Search Results for 'Ciaran Whelan'

Sri-Lanka on honeymoon was the last time I experienced rain like we had last Saturday in Dublin during and for a few hours after the Galway and Kerry game.

For the Kerrys, Dublins, and Tyrones of this world success is measured in all-Ireland titles. Provincial honours are little more than a stepping stone to greater things. It is hard to explain to somebody from the counties mentioned above exactly how much winning a first ever senior provincial title meant to the players and people of the Lake County.

Last Sunday morning was a case in point. I was haring down the motorway to Mullingar from the fireworks in Croke Park on Saturday night when I phoned a friend to see if he was going to the Galway v Westmeath game.

Isn’t it a long season for our inter-county footballers when you consider they had their first match of the year last Sunday week, and some or most of them will be involved at either club or county level for another nine or 10 months. I know that the footballers who take their preparation seriously rarely take a week off, and during those two months of so called inactivity at the end of the year will undertake a maintenance programme so as to not lose their superior levels of fitness. It is very easy to pick these guys out if you attend early season matches as they are normally the players that catch the eye. Pat Kelly, Austin O’Malley, Alan Dillon, and Peadar Gardiner are players that spring to mind immediately when I think of players that live as close to a monastic lifestyle as is possible for young men these days. That is one of the primary reasons why they are right up there when it comes to selecting man of the match performances in the FBD league and early rounds of the National Football league.

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.

As Mayo footballer supporters, one of our most important assets down through the years is our optimism. With all of the news about corporate bail outs, bank rescues, layoffs, falling stock prices, and businesses going belly up, I have to admit that it is hard to stay positive at times. We are really fed up with reading bad news, and listening to the prophets of doom. And so, I was eagerly looking forward to the start of the National Football League and some good quality football in order to see a few smiling faces for the first time in ages. I arrived in Ballina in good time and was met at the showground entrance by the ever so jovial Barry McLaughlin, who was doing his bit for the local club by managing traffic flow at that end of the ground.

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.

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.

It’s 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-year-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. 

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