Search Results for 'Stephen Coen'

For the first time since the year before Mayo claimed their first All Ireland senior title, Mayo will take on Kildare in a senior championship match. That meeting, in the All Ireland semifinal back in 1935, saw the Leinster men win 2-6 to 0-7; tomorrow evening the Mayo faithful will be hoping for a different result when the sides clash in MacHale Park.

There's no more room for error for the Mayo seniors of 2016, after five successive Connacht titles, rather than looking forward to a Sunday afternoon showdown for the Nestor Cup, they are back on the chicken and chips circuit of the qualifiers for the first time in six years looking to rebuild their fortunes on the backstreets of the championship. The first step in moving from those backstreets to the main streets is tomorrow afternoon when they host a dangerous visitor from Ulster at 3.30pm

Garry’ win southern shootout

Mayo’s reign in Connacht was always going to come to an end at some stage, on a drizzly and grey night in Castlebar the maroon and white invaders from south of border, stared them down and stood tall at the end of the battle. When the final whistle went, the Galway faithful celebrated their 39th championship win over their old rivals with as much gusto and glee as if they had just claimed the All Ireland title.

Mayo’s reign in Connacht was always going to come to an end at some stage, on a drizzly and grey night in Castlebar the maroon and white invaders from south of border, stared them down and stood tall at the end of the battle. When the final whistle went, the Galway faithful celebrated their 39th championship win over their old rivals with as much gusto and glee as if they had just claimed the All Ireland title.

They packed the ground from early in the day and there was a carnival atmosphere around Ruislip well before throw in. While the the football on display wasn't of the highest quality getting out of London without any slip ups was the main priority for Mayo and that's exactly what they did.

Who is ever going to forget Mayo Day 2016? Not one Mayo GAA fan that's for sure after the heroics of our U21 team in reaching the promised land and claiming the county's fifth All-Ireland title at this level. Was I confident before throw in? Not really, we knew Brian Reape was out and I heard on the grapevine that fullback Seamus Cuniffe was very doubtful because of a hamstring, and that our most influential player Diarmuid O'Connor might not be able to give his all because of a fractured finger sustained against Dublin in the semi-final. We couldn't possibly win with three key players missing or not at 100 per cent was my gut instinct. I was relieved to see Cuniffee and O'Connor taking their positions for the throw in. The buzz in Cusack Park was surreal, Mayo fans making up at least 7,000 of the almost 8,000 crowd.

With six minutes left on the clock in Cusack Park in Ennis, it looked like it might finally go wrong for this marvellous Mayo team when Brian Coakley kicked his fifth point of the day to draw Cork level with Mayo with the score 3-7 to 1-13. Cork were coming and the momentum was with them at this stage. Peter Kelleher was causing havoc inside the Mayo defensive line and the legs seemed to be going in some of those in green and red.

No matter what the competition, no matter what the grade, nothing beats the excitement of All-Ireland final day. Tomorrow just happens to be a big one in the GAA calendar. The Mayo u21s travel to Ennis to take on Munster champions Cork 10 years on from their last victory at this grade against the same opposition at the same venue. The players would have felt the buzz all week, our senior team have had to take a back seat for the last few weeks, now it's all about the U21s.