Search Results for 'Kevin McLoughlin'

A thick blanket of fog covered Castlebar right until half-an-hour or so before throw-in on Sunday, but not long after that natural blanket had cleared Elverys MacHale Park, a man made blanket dressed from head-to-toe in white descended on the playing field.

When I woke last Sunday morning at 6.30am to find an inch of frozen snow covering the entire landscape around Charlestown I immediately thought there was no way I could travel to Killarney in these conditions, but I had to as I had the radio equipment in the boot of my car and without it no live broadcast of the much anticipated game could take place.

In what was a battle of black and blue in Killarney, Mayo started their national league campaign by showing their respect for Kerry by forming a guard of honor for the All Ireland champions when they entered the field.

Mayo's interest in the FBD League ended in Elverys MacHale Park on Sunday when an hungry and slicker Roscommon team went home with the points and the provincial bragging rights thanks to a five point win over the Connacht champions.

So far so good for the new Mayo senior management team of Noel Connelly and Pat Holmes as their side picked up their second win of the year with a comprehensive nine point win over the visitors IT Sligo in James Stephens Park, Ballina on Sunday.

There were 16 teams when it started out, but only four remain as the semi-finals of the Mayo GAA senior football championship are down for decision in Elverys MacHale Park on Sunday afternoon.

In the last number of weeks a few big GAA stories have escaped inches in my column because of the drama in the drawn All-Ireland semi final between Mayo and Kerry, the subsequent replay, and last but by no means least, the performance of the referee in that replay. I am putting that to bed now. You have to take your hat off to Jim McGuinness, his philosophies, and his way of thinking. He has his team so well fine tuned it borders on professionalism. He had a five day training camp prior to the Dublin game and the same again in the lead up to Sunday’s All-Ireland final. This all comes at a considerable cost, and along with some players being flown from Dublin to Donegal by helicopter for training it must mean some very generous individual or individuals are bank rolling it (that is of course if it is all true).

Elvery’s MacHale Park is the place to be this weekend, when the best eight senior club teams in the county do battle for a place in the semi-finals of this year’s club championship.

Last May between four and five thousand Mayo supporters descended on the Big Apple for the first round of the Connacht Championship, excited, anxious, expectant, is this going to be the year? Mayo supporters are a rare breed; they keep on supporting despite so many setbacks. I bet the New York GAA board and the pubs in Mid Manhattan wish Mayo had to travel every year. The performance levels grew as the tests became stiffer and Mayo found themselves in an All- Ireland semi final replay in Limerick above all places. I find this defeat particularly hard to take because we simply did not deserve to lose to Kerry. What is even more challenging to accept is that a team we were five points up against with three minutes left on the clock or a team we gave a hiding to by 16 points last year are going to be All- Ireland champions, will anything break for us to claim back the Holy Grail?