Search Results for 'Ciaran McDonald'

The fallout from Mayo's disappointing All-Ireland final loss to Tyrone has gained much unnecessary momentum with news/rumours breaking daily of rifts, upheaval and resignations from James Horan's back room team.

James Horan has guided Mayo to the All Ireland semi-final stage again - it will be the counties ninth appearance in the final four since 2012.

There is no time to rest for Mayo - following last weekend's loss to Tyrone and relegation to division two next year, they have to get back on the horse in double-quick time as the Connacht Championship throws in on Sunday lunch time.

"It was just fun to be with them and they were great lads and you couldn't ask any more" - is how 25 years on Martin Carney remembers the Mayo u21 team of 1995, that were beaten by Kerry in an All Ireland final replay that summer.

The biting cold, freezing rain and the FBD League are as far removed from the dog days of Summer as you can get - but it is where the first damp-soled and finger-numbing steps on the journey to high Summer fare are taken.

Off-the-field shenanigans have yet again catapulted Mayo GAA into the headlines and yet again for all the wrong reasons.

James Horan was ratified for a four-year term as Mayo GAA manager late last Thursday night, much to the delight of many Mayo supporters who believe he still has unfinished business with the current Mayo team.

The first thing to strike me when I entered Croke Park two weeks ago was that Mayo fans had very obviously and deliberately populated Hill 16 in big numbers. The Blue army’s sense of ownership of the historic terrace, as reinforced during the 2006 ‘Mill at the Hill’, had again been challenged. While mutual respect remains, the Mayo fans’ sense of inferiority and their Dublin counterparts' sense of entitlement have both been eroded to a point where near equilibrium has been reached. The Mayo team too, learned some years back that nothing and no one is sacred in top flight GAA. That understanding did not come in some midnight revelation, but through years of proving it so on the pitch.

After Mayo's superb victory over Tyrone I have to pinch myself to comprehend that Mayo are playing Tipperary in an All-Ireland semifinal on Sunday. It sounds bizarre. If we go back to June 18 and after watching Mayo's poor performance against Galway, we firstly did not see Mayo getting to a semifinal and if they did we certainly did not expect the opposition to be from the premier county. Clare and Tipperary have both been very successful examples of the qualifiers in 2016 but Tipp's trouncing of Connacht champions Galway by nine points has certainly made them the number one success story.

At the end of the day the long and winding road has led back to the destination that most had hoped for, Mayo in the first All Ireland semifinal on Sunday August 21. Rather than coming through to this stage as provincial champions with just a quarter-final to play, Mayo have made their way through the scenic route and disposed of Leinster opposition twice and then the Ulster champions to get here. Next up for them is a challenge from a group of men from Munster, but once again it is not one of the ones we would have expected. Tipperary, a division three side that finished their league campaign just two points above relegation to division four for next year, have wandered their way through this championship summer to become the story of the summer.