Search Results for 'Bernard Brogan'

Having watched Donegal in the flesh last weekend in their awe-inspiring victory over Cork, it is difficult to see either Mayo or Dublin stopping them taking Sam back to the hills for the first time in 20 years.

In his time as a Mayo player Andy Moran has been involved in some incredible highs, such as the 2006 All Ireland semi-final where he came off the bench and scored the goal that turned that game back in Mayo's favour and lows, like the that day in June in Pearse Park, Longford two years ago. Through it all he's always been looking forward to the next challenge, not looking back. A couple of minutes after coming off the field on Saturday night, he was asked was it nights like this he played football for and he responded saying, “I play for just for playing all the time, nights like tonight is great, but it was great going back on to the training pitch on Tuesday trying to fix what went wrong last week and I think in the second half we did that there tonight.” While he enjoyed the win, there's not many other players about who would say that they equally enjoyed getting back on the training field as much as beating the All Ireland champions in front of 10,000 of your own fans.

I was at the two under 21 semi-finals in McHale Park last Friday evening. It was a wonderful evening for football and the football on view was good too. The first game between Aughamore and the combined forces of Hollymount and Carramore had a dramatic finish. For long periods Aughamore looked the dominant side and appeared to be cruising to a fairly comfortable victory, but the Holly/Carra boys never stopped believing in themselves and persevered right to the very end. They finished strongly, eventually winning by two points. The Aughamore boys appeared shocked that they had not managed to close out the game and they will scratch their heads for a while yet wondering how they managed to let this one slip away.

Last week I suggested that home advantage might prove decisive in deciding who would advance to play Roscommon in the Connacht final on July 17. I was wrong. Having witnessed the display from Galway last Sunday I am now of the opinion that if Mayo had played the first half of last Sunday’s encounter in Pearse Stadium and the second half in Tuam we still would have won in a canter. I have never in my lifetime witnessed such an inept performance from a Galway senior side. They were spiritless and soft when it came to putting up any sort of a challenge to Mayo last Sunday. In fact the game, particularly the first half, ranks as one of the worst of this year’s championship. (I would rank the first game played in this year’s championship, Donegal v Antrim as the worst.) I accept that the second half did improve but that improvement came from Mayo as a single point from play by Galway in the entire second half tells its own story. At no point did Galway radiate the belief that they had the measure of Mayo. When a team plays without any semblance of a pattern as Galway did last weekend, it suggests that there is little synchronisation between management and players.

Tommy Fit but Cha is laid low

Following their impressive 1-20 to 0-18 victory over Armagh on Sunday, the Galway seniors face Pat Gilroy’s Dublin in Pearse Stadium this weekend. If Galway win, and other results go their way, they could avoid relegation to division two.

If the Irish team management had the good grace to publicly acknowledge in an issued statement that what went on at the Gaelic Grounds, Limerick, last Saturday evening was unacceptable, it would offer some hope for the future of this International series, not to mention my sanity. I travelled to Limerick, bringing along four very enthusiastic children who were relishing the fact that they were going to see the cream of our GAA stars from all around the country playing for Ireland. What I and they witnessed was a damp squib of an effort, particularly from our own GAA ‘stars’. I am not exaggerating when I suggest that I genuinely yawned my way through this match. I accept that we have witnessed elements of thuggery in the past that even led to calls for the series to be scrapped. This game on Saturday was so poor the devil in me was half hoping there would be a skirmish or two for no other reason than to liven things up a little. The modern version of the game has become completely sanitised, with practically no physicality whatsoever. It would seem from afar that both teams have been well warned not to engage in any tussles that might bring the continuance of the series into question. I can accept that no Irish player wants to get hurt playing this hybrid game, but I certainly would not want to waste my time travelling any distance to see another game like the lacklustre effort on display last weekend. In fact there were times in this match when I began to wonder if both teams were on some sort of a financial incentive if they managed to come through 75 minutes of action without encountering a meaningful tough challenge. I believe now that if there is not a change in attitude from both sides ahead of tomorrow’s encounter in Croke Park, then Mickey Harte will have been proven correct when he suggested a number of years ago that we should never have gone down this road in the first place. In fact if the GAA’s top brass want to showcase the version of the compromise rules we witnessed last Saturday evening as a spectacle, then they should start stockpiling all the footage of this game into a great big bonfire and quickly burn the lot. At the very least they should insist that no ‘highlights’ of this game are shown, because with the exception of Bernard Brogan’s goal near the end, there was none. Handled properly, the GAA can comfortably cope with outside challenges ie, soccer and rugby but most certainly does not need to self – destruct over a compromise rules series that has many problems. Now having said all of that I am travelling up to Croke Park tomorrow with a bus load of first year students from St Gerald’s college, Castlebar, in the knowledge that hopefully both teams will have realised that they did not provide value for money last weekend and will want to do something to make amends.

While they may not have gotten their five in a row on All-Ireland Sunday, the Cats added their five to the 2010 GAA All-star team.

I was walking to Mass last Sunday morning when a friend stopped me in my tracks to give me the dreadful news of the untimely and tragic deaths of Ger Feeney and Donal McEllin. It was news that left me devastated and for a moment I wasn’t sure whether I would carry on to Mass or not. But I did and it offered me an opportunity to reflect and think about both men. This undoubtedly was one of Castlebar’s saddest weeks in a long time, and God knows we have had a few sad occasions in recent times. Both men possessed big personalities and were hugely popular locally and throughout the county. They were also influential figures in the daily happenings of the Castlebar Mitchell’s GAA club, Ger as a coach/ manager of several teams down through the years and Donal as a do-gooder whenever required. Time spent in the company of either man was always memorable, usually enlightening and occasionally full of incident! Throughout this past week we have gathered at different times and locations to reminisce about both men. Judging by the enormous crowds witnessed at both men’s funerals it is remarkable how their sudden passing resonated with so many. Ger was also revered in the history of Ballintubber football and I have heard many these past few days talk about his incredible strength, energy, fearlessness and manliness when donning the colours of Ballintubber. Of course he lined out with Mayo and is one of a few who has the distinction of winning All -Ireland medals at both minor and under- 21 level. It was well known that Ger idolised his family and was enormously proud of their many achievements. He was particularly proud of the fact that both Castlebar Mitchell’s and Ballintubber had made it through to this year’s senior final. In his house he couldn’t lose as both Alan and Richard are playing with the Mitchels and nephew John is lining out with Ballintubber. Also, Alan and cousin John are both captains on their respective teams. In fact Ger even had a specially commissioned jersey made of both teams’ colours for the final.

Inter-county hurling stars Tommy Walsh, Jackie Tyrrell, and Richie Power were recognised for their stellar championship seasons at this year’s Irish Daily Star/Galway Crystal GAA Awards.