Search Results for 'Mayo GAA County Board'

There was plenty of shock on Wednesday evening when it was announced by the Connacht GAA Council that Hyde Park in Roscommon would be the venue for this year's Connacht Senior Football Championship final between Mayo and Sligo. All indications up to that point were that the game would be played in either Castlebar's Elverys MacHale Park or Galway's Pearse Stadium.

The annual end of year Mayo GAA County Board convention promises to be one of the more interesting ones with a number of positions up for grabs. The top job as chairman of the board will see current vice-chairman Mike Connelly and former county secretary Sean Feeney battle it out for the top seat in Mayo football. Outgoing chairman Paddy McNicholas has decided to seek a place on the Connacht Council as one of the two Mayo delegates. Outgoing delegate Willie Kelly has served his five year term and cannot run again. His fellow outgoing delegate Padraic Staunton from Moygownagh will be in the race with McNicholas, former Mayo GAA cultural officer Gerry Bourke, and Louisburgh’s Michael O’Malley. The battle among the four men promises to be an intriguing one when the votes are counted.

Two of the potential names in the hat for the vacant Mayo senior manager’s job have spoken to the Mayo GAA County Board in relation to the job, the chairman of the board, Paddy McNicholas, told the Mayo Advertiser this week. The closing date for nominations for the post was 11pm last night. Speaking to the Advertiser yesterday morning, McNicholas said: “We’ve two men who are interested in the job, with Noel Connelly backed up by Pat Holmes and Kevin McStay who is backed up by Liam McHale. We’ve spoken to both men about the job, one in person and the other on the phone recently. There are a few other names out there, but none of them have come to any of us about it yet.” When asked how many nominations had been received as of yesterday morning, a number of hours before the deadline closed, McNicholas said that he was not aware that any official nominations had been submitted at that stage, but expected them to come in during the course of the day.

Mayo manager James Horan has thrown a wildcard into the mix this week, with the news that former Ireland and Connacht rugby player Gavin Duffy has joined up with the Mayo senior football squad. Duffy who was a Mayo minor star on the team that lost the 1999 All Ireland minor final was recently released by Connacht after his second stint with the province where he played 173 games scoring 83 points. His period at Connacht was interrupted by a spell in England with Harlequins from 2003 to 2006 where he played 110 times and won the Challenger Cup in 2004 scoring a try in their final win over AS Montferrand. Duffy played ten times for Ireland over his rugby career scoring 18 points, getting his first try in his second cap against Scotland in the 2005 six nations. He was also part of Eddie O’Sullivan’s squad for the 2007 Rugby World Cup.

The Mayo GAA County Board are still waiting the report of referee Liam Devenney from the controversial Crossmolina Deel Rovers and Ballintubber game last weekend. The game, which was moved from Crossmolina to Ballina on Sunday morning when the pitch was deemed to be unplayable, saw Ballintubber fail to show up at the changed venue. Speaking to the Mayo Advertiser yesterday morning, Mayo GAA secretary Kevin O’Toole said that until the referee’s report is received no firm decision will be made. O’Toole told the Mayo Advertiser that, “We are awaiting the referees report on the game, we are expecting to have received it by Thursday (yesterday) or Friday. What will happen is that the CCC will review it and a decision made on it then. It will be open to an appeal then by either side. There have been some communications received from Ballintubber on the issue. Even though the result went up on the website, it’s not official until we receive the referee’s report, especially in circumstances like this.”

Ten Mayo players have been rewarded for their performances in this year’s football championship with nominations for the GAA GPA All Stars. Mayo’s haul of 10 nominations was only two short of All Ireland champions Donegal’s total. Both Alan Dillon and Andy Moran will be looking to pick up their second All Star awards with their nominations for this year. David Clark’s great year in goal has seen him get the nod alongside Dublin’s Stephen Cluxton and Donegal’s Paul Durcan. Both Keith Higgins and Ger Cafferkey were given nominations in the full back line, with Lee Keegan and Colm Boyle in the half back line. Both Aidan O’Shea and Barry Moran are up for one of the midfield berths, with Kevin McLoughlin joining Dillon and Moran in the race for a All Star in the forwards. Cillian O’Connor, who won the young player of the year last year, is nominated again this year for the same award.

The flags and the bunting have been put up around the towns and villages of the county. Songs have been written and learned with gusto, while those who left the wild sod of their homeland in search of better things afar, are clutching boarding cards to come home. It can only mean one thing — Mayo is in an All Ireland final.

On Wednesday the Mayo GAA rumour mill was at full steam with talk that Conor Mortimer had decided to leave the Mayo senior panel, only a matter of days before Sunday’s Connacht Final. The former Shrule-Glencorrib man, who along with being Mayo’s all time leading scorers, has been one of the most colourful and charismatic players to every wear the green and red for Mayo.

A number of Castlebar town councillors expressed their displeasure with the amount of planning enforcement being carried out by the council, at the monthly meeting of the local authority this week.

The Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism, Martin Cullen TD, visited the Linenhall Arts Centre in Castlebar and McHale Park on Friday last together with Fianna Fáil TD Beverley Flynn.