Search Results for 'Paul Early'

A few weeks ago before the county final between Castlebar Mitchels and Ballintubber I envisaged a predicament that Cillian O’Connor could find himself in. I thought nothing of it at the time because I expected Castlebar to retain the Moclair Cup. O’Connor was at the final stages of the trials for the International Rules team, with his skill set and physical attributes I have no doubt he would have been on Paul Early's panel. When Ballintubber won the county final I immediately thought of O’Connor and the predicament, club versus country? It was simple; he was going nowhere and immediately pulled out of the Irish set up to give his full attention to his club.

Four well-known local footballers are on their bikes training for Western Lakes CC promotion of the Polkadot cycle Challenge. Pat Kelly and Brian Maloney from Kilmaine, Ciaran Kelly from Sligo Rovers and Padraic Costello from Ballinrobe will challenge each other on the cycle. The hill to the top of the Partry mountains known as Maam Trasna mountain will be the battle ground and the aim is to see which of these gifted footballers/soccer players has retained enough fitness to conquer the stiff climb.

Ballintubber 0-13

I’ve worked hard to convince friends that cycling is a tough sport and that those who compete at the highest level in the sport are mentally and physically superior to the average human being. I had a few of those friends with me last Sunday and Monday as we completed two stages of this year’s Ras. By now they need absolutely no convincing whatsoever that professional cyclists are as tough as nails. I don’t want to confuse the situation here by suggesting that I was riding with the professionals last Sunday and Monday. Far from it…those guys are in a different league.

I walked into Maughan’s bar last Sunday evening in Crossmolina and noticed that the Donegal v Antrim Ulster Championship match was still on. It was showing on the big screen, but to be honest it was a match that would have been more appropriate for a small black and white monitor such was the poor quality of football. Maybe it is too early in the year? I am not sure what the reason is, but it was awful stuff. I turned away after a few minutes of watching for no other reason than the fact that I lost complete interest in it. From what I could see there weren’t too many other patrons that interested either. Maybe people are not quite into championship mode yet.

In between managing his home town side Crossmolina as they build up their preparation towards another crack at the Moclair Cup this summer Mayo Advertiser columnist John Maughan will be taking on the Rás challenge later this month. The former Mayo manager is taking up the challenge to raise funds for the Irish Cancer Society and will be taking on two of the gruelling legs of the Rás. Maughan will be joining a number of well known GAA personalities on the challenge which is being organised by former Roscommon footballer Paul Early. “It’s for a great cause and it’s something I’m really looking forward to getting involved in. It’s going to be a tough challenge, but I’ve been putting in the training for it, each leg is about 100 miles so I know it’s going to be a tough event” he said.

Ballintubber 0-8     Castlebar 0-5