Saturday night showdown for Celtic

Fri, Jan 30, 2015

Castlebar Celtic will take on league leaders Wexford Youths in the latest round of action in the Continental Tyres Women’s National League at 7pm on Saturday evening. Celtic are currently sitting in fifth place in the seven team division, 16 points behind their opponents for tomorrow night.

Mayo sides ready for Junior Cup battles

Fri, Jan 30, 2015

The first round proper of the Connacht Junior Cup kicks off this weekend and five Mayo junior rugby teams are in action. Ballinrobe were the first Mayo team into the competition last weekend when they travelled to Tuam in the preliminary round, and the south Mayo team came home with a hard fought four point win over the north Galway outfit. Seamus O’Toole’s team were trailing 11-0 early on but they managed to keep their opponents scoreless for the entire second half, and when Anthony Coleman crashed over the line just before the break the game turned in their favour. Oisín Gill cut the gap to just three points from a penalty early in the second half and when Peter Cosgrove touched down for Ballinrobe’s second try and Gill converted Ballinrobe had that winning taste in their mouths, and they held on to book their place in the first round proper this weekend.

Concentration costs Mayo at the death

Sat, Jan 24, 2015

At the end of the day, it's just a warm-up competition and on the balance of play Roscommon deserved their win in this Hastings Cup semi-final. But Mayo will feel that this game slipped through their fingers right at the death and denied them a place in the final against Galway next weekend, in what would have been another useful competitive game before their Connacht Championship kicks into gear in mid-March.

Heffernan disappointed not to have full squad to pick from

Sat, Jan 24, 2015

For the second week in a row, Mayo u21 football manager Niall Heffernan was lamenting the fact that he hasn't been able to select a number of his players for the u21 side due to commitments with the senior team. Despite the Mayo seniors not having a competitive game this weekend, Heffernan was left short of a number of players for their Hastings Cup semi-final against Roscommon, which they ultimately lost in injury time in Rathcline in Longford.

Speaking after the game Heffernan said: “We won't have another competitive game (until the Connacht championship), but we will have a few challenge games lined up. We've a few prospects lined up for next weekend and the weekend after it. But we have plenty of football coming up, but we need to get the group together to work on the stuff that's going wrong. Games are great and they'll bring you along and show you where you're going wrong but we also need to have time with the players and get our panel together and this week we weren't allowed to have the senior players. We weren't allowed to have three of them again this weekend. It's hard, it's hard and I know Roscommon were missing their senior players as well, but that seems to be the scenario with u21football. But if you really want to take it seriously and you really want to push it on, I think we have to be given our senior players. We're seven weeks away to championship and we need to have access and we need to have the players with us, just so we can build that bit of understanding. We were throwing players into positions today and we haven't a chance to work on it.”

Lam signs up for three more years

Fri, Jan 23, 2015

Connacht head coach Pat Lam has signed a new three-years deal as his squad heads to France for the final European Challenge Cup pool fixture with qualification hopes still alive. Connacht need a bonus-point win from their visit to La Rochlle to qualify for the quarter-finals as one of three best runners-up, but even securing that result could depend on results elsewhere.

Castlebar seal play-off berth

Fri, Jan 23, 2015

Last weekend saw Castlebar secure one of their key objectives for the season when they booked their place in the promotion/relegation play-off for a place in the top tier of junior rugby for next season. While Castlebar would like to have gained automatic promotion and clinched the title, second place and chance over 80 minutes later in the spring to seal the deal will still do nicely.

New beginners programme launched at Castlebar Tennis Club

Fri, Jan 23, 2015

Castlebar Tennis Club is starting a new programme for adult beginner tennis players on Tuesday January 27 at 7.30pm. The course will run for six weeks and is designed for people who are completely new to tennis or who have not played in a long time. The course will cover the basics of tennis and will be organised by the new club captains for 2015, Thérèse Ruane and Jason Guthrie.

Something for everyone at Castlebar Adventure Duathlon

Fri, Jan 23, 2015

The newly revamped Castlebar Adventure Duathlon on Saturday, March 14 will be the first of the adventure duathlons to take place in the west this year. Mayo is leading the way in promoting adventure racing and run bike run events, all the bigger towns promote some form of open outdoor adventure and with Destination Mayo being recently set up as a way of attracting more outdoor pursuit people to the county, these events fall in to line in what the county is trying to achieve in tourism.

Westport United ready to ‘boot’ home the opposition

Fri, Jan 23, 2015

Sunday will see another large crowd of supporters descend on the Sports Park as Westport United look to book their place in the seventh round of the FAI Junior Cup. Standing in their way is Kilkenny side Freebooters, who will make the long trip to Westport for this clash. Westport United booked their place in this round of the competition thanks to a come from behind 5-2 win over New Ross Celtic a fortnight ago. The three goal victory is even more impressive when it is remembered that Westport United were trailing 2-1 with only 15 minutes left on the clock, but once Danny Scahill found the back of the net from the penalty spot to level the game up, United cut loose and ran through their opponents from the southeast, with Schaill adding another and David Hoban and Martin Geraghty one each to round off the scoring. Westport United got a break last weekend when they got a walk-over in the Connacht Junior Cup when Straide and Foxford did not field a team, so they should come into the game well rested.

Mayo sides given testing Connacht Cup tasks

Fri, Jan 23, 2015

There are eight Mayo sides left in the Connacht Junior Cup after last Sunday’s third round of action. The competition now moves forward to the last 16 with only three games between those remaining and a place in the final. The first of those fourth round games takes place this Sunday when Manulla host St Patrick’s in Carramore at 2pm. The Galway side currently are sitting second bottom of the Western Hygiene Supplies Premier Division with just one win from their 11 games so far this season. Manulla will be hoping they have the quality to breach a defence that has conceded 36 goals in league football already this season.

Paddy Kelly named as 2014 Mayo Athletic Hall of Fame recipient

Fri, Jan 23, 2015

All roads lead to Hotel Westport on Sunday, February 1, when Aughagower AC will this year host the 2014 C & C Cellular/Vodafone Mayo Athletic Awards. Athletes from all over Mayo will be honoured for their contribution to athletics during the past year. Certificates or awards will be presented to all athletes who won national and International medals in 2014. On the night some 130 awards will be presented.

Roscommon stand between Mayo and final spot

Fri, Jan 23, 2015

The unfamiliar surrounds of Rathcline GAA Club in Cloneboney, Lanesborough, is the next stop of the road for Niall Heffernan’s Mayo u21s this Saturday in the semi-final of the Hastings Cup. Standing in the way of Mayo and a place in the final against either Galway or Leitrim is another Connacht side in the shape of Roscommon.

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