Search Results for 'Ollie Feeney'

It may have taken only two games to get this far, but come 2.30pm in Ennis tomorrow and the chance to win a Celtic Cross over the next 60 minutes, every ball will be contested as ferociously as if it were the senior equivalent in Croke Park on Sunday September 23.

There’s something heart warming about Donegal. Their team ethic is not based on fancy individuality that can so often lead to failure, but on the values of hard, honest toil and a simple, effective game plan. They have a manager who doesn’t care in the slightest what the football fraternity think of him or his team. He has set out his stall and is sticking by it. The whole world was down on top of them last year, (myself included) because of their ultra defensive dour style of play. Jim McGuinness was vilified for tarnishing our ‘beautiful game’ with such an ugly conservative style of defensive system that saw supporters, including many from his own county, walk out in disgust from Croke Park, when Donegal missed a glorious opportunity to defeat a Dublin side that were there for the taking. In fact, I spent most of last summer hoping they would be beaten as I genuinely hated their style of play. The reality is, they have some fantastic forwards, last year, inexplicably, they utilised them so far from goal that they rarely got an opportunity to do serious damage to any opposition. Six points against Dublin in last year’s All-Ireland semi-final is a case in point. This year they are unquestionably easier on the eye and appear to have realised that they have the ability to be serious contenders for an All-Ireland title if they are prepared to play a more attacking expansive brand of football. I admire them for that and for the fact that they have refined their system which now has seen them score an average of 18 points per game in the five games they have played in this year’s championship. They have also retained their air tight defensive system, only conceding a single goal from open play. And to be fair Jim McGuinness deserves great credit for turning the fortunes of a county whose team, up to last year, were the party, fun loving boys of the inter-county scene.

Mayo 2-12

Islandeady 1-10

The first semi-finals of the Mayo club championships are down for decision on Sunday with both games throwing in at 3pm in Castlebar and Crossmolina. The meeting of Islandeady and The Neale will take place in the county ground, while Ardnaree and Lahardane will do battle in the home of the Deel Rovers.

Everyone is still recovering from the great escape in Ruislip last Sunday, when Mayo were put to the pin of their collar by London in the Connacht Senior Championship. This Friday offers a welcome distraction in the form of the Connacht Junior Championship final in Charlestown which will throw in at 7.30pm. This evening’s game will offer Mayo the chance to dethrone the current All Ireland champions from the Yeats County, who will be under the guidance once again of their senior inter-county manager Kevin Walsh. Mayo for their part have John Kelly running the line for them, with Ray Connelly, Jarlath Cunningham and Vinny Gavin also on sideline duties. In the quarter final Mayo saw off the challenge of a tough Leitrim side after Mickey Moran’s side pushed into an early lead, while in the last four of the competition Roscommon were defeated in Ballyhaunis.

The Mayo senior hurling team go into this weekend staring elimination from the championship straight in the face. Last weekend they opened their account in the Christy Ring Cup with a defeat against Wicklow.

Anybody who has heard of last year’s quarter final clash between Parke and Islandeady or was unlucky enough to have been at it, may well think of staying clear of this Sunday’s county junior final between the same sides. That clash in Breaffy was as far from a classic as you could find, in fact the game looked to be heading towards a very unusual stalemate at half time with neither side looking like it was going to score until Peter Collins managed to put the ball over the bar two minutes into injury time to give Islandeady a 0-1 to 0-0 lead at the break. The second half of that clash was a little bit better, but once again one side failed to score in 30 minutes of football, this time it was Islandeady who could not hit the target, and Parke ran out 1-5 to 0-1 winners in the end. But that game, while an interesting footnote ahead of Sunday’s clash, should be put well to the back of the mind, as the game coming up between both sides has the potential to be a real top drawer clash. When the junior championship draw was made at the start of the year both clubs were identified as potential title and winners, and while they have been made work to get this far they are thoroughly deserving of their status as finalists.

The intermediate football championship has been a graveyard for many a man who tried to predict the eventual winners of the competition for many a year. This grade is often so evenly matched that the vast majority of the 16 sides which start off at the beginning of the year could end up with the Sweeney Cup. The final four this year all can lay legitimate claims to being in with a very good shot of claiming the title, and by Saturday at 7pm we should know the final pairing. Things get under way at the county grounds when Burrishoole and Kiltimagh go head to head at 4pm, with Tourmakeady and Belmullet rounding off proceedings at 5.30pm.

So with seven of the eight quarter finalists already known, the last place in the knock out stages of the Royal Theatre senior football championship will be known by Saturday night when Breaffy host West Mayo in the final group game of the competition.