Search Results for 'Niall Sludden'

It was the first time since 1951 that we entered an All-Ireland final as favourites. Every Mayo person, myself included, genuinely felt this was our time.

This one will sting, more so than the other recent defeats in the concrete caldron on Jones Road on the biggest day of all. 

Roscommon will be hoping to produce a much improved All Ireland quarter final Group Phase display against Donegal at Dr Hyde Park on Saturday evening, 5pm throw-in.

It all comes down to next Sunday for Mayo.

Just as the evenings start to get a bit of a stretch in them, Mayo got a bit of a bounce to their game last weekend as the battles that lie ahead this summer come more into focus.

My grandfather John Francis Silke, who lived and farmed in Corrandulla, Co Galway, used to tell me when I was a youngster that as you get older the years really start to race by.

When word filtered through that Cavan had drawn with Kerry at half time in this encounter, the permutations and combinations of results that would be needed for Mayo to stay up in division one if they couldn’t come home from Omagh with win under their belts were being worked out by the supporters. But come full time in this one Mayo had put their destiny back in their own hands, thanks to Kevin McLoughlin’s brilliant winning score.

Now that was more like it. We asked for a performance,we wanted passion,we got them both in abundance. Mayo produced their best display in 12 months to send Ulster champions and hot favourites Tyrone packing out of this year's championship. The game was not the best advertisement for Gaelic football but it was intriguing, intense, and tactical and had everybody on the edge of their seats right until the final whistle.

At the end of the day, the result is all that matters. It wasn’t the prettiest of games in Croke Park, but it was intense, intriguing and full of industry and some moments of pure inspiration. Mayo are in the All Ireland semi-final in two weeks time and that’s exactly where they want to be. They dug in and put in the hard yards on the field in Croke Park and thanks to Lee Keegan’s point five minutes from the end, that seemed to take at least five minutes before it dropped over Niall Morgan’s bar they won the day and moved step closer to their ultimate goal.