Search Results for 'James Maughan'

Calling the eventual winners of the Mayo GAA Intermediate Football Championship is a fool's errand most years and this year is no different.

The hardest thing to predict before the start of any championship season is who is going to win the intermediate title.

Multyfarnham can look forward to a trip to Croke Park following an absorbing AIB All Ireland Junior Championship semi-final win over Lahardane at Dr Hyde Park last Saturday.

They looked down and out with three minutes to go in normal time, trailing by four points and playing with a man less - but there was still fight left in Lahardane. A fight born from the bonds of brotherhood, community and pride that you find in small clubs, where fighting for survival is in their blood.

They love their football in Lahardane and going by the sheer numbers of Lahardane people who showed up in MacHale Park, there wasn’t to many left behind to mind the shop at the bottom of Nephin on Sunday. The black and amber was on show in powerful numbers and their sons responded in kind - with a powerful display of football - especially in the second half where they outscored their opponents 1-11 to 1-3 to claim the Connacht junior title.

They were underdogs in most people's minds, but not their own when they went into the county final against Kilmaine, but the warriors from Lahardane were paying no attention to that particular script and they blew away the south Mayo men to claim a historic victory. Now this Sunday they are just an hour away from another historic movement when the face Sligo champions Ballymote in the Connacht Club Junior Football Championship final at 2pm in MacHale Park.

They surprised many - but not themselves - in winning the Mayo junior title and on Sunday John Maughan's men will go looking to book a spot in the provincial final when they take on St Gabriel's from Galway at 1pm.

This promises to be something special on Sunday, we got it wrong last weekend when we picked Balla to see off Lahardane and book their spot in Sunday's semifinal — John Maughan's men hit Balla with everything they had and were deserving eight point winners. They never let Balla settle and against the wind they went in leading by two points, in the second half they really upped the ante and outscored their opponents by 2-7 to 1-2, after they had been pulled level five minutes into the second half, with sub Cormac Reilly netting two goals in the final quarter of the game.

On Sunday in MacHale Park the junior semifinals of the Mayo GAA championship will be played as a double header with the action getting under way at 2pm, with the meeting of Kilmaine and Ballycastle. The north Mayo men booked their place in the final four last Saturday night when they saw off Kilmeena in a quarterfinal replay by five points in terrible weather conditions, their opponents booked their spot in the final four with a big  3-16 to 1-9 quarterfinal win over Killala a few weeks ago.