That old familiar feeling
Fri, Feb 20, 2009
There was a palpable sense of excitement in the Royal Theatre on Wednesday night as delegates, managers, and interested parties gathered to see the draw for the 2009 Royal Theatre Mayo football championships. And when the dust had settled there was plenty to talk about on the journey home to the four corners of Mayo. As always the senior championship draw was the highlight of the night as the 16 teams who went into the draw waited to find out what obstacles they were going to overcome in the group stages of the competition. The four semi-finalists were drawn out first (one in each group) and those who fell at the quarter final next, with the final eight the last to come out. The process of the draw meant that one group would include a semi-finalist, a quarter-finalist, and the ominous figure of Ballina among the quartet. That group when drawn drew gasps from those in attendance as Group B pitted Crossmolina, Knockmore, Ballina, and Ballinrobe in one of two groups of death that were pulled out of the hat.
Read more ...Busy weekend of action on the club scene
Fri, Feb 20, 2009
Castlebar Ladies
The weekend 13 hole competition was won by Una Lydon with a great score of 31pts and in second place was another member of the same fourball, Mary Rose McNulty with an impressive 29pts.
Not falling into the art of losing
Fri, Feb 20, 2009
The art of losing isn’t hard to master. A team can get into a losing streak very easily and each and every loss chips away at a team’s confidence. Every subsequent game then heaps enormous pressure on all involved to put a stop to the losing streak.
Read more ...All Ireland club championship tops the list this weekend
Fri, Feb 20, 2009
We all remember different defeats with more emotion than others. Some leave a very raw scar that takes a long time to heal. It may be from a game that annoyed you intensely, or 60 minutes you would love to have re-lived again.
Defeat in an All-Ireland club semi-final is a tough station and one that does leave a bitter after-taste. The vast majority of clubs or players don't get too many bites of that particular apple and a semi-final is a hateful spot to go out.
Read more ...Iorras face long journey in FAI Junior Cup
Fri, Feb 20, 2009
“Even when we play away in Mayo we have to travel an hour and half to most places, but this is a bit further all right.” Iorras Aontaithe manager Eric Reilly jested about his side’s trip down the country this weekend in the FAI Junior Cup, the 250 plus mile down from their home in Carne Nash to south Cork and their opponents Kinsale.
Wins over Dublin Bus and Pike Rovers in the last two rounds of the competition have propelled Iorras into the seventh round of the competition and left them as the last Mayo side in the competition. “It’s great that we are here now and ready to go, we have nothing to fear going down there at all. Putting out Pike Rovers who would have been one of the favourites for the competition in the last round has given us a great boost going into the game.” The game, notwithstanding getting to Kinsale itself, will be an arduous task, but everything has been taken care of for the side according to Reilly. “We are going to be heading off from Belmullet at 11am on Saturday and should be down there early enough in the evening which will give us time to have dinner and have a bit of a team meeting the night before the game. The game will kick off at 12 nooon on Sunday so it will give us time to head back home, hopefully we’ll have something to celebrate on the way home.”
Read more ...Mayo set for Saturday showdown
Fri, Feb 13, 2009
It will take exactly three hours to cover the 122 miles it is between Castlebar and Letterkenny according to the AA on its website. So to make the 2.30pm throw in in comfortable time Mayo supporters will be leaving home from the county town not long after 10.30am on a Saturday. While Saturday evening games have become the norm for the National League, this weekend Mayo have the unusual fixture of a Saturday afternoon game against Donegal. The change in the fixture is something that the Mayo manager, while not overly happy with, will have to deal with. “It’s a strange one all right, when we heard that the game was not going to be played under lights we assumed it would be switched to a Sunday. But as far as I know it’s to do with TV rights that the game has to be on Saturday. It’s far from an ideal time for supporters to make a trip to Donegal and we need all the supporters we can at the games, and the people of Mayo want to come out and support us. We also believed that the game would then be played in Ballyshannon, but it was moved further away to Letterkenny, and this was all only decided last week, which was very late.”
Read more ...Mayo look to pick up after Derry defeat
Fri, Feb 13, 2009
While the rest of the country was fighting off the chill last Sunday and the pre-eminent side in the game couldn’t make it to Galway for their league game, Mayo made the long trip to Derry to open their account in division 3A of the National Hurling league. And despite a brave battle by their defence and midfield they came out on the wrong side of a 0-9 to 0-6 scoreline. Martin Brennan along with Pete Finnerty is again patrolling the sidelines this year and Brennan was disappointed with the result last weekend. “Well it was played in terrible conditions and we didn’t even think it would be played at all, but that’s no excuse for the scoreline. The conditions were the same for us as they were for Derry. Our defence and midfield put in a fantastic display, but it was up front where we had our problems and it’s something we need to get sorted out.”
Read more ...Time to pick things up again
Fri, Feb 13, 2009
The beauty of the National Football League is that you can dust yourself down after a particularly bad performance and within a week or two you are presented with another opportunity to redeem yourself. I know the Mayo lads were hurting after their defeat against Derry in Ballina two weeks ago, so there shouldn’t be too much energy expended in getting their heads right for this one. I was speaking to a few of the players after the Derry game and they were understandably annoyed that they didn’t get off to a winning start.
Read more ...It’s a weekend worth fighting off the flu for
Fri, Feb 13, 2009
It is funny what makes you feel loved and appreciated. I have just spent the last 20 minutes talking to God on the big white telephone with our three-years-old Neasa rubbing my back, giving me hugs, and telling me that it will be OK. “You’ll be better soon…” was the recurring mantra.
Read more ...It’s a weekend worth fighting off the flu for
Fri, Feb 13, 2009
It is funny what makes you feel loved and appreciated. I have just spent the last 20 minutes talking to God on the big white telephone with our three-years-old Neasa rubbing my back, giving me hugs, and telling me that it will be OK. “You’ll be better soon…” was the recurring mantra.
Unfortunately the six-year-old was much less supportive — life hardens them quickly — and she contemptuously told me that they were not real “pukes” at all as I was not making any large splashes. Having not eaten in three days, I didn’t expect much else. However, what took the biscuit — sorry — was when she told me to “finish up”, or she’d be late for school.
Read more ...Mayo ready for toughest challenge to date
Fri, Feb 13, 2009
This Sunday afternoon sees the Mayo League take to the field in the semi final of the Oscar Traynor Cup in the lion’s den of the AUL complex in Clonshaugh, Dublin. Their opposition, the much fancied Athletic Union League, are the favourites to lift the cup this year. Mayo manager Declan Kilkelly was confident going in to the game when he spoke to the Mayo Advertiser earlier this week. “We have a great squad here and if we play to the maximum of our potential, we have a great chance of making the final.” The Mayo side had a warm up game last week with a charity match against Iorras Aontaithe in Carne, which Mayo won 3-2, which Kilkelly believed to be a “great bonding session for the lads and preparation for this weekends challenge.”
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