Search Results for 'Pat Holmes'

Mayo's strong offensive showing where Kevin McLoughlin and Fergal Boland excelled in the final round of the league against Monaghan, was enough to secure a final showdown with Kerry after Mickey Harte's Tyrone did us a huge favour in Omagh, turning a seven point deficit against Galway into a seven point win.

It was a classic case of capital punishment as Mayo's 100 per cent league winning streak came crashing to a halt in round four against a rampant Dublin in Croke Park.

By the time the ball throws in this Sunday, a total of 1,590 days will have passed since James Horan's last game in charge of Mayo in the All Ireland semi-final replay against Kerry in August 2014 - to this first act of his second coming, when the team takes on Leitrim in the opening round of the FBD League in Carrick-on-Shannon.

On Saturday night the curtain will come down on the Mayo GAA U21 A football championship with a mouthwatering clash between the defending champions Westport and south Mayo men Claremorris.

Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in! I could apply that quote to the Mayo Advertiser asking me to return for a one-off All-Ireland final article or to Mayo football itself. Either way, I am delighted to be in this position in mid-September. As ardent football fans we have been deservedly rewarded in this county. Supporters have fed off our team’s energy and vice versa. That relationship is an essential component for a successful season so do what you can to make it to Dublin this weekend and bring the colour, bring the noise. When the 66-year drought ends this Sunday and the pent-up euphoria is unleashed with little hope of abating, my one concern is that the names of the men who built a football-loving county and laid the foundations for thousands of fanatics and players may be lost in the many celebratory renditions of The Green and Red of Mayo.

Over the past six seasons Mayo have faced Galway five times in the Connacht championship, next Sunday's meeting in Pearse Stadium will be the sixth meeting in seven years. The most basic statistic from the previous five meetings is that Mayo have won four of those five meetings with Galway's solitary win coming in last year's meeting in Castlebar. In those five games Mayo have outscored Galway on a cumulative score of 9-69 to 4-53, unsurprisingly in those five games Cillian O'Connor has accounted for 30 of Mayo's 69 points.

As I write this column on Wednesday after midnight, I am filled with sadness. My lovely sister-in-law Ann Lenihan died on Tuesday, October 25. It was completely unexpected; she just quietly passed away. Yes, she had been ailing and a little more than a year ago had a major heart operation, but she seemed to have come through it and to be making some headway.

Last Tuesday night most of the teachers who are involved in Extra-Curricular activities during the school year at The Jes on Sea Road in Galway city where we teach, went out for a bite to eat and a few beverages in An Pucán just off Eyre Square.

Last Tuesday night most of the teachers who are involved in Extra-Curricular activities during the school year at The Jes on Sea Road in Galway city where we teach, went out for a bite to eat and a few beverages in An Pucán just off Eyre Square.

It will be seven years this year since Mayo last claimed the Connacht u21 title. Since then Galway have gone on to claim two All Ireland titles at the grade and Roscommon have appeared in two All Ireland finals, while both of the Connacht minnows, Leitrim and Sligo, have appeared in provincial finals. In the last six u21 campaigns Mayo have managed just three wins out of nine games, all at the preliminary round stage, beating Leitrim in 2010 and 2015 and Galway in 2012 before they exited the competition at the next stage.