Search Results for 'Tommy Lyons'

I cannot recall being as happy for a young bunch of players as I was last Saturday afternoon in Breaffy. Castlebar Mitchels u15s beat their local football rivals, Breaffy, in a pulsating encounter and in dreadful weather conditions. Most of the lads from both teams are great friends as many of them attend either St Gerald’s or Davitt College and play school football together. Winning this particular title was huge as the bragging rights would be of enormous importance when they returned to school after their mid-term break. Breaffy have several classy players at this level, testament to their solid work over the last number of years developing their underage structure, and they gave their all over the 60 minutes. But it was the Mitchels who deservedly prevailed on this occasion. They led from gun to tape and doggedly held on to the end for a magnificent victory. While reluctant to highlight individual performances at this level, Mitchels’ team captain, Rhyne Collins, was a tower of strength at no 6 and his 80 metre run from deep in his own back line in the closing minutes to lay on a match winning goal was truly inspiring. It reminded me of a young James Nallen in his heyday. I am absolutely convinced that many on view last Saturday will don the Green and Red in the very near future.

Balla

Balla

In 1947 the Railway Cup crossed the Shannon for the first time. The team were all from Galway. They had beaten Leinster in the semi-final by a score of 2 – 6 to 2 – 5. The man of the match in that game was Paddy Gantley. He gave another memorable display on Easter Sunday when he lined out against Munster in the final. His name used to appear on match programmes as ‘P. Gardiner’ because he was a priest, and not supposed to play hurling.

The future of Mayo football was given a new direction on Wednesday night when James Horan was appointed as the new manager of the Mayo senior football team for a term of three years. The Ballintubber manager who this year guided his club to their first senior county final was put forward by the five man interview committee and ratified by the county board delegates at a county board meeting. Horan won two All Stars during his playing career for the county, lining out 57 times for Mayo between his debut in 1995 in the national football league and his last game in 2002 against Cork in the All Ireland quarter final. He scored 4-83 for Mayo over his seven year inter county career. Horan’s back room team will be made up of James Nallen, Martin Connolly and Paul Jordan, Tom Prendergast, Dr Sean Moffatt, Paul O’Grady, Joe Dawson, Liam Moffatt, and Ed Coughlan.

Former Mayo manager John Maughan ruled himself out of the running for the vacant Mayo senior managers job late on Thursday evening. The Crossmolina native who three times guided Mayo the All Ireland senior final confirmed to the Mayo Advertiser that he would not be going forward to the interview stage of the process, he told the Advertiser that he was very interest in the job, but following a discussion with chairman of the county board on Thursday he decided not to pursue his interest in the position any further.

A week, they say, is a long time in politics. A week in football can be an eternity. Wee James McCartan was being championed as the Messiah last week before the final, the man who resurrected the fortunes of a Down side whose season was full of mediocrity up until the back door stage. He was being hailed as the man who re-energised his troops after they were beaten in the Ulster championship by Tyrone. In fairness, his Down side were liberated once they went in through the back door to begin their tour of the country and there was an incremental improvement in each and every performance as they progressed towards last Sunday’s final. This week McCartan’s performance as manager is being scrutinised in great detail with many in his native county questioning some of his decision-making on the line. I can understand why, as a narrow defeat normally means a huge post-mortem of the losing team’s performance. Before last Sunday’s match everyone suggested that the midfield sector was going to be crucial. It was generally perceived that if Down could manage a supply of decent ball into their pacey forwards, they would be in with a mighty chance of success. Last Sunday they were annihilated in this crucial sector. Cork won 70 per cent of the kick outs and the scale of their dominance was key to their triumph. The Down goalkeeper, Brendan McVeigh, on the other hand, never varied his kickouts throughout the afternoon and it does beg the question why he persisted in making heroes out of both Nicholas Murphy and Aidan Walsh. A more puzzling decision was the substitution of Paul McComiskey with 15 minutes remaining on the clock. He was playing brilliantly all afternoon, kicking three points and giving his opponent the run around. That decision left many perplexed.

First there were five, now there are seven, in the hat to become the next Mayo senior football manager. Last weekend Mayo county secretary Seán Feeney confirmed to the Mayo Advertiser that the county board had received expressions of interest in the role from two outsiders in the position. Last Monday at a county board meeting those two outsiders were revealed to be former Dublin managers Tommy Carr and Tommy Lyons. Carr recently finished up a stint as Cavan manager, having previously managed Roscommon as well as Dublin. Lyons has also previously managed Offaly, winning a Leinster title in 1997, before taking over Dublin. Both men’s entry into the ring has heated up the competition for the role. But as John Maughan reveals in his exclusive Mayo Advertiser column this week, one other former inter-county manager would have liked to express his interest in the role, but didn’t because of distance he lives from Mayo.