David O’Loughlin in fitness race for Tour of Ireland
Fri, Jul 31, 2009
Mayo’s An Post Sean Kelly team member David O’Loughlin is in a race against time to be fit for the upcoming Tour of Ireland after suffering a serious injury racing in Germany at the weekend. O’Loughlin crashed on Saturday while taking part in the fourth stage of the Sachsen-Tour International um den Sparkassen-Cup in Germany.
The Mayo native fell heavily on his face and had a minor operation in Germany before flying back to Dublin. O’Loughlin finished second at last month’s National Championships behind Nicholas Roche, who finished 23rd at last week’s Tour de France, but he is in a race against time to be fit for the Tour of Ireland in August, where he would compete against Lance Armstrong and Mark Cavendish, among a host of other top cyclists.
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Champions go down and slip off summit
Fri, Jul 24, 2009
They may have only lost their footing from the top of the table momentarily and only be there on goal difference, but Westport United will be hurting after Ballyheane came to the Sports Park and went home with three points, thanks to Alan McHugh’s goal 11 minutes before time. While Ballyheane in their history are no strangers to taking big scalps, going to Westport having only won two games beforehand, it looked like a major job for the men from Quigley Park, but their dogged determination and closing down of Westport in every area on the park ensured that they didn’t let their late lead slip.
For Westport, well they could be back on top of the table as you read this as they played Snugboro in their game in hand as the paper went to print. But they follow that up with a not altogether easy trip to take on Iorras Aontaithe in Carnenash on Saturday evening. The north Mayo men were sitting in third place in the table after last weekend’s round of games, where the went to Conway Park and took home three points thanks to a 2-1 win over Snugboro United. Iorras have been in good form lately and they continued that last weekend. Ivan Barrett gave them the lead in the first half, but they surrendered it thanks to a Kevin Curry goal for the home side, but a winner late on from Garrett O’Malley was enough for them to take home the points to Erris. Having the Super League champions in Carnenash this weekend Iorras will be looking forward to and they will be going all out to dent Westport’s title charge and improve their own.
Read more ...Cyclists set new record time for Mizen to Malin cycle route
Fri, Jul 24, 2009
A group of 18 hardened cyclists cycled the 590kms from Mizen to Malin at an average speed of 33kph, to complete the distance in a time of 18hrs 53mins to set a new record for a group. The group were lucky to have dry conditions but had not the advantage of a helping wind as the winds were mostly hitting the riders on their right shoulder.
Read more ...Good scores continue from around the county
Fri, Jul 24, 2009
Balla Golf Club
Nora Heraty won the Lady Captain’s (Breege Jennings) Prize on Sunday July 19 at Balla Golf Club.
Dead men walking?
Fri, Jul 24, 2009
I came across the movie The Green Mile a few nights ago on late night zombie TV.
You know the flick. It was adapted from a Stephen King short story back in 1999.
Read more ...There is only ever one question before big games
Fri, Jul 24, 2009
I paid a visit to Anthony Finnerty’s hostelry in lower Salthill before the game last Sunday. There was a great buzz about the place with plenty of Mayo supporters popping in for the crack and banter before the short hop over to Pearse Stadium. One of the first people I met on arrival was PJ Kelly from Moygownagh. He is a great passionate football man and was eagerly seeking everyone’s opinion as to who they thought would win the game. “Would we win it? Are we good enough to win it”? I got the impression that PJ was happy with the answers coming from the gathering and would have left for the stadium pretty confident that Mayo would win their first provincial title since 1967 at the city venue. If I am to be perfectly honest here I have to admit that I found it very difficult to predict the outcome in advance of Sunday’s game. I know from experience that Galway v Mayo encounters take on a life of their own and the form book goes out the window when these two sides meet. Irrespective of form coming into a championship encounter, there is rarely more than a point or two separating these two great rivals. Galway looked so ordinary against Sligo a few weeks ago that punters could have been forgiven for believing that this would be a relatively ‘handy’ match for the Mayo boys. Mayo, on the other hand, looking hugely impressive when carrying out a demolition job on Roscommon in the semi-final. I suggested, prior to the game, that our poor run of results in Pearse Stadium in recent decades would be a factor. Because of that I felt we would have to be five or six points a better team than Galway to beat them in a venue where we hadn’t won a provincial championship since 1967.
Read more ...Major improvement needed from minors
Fri, Jul 24, 2009
Those who made the trek to Salthill early last Sunday to catch a glimpse of this year’s batch of Mayo minors after getting a glowing recommendation following their destruction of Galway in the Connacht semi-final, will have been rightly scratching their heads at full time. It would be hard to imagine any two sides coming together in a provincial final and producing a worse game of football. Mayo got a second chance at the death, thanks to captain Aidan Walsh who tapped over a free manufactured by Cillian O’Connor a minute into injury time, which was sweet relief for Mayo. Roscommon players and supporters will be scratching their own heads at how they contrived to not win a game. They just avoided hitting double the amount of wides to scores they got on the board (15 in total), but also dropped a number of efforts short of the target or so wild that they managed to drift off target and still not cross the end line.
Read more ...Balla road race to attract large field
Fri, Jul 24, 2009
The last Saturday in July looms again on the athletic horizon and in the west that means one thing: The 17th annual Balla 10k. It is race three of the 2009 C&C Cellular Mayo AC Road League. Love it or loathe it, this race is a landmark test on the summer calendar, and the demanding undulations are evident straight away as the one lap course leave town and climbs over the railway bridge. There are excellent viewing points for spectators in the last kilometre as the finishers head for a grandstand finish in Main Street.
This year participants in the Fit4Life programme running in Claremorris, Swinford, Ballina, and other centres will add a welcome new dimension to the race. Following the very successful Ballina 10k last week, many will look forward with confidence to the Balla race and there are spot prizes for Fit4Life finishers. Current league leaders after just two races are Catherine Conway and Robert Malseed. League results so far will be on display. There is €2,000 prize fund with prizes for the first six senior men and women, first three men and women over 35, first man over 50, 60, and 70, and for the first woman over 45 and 50. There will be a t-shirt and goody bags for all finishers.
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Good showing from Mayo riders in Ballina and Cavan
Fri, Jul 17, 2009
The Ballina Show attracted superb crowds over the weekend in mixed weather conditions and produced some sterling performances from Mayo riders. Sunday’s Puissance was a prime example with Knockmore’s Alex Dufffy and Killala’s Shane Quinn sharing first place in a dramatic finale to the show.
Read more ...Mayo competitors bring home trophies on Sligo rally
Fri, Jul 17, 2009
Sligo was the destination for a mini-Mayo invasion at the weekend as no fewer than 16 local rally crews descended on the county for the Sligo Stages Rally, round six of the Dunlop National Rally Championship, and round five of the HASS Border Rally Championship.
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