Search Results for 'Stephen Bray'

The four provincial winners have eventually been decided with Dublin and Donegal winning their respective finals in Leinster, and Ulster joining Kerry and of course Mayo. I was in a very precarious position last Sunday at 1.30pm, sitting in 30 degrees of heat by a gorgeous pool in the Algarve, do I stay or do I go to watch potential opponents for Mayo. There was only one winner, I left the swimming pool as I would have been uneasy sitting, wondering what was going on. I happened to meet former Breaffy player Robert Fahy and two of his kids who were there for the same reason as myself, we wanted to see if the Dubs were beatable as most people felt Meath were the team to do it.

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.

The Galway senior footballers will have to forget about last weekend’s disappointing one-point defeat to Westmeath and refocus on the fresh challenge they face on Sunday when Meath visit Pearse Stadium (2.30pm).

The Galway footballers were knocked out of the championship on Saturday in Navan after being beaten by a point, 0-11 to 0-10, by a limited home side.

The senior inter county championship has got off to a predictably drab start. Isn’t it a shame that we never have any fanfare attached to the commencement of our showcase GAA competition? The GAA just do the marketing thing any way at all. And looking at some of the attendances so far this year, one must draw the conclusion that it is time GAA HQ smartened up their act in this regard.

Connoisseurs of fine dining and wine will be glad to learn that The Belfry Restaurant in Mullingar is hosting a food and wine appreciation course starting on Tuesday September 30 for three weeks.

Whatever happens from here on in, 2008 has already been a memorable, indeed historic, year for both Castledaly and Maryland who were crowned Westmeath senior and intermediate champions respectively in the last few weeks.

There’s probably enough of talk of doom and gloom around without me adding to it here. But sure at this stage we wouldn’t know how to cope if we heard a bit of good news anyway, would we? With that in mind I thought I’d share with you something that has been troubling me over the festive period.

Temple Spa is inviting you to come to their Christmas shopping night on Thursday December 4 starting at 7pm.

Both Westmeath and Roscommon Gaelic footballers return to action this weekend in the All-Ireland qualifiers eager to forget their last 70 minutes of championship action. Roscommon and Westmeath are in very similar situations with both teams suffering heavy defeats in their respective provincial semi-finals and having just two weeks to regroup and try to focus on the qualifiers. On Saturday afternoon Roscommon head for the sunny south east to take on Wexford after their 20 point defeat to Mayo, while later that evening Westmeath entertain old rivals Meath in Cusack Park in a bid to get back on the road again after their 27 point defeat to Dublin. Westmeath started out their campaign this year against Meath in early January in the O’Byrne cup. The question is come Saturday evening will Meath be Westmeath’s first and last game of 2009? Both Westmeath players and management have taken some criticism over the last few weeks. There have been many excuses given for the poor performance against Dublin - poor league campaign, constant injury crisis, and the lack of match fitness and sharpness by a number of the 15 that took the field against Dublin.