Search Results for 'Paul Galvin'

MICHAEL SILKE

As a meticulous planner who maps out my summer so as there is no collision between family events, birthdays, nights out, holidays, etc, and football matches I was shocked to hear that the first round of the Mayo club championship was put back a week, 11 days before it was due to take place.

Two weeks is a long time in sport. All of a sudden after two very impressive wins in the National League things look rosy in the Mayo camp as they sit proudly at the summit of division one. We have to be clear on this, Mayo are not going to win every game left in the league (maybe they will). The management are still learning and their most important lesson came when Tyrone visited MacHale Park. You cannot but be impressed by the way they and the players have responded, a thrashing of Monaghan followed by a hard fought win away against Derry in Celtic Park.

It has been a strange week in GAA circles, no more so than here in Mayo. I am lost for words about the way our new management team of Noel Connelly and Pat Holmes have being appointed. Instead of being a joyous and enormously proud day for both men it has been steeped in controversy. It is embarrassing that the story has achieved national media coverage for all the wrong reasons, more on that again in the coming weeks. But first off may I wish them the best of luck with the job in hand, it is one of the biggest in the GAA.

The Galway senior footballers will head to Croke Park this weekend for their All-Ireland quarter-final clash with Kerry (2pm) knowing that they will have to considerably increase their intensity and work-rate all over the field if they are going to stop Kerry playing the free-flowing football that ripped Cork to shreds in the Munster final.

The Galway senior footballers will head to Croke Park this weekend for their All-Ireland quarter-final clash with Kerry (2pm) knowing that they will have to considerably increase their intensity and work-rate all over the field if they are going to stop Kerry playing the free-flowing football that ripped Cork to shreds in the Munster final.

First things first, The Battle of Bellaghy white collar boxing event between Charlestown GAA and Curry GAA held in the CBD complex in Charlestown was another phenomenal success and I am sure the coffers of both clubs are well boosted after it. I have played in many a big game down the years and would consider myself reasonably calm and in control given a particular situation, but boxing is a different animal. I had a week from hell in the lead up to the event, I could not sleep properly and was extremely anxious and nervous for pretty much the entire week, none the less, I took part, took my beating, and have very sore ribs to prove it. I would suggest for anyone who thinks I am off my trolley, to sign up for an event to see what I am on about, as every fighter on the night were pretty much petrified, even the good boxers. The box is ticked and at least I am alive to tell the tale. Note to self; you are never doing it again.

After the breakneck start to the year with five games in 31 days, the past fortnight would have come as a welcome respite for James Horan and his management team as they had two weeks to work with their panel without having to prepare for a game at the same time.

I was in Dublin last Sunday morning to do a slot with Today FM on the football season ahead, more of which later. I rushed home from Dublin anxious to get back in time for the club championship matches; Crossmolina v Ballinrobe and Ballina v Westport. The big shock for me from all of the fixtures last weekend was the score line from the first game in Crossmolina.

I arrived early at GAA HQ last Sunday as I like to soak up the pre match atmosphere of All-Ireland final day. Normally there is a great buzz in and around Croke Park from about 10am and last Sunday was no different. I was privileged to have been asked to do co-commentary for the minor game and match analysis on the big one, so I had to be in the grounds by 12.45. As it happened, I also received an invitation from the GPA to attend a pre-match reception in Jurys Croke Park at 12 noon. It was a gig for former inter-county footballers and was an excellent idea as the opportunities to meet and chat with former players from other counties are few and far between. In fact during our playing years we would barely look at each other never mind hang about for a chat after matches. So unless you participate in some of the GAA golf classics, you rarely get a chance to say hello. And I don’t play golf! My friend Pat Holmes had arrived at the reception before I got there and, unfortunately for me, had devoured most of the sandwiches. Notwithstanding that minor complaint, the 30 minutes I spent at the pre match event was pleasant. I chatted with Greg Blaney, the former Down centre-forward, and John Lynch, corner back with Tyrone in the eighties. I asked both for their pre match predictions. Neither of them could see anything other than a Kerry victory. And that was the general consensus in and around Croke Park prior to the match, with the exception of the Dublin folk of course.