars

Fri, Oct 16, 2009

The Vodafone football All-Stars are due to be announced tonight (Friday), live on RTÉ with the hurling All-Stars having been announced earlier on this afternoon. As is the norm, the All-Ireland final winners will get the bulk of the statuettes, with the defeated finalists also collecting a few baubles as consolation for their year.

All tight at the top of the Super League

Fri, Oct 16, 2009

Ballina Town knew it was never going to be easy to win this year’s Super League crown, and if any complacency slipped into their minds, last weekend they were brought back to earth. Ballina saw their lead at the top of the table cut from three points to one with three games left in the league.

Points vital on Super League Sunday

Fri, Oct 09, 2009

It’s back to the day job in the Mayo Super League this weekend, and with four games to go Ballina Town sit three points clear at the top of the table. Brendan Kenny’s side have a very winnable game this weekend when they make the short trip to Green Road to take on a Straide and Foxford United side who are bouncing around in the bottom two of the league. After last year’s highs of a cup double and claiming the Premier Division title the Green Road side have struggled to make an impact in the Super League. But with their survival at stake they will put it up to Ballina on Sunday, but the visitors’ desire and greater need should see them through.

Ballina lead the way for Mayo clubs

Fri, Oct 09, 2009

Ballina currently lead the way for the Mayo clubs in the Connacht Junior League following three rounds of Division 1A. The north Mayo men picked up their second win of the season last weekend thanks to a bonus point win over Tuam at home. It was just what Ballina were looking for after going down in the previous round to second place Monivea. The Creggs Road side crossed the line with tries from Robert Forbes, Conor Forde, Paul Neary, and David Newman to wrap up a 29-3 win. This weekend the Ballina men will make the short trip to Cloondeash to take on a winless Castlebar side in round four of the competition. Last weekend the county town side went down to a 22-7 defeat at the hands of Corinthians, and despite leading by 7-5 at the break, thanks to a David Staunton try which was converted by Ronan Conway, they weren’t able to hold on to the lead and were steamrolled in the second half, with Corinthians hitting two tries. Castlebar haven’t had a good start to the season and will be looking for a much improved performance on Sunday against Ballina.

Home internationals a huge success in Westport

Fri, Oct 09, 2009

Ballyhaunis
Last weekend’s Stableford competition saw Connor Freeley score a 44 off 15. The ladies’ section was won by Laura Freeley who scored 40 off 13, with Kay Fanning finishing in second place with a score of 37 off 19. The men’s competition was won by John Burke who scored a 42 off 8, Emmett Keane came second with a 41. Third place went to Willie Coyne with a score of 40 off 20.

A true great of Crossmolina and the game

Fri, Oct 09, 2009

If friendship was to be measured by the number of times I called to John Naughton’s house to say hello, I was not John’s friend at all, for I never called to his home, nor he to mine and this despite the fact that he only lived over the road from me here in Castlebar. But I have known John all of my adult life because he played in goal for the Crossmolina senior football team for years. Unfortunately John lost his brave battle with cancer and passed away last week. John was a very clever, gifted, man who knew things that others didn’t. He was interested in predictable things like Gaelic football, his farm and livestock, and loved his work with the HSE in Castlebar Hospital. He always struck me as being a wise man. He remained passionate about the Crossmolina football team even after he stopped playing. When I made my way on to the senior team in Crossmolina John was already the well established custodian, having played in goals for years prior to my arrival. He took his game seriously and was never shy in making a suggestion as to how the opposition would be beaten, or offering his point of view on what was going awry in a game. John had notions of grandeur for the club. He wasn’t content with the junior medal won in 1975 or the intermediate title won in 1980. He wanted the team to be the best it could be, to be up there with the top teams competing for the county senior title annually. He was one of the real leaders in the dressing room during my indoctrination. At that time I was a young naive defender on the team and John often pulled me aside before, during, and after games to offer encouragement and advice, for which I was most grateful for. What I loved about those words was the fact that they were delivered in the language of the plain man. In other words, there was no doubt in my mind about the content of the message delivered! John’s manner was genial, his humour easy, and his mind acute. He was enormously proud of the achievements of his native Crossmolina, particularly the All Ireland club victory in 2001. On big match days, whether it was Mayo or Crossmolina that was involved, John would have the field in front of the house bedecked in the Mayo and Crossmolina colours. The display of a variety of paraphernalia, bunting, and flags signalled the fact that a serious follower of the GAA lived in the house behind the field. An enormous crowd of old GAA friends and colleagues, from as far away as Co. Tyrone, turned out for his funeral last weekend to bid farewell to a good man who loved his sport. John would have been immensely proud of his son Kieran who bravely took to the field last Sunday to assist his club, Castlebar Mitchell’s, get through their quarter-final replay vs Shrule/Glencorrib successfully. It can’t have been easy.

E-paper

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