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The fixture gods deemed it fitting that Mayo would have to face Donegal in the senior quarter-final on Sunday afternoon, however they weren’t so kind as to place the county’s minor side on the same billing. Instead Enda Gilvarry’s men will be the opening act of a double bill of minor quarter finals in O’Connor Park in Tullamore on Monday afternoon, while the Kerry minors have been given the matinee slot in Croke Park the day before against Tyrone. However Mayo minor manager Enda Gilvarry isn’t complaining and is just looking forward to getting on with the job in hand. “To a certain extent we can't control the day and venue, any pitch is the same. It would have been nice to be with the seniors but it wasn't to be. It's the same for Westmeath, they would have looked forward to playing a quarter-final in Croke Park the same as we were.”

Mayo manager James Horan has made four changes to the Mayo line-up for Sunday’s novel Connacht final against London in McHale Park. Breaffy’s Rob Hennelly who was recalled to the panel in recent days following a goalkeeping injury crisis, has been selected between the posts for his first championship start since the 2011 All Ireland semi-final defeat to Kerry in Croke Park.

NUI Galway will host the Sigerson football competition in February 2012. I, along with Tomas Tierney, have agreed to look after the team again this year and we intend to have a little more success than last year – a year in which we became frustrated at times for a combination of reasons. We made it to the quarter finals in UCD but came up well short against the hosts.

‘Taggy’ Returns

Laois and Carlow had the honour of kicking off the hurling championship in O'Moore Park, Portlaoise last weekend. It was a game that the Laois men eventually won with a bit to spare.

Last Sunday’s clash between Cork and Kerry reminded me so much of Mayo’s All-Ireland final versus Meath in 1996. Mayo could and should have won in 1996. Cork could and should have won last Sunday. Cork were ahead by five points with 15 minutes remaining but were clinging on in those final minutes when Kerry came storming back into the game in typical bullish fashion. Cork have only themselves to blame as they should have been out of sight, notwithstanding the fact that referee Maurice Deegan stands accused of leaning very much in favour of Kerry in the closing stages of the match. He had indicated two minutes of additional time to be played in the second half, but left the clock running. Cork managed to edge in front with a converted 45 within those two minutes and appeared to have pulled off a sensational victory. But inexplicably Deegan managed to extend playing time by a further two minutes and, to add insult to injury, advanced the last free awarded to Kerry by 20 metres, giving Bryan Sheehan the easiest of chances to convert and level the game. The additional time played created a lot of debate after the game and Mick Curley, the chairman of the National Referees’ Association, was invited by RTÉ Radio 1 to discuss the matter. Curley, himself a former referee, understandably wasn’t ever going to land his former referee colleagues in the manure and went on to defend Deegan stoutly. I was on the same radio show and decided that I should come to the defence of both Deegan and Marty Duffy (Croke Park referee), reminding listeners that a young Pat McEneaney, who refereed the All Ireland in 1996, had a terrible game and we here in Mayo managed to forgive him for some of his bizarre decisions in both the drawn and replayed final of that year. Mick Curley did go on to suggest that he would be personally in favour of a countdown clock similar to that used so effectively in ladies football, rugby, and basketball, that would make life so much easier for referees. You know I’m not so sure about this at all. I never minded a draw in football, as long as I wasn’t involved in any way with a participating team. A drawn game creates great debate afterwards. Also I am delighted to have the opportunity to see these two teams have another go at progressing to a Munster final tomorrow evening. TV3 has again decided to televise the match at 5pm, and with a live Leinster championship encounter involving Kildare and Wexford also beamed into our living rooms at 7pm, we can have no complaints about our national broadcaster. If Cork do manage to prevail next Saturday evening, they will advance with great confidence and it will take a very good performance to beat them later in the year.