Search Results for 'Michael Solan'

In what can only be described as a mammoth weekend of sporting fixtures, two Mayo teams certainly helped to lift the blues off us Mayo folk still trying to come to terms with the fact that our quest for Sam McGuire in 2018 is over. With the Wimbledon champions crowned and the World cup now decided we can now fully dedicate our time to all matters GAA.

For thirty five minutes it was all going according to plan for Roscommon, who left Dr Hyde Park nursing plenty of regrets following Sunday’s 0-16 to 2-6 Connacht Final loss against Galway.

While most of the Mayo faithful will be concentrating their attention on the happenings in Limerick on Saturday evening, there is another very big championship game involving a Mayo side also taking place that day.

What a difference a week makes. The Jekyll and Hyde side of Mayo football was never so evident as in their last three performances. Mayo put in a real gutsy performance against Tyrone in sun-drenched Healy Park Omagh last weekend to boost our chances of survival in the top flight. I wondered was it the same team that played Cavan the previous week. The football wasn't brilliant but this was all about the result. Mayo will probably still have to beat Donegal on Sunday to guarantee safety, as a confident Cavan will surely beat a demoralised Roscommon.

Mayo manager Michael Solan made seven changes from the side that started the previous week against Donegal with Marcus Park, Gary McHale, James Kelly, Cathal Hennelly, Ryan O’Donoghue, Barry Duffy and Colm Reape all coming into the starting 15 for this North West Cup Final against Sligo. 

The defending All Ireland U21 champions got off to a ropey start in the North West Cup last weekend against Sligo in the Sligo Centre of Excellence. After Derry's withdrawal from the competition this was Mayo's first outing in the cup, with Sligo having seen off the challenge of Donegal the previous weekend.

It is going to be hard for Michael Solan and his management team to top their debut season in charge of the Mayo U21s having brought last year's crop of new stars right to the top of the game and claiming the All Ireland U21 title in Ennis against Cork at the end of the spring.

Croke Park on the first Saturday in October will be the defining memory for a lot of Mayo GAA supporters that they take with them into 2017, but while there's still great disappointment that the Mayo senior footballers fell short at the final fence following a fantastic effort, there is still much to celebrate coming out of 2017.

Mayo manager Stephen Rochford said this week that he is in no rush to fast-track through a large group of Michael Solan's All Ireland U21 winning side into the senior set up. Brian Reape has been brought in to the senior championship squad recently alongside four others, Diarmuid O'Connor, Stephen Coen, Michael Hall, and Conor Loftus, who have all been with the senior set up previously.

Who is ever going to forget Mayo Day 2016? Not one Mayo GAA fan that's for sure after the heroics of our U21 team in reaching the promised land and claiming the county's fifth All-Ireland title at this level. Was I confident before throw in? Not really, we knew Brian Reape was out and I heard on the grapevine that fullback Seamus Cuniffe was very doubtful because of a hamstring, and that our most influential player Diarmuid O'Connor might not be able to give his all because of a fractured finger sustained against Dublin in the semi-final. We couldn't possibly win with three key players missing or not at 100 per cent was my gut instinct. I was relieved to see Cuniffee and O'Connor taking their positions for the throw in. The buzz in Cusack Park was surreal, Mayo fans making up at least 7,000 of the almost 8,000 crowd.