We all know the phrase: ‘Don’t count your chickens before they hatch’. The last time I attempted to write something for the blog was just a couple of days after the League final win. I had scribbled down several paragraphs which remained in my drafts since the start of February for a couple of weeks. The first hundred words described […]
This short lull between the conclusion of our latest failed provincial campaign and the start of what we hope will be a more productive backdoor run has felt like an eternity. With the Round 1 matches set to be played this weekend, however, and the Round 2 draw taking place next Monday, with those matches down for decision the weekend […]
I humbly returned to Dublin on the Sunday evening after the Roscommon game with my 8 year-old son. He has been dyed and donned in the Green and Red since birth despite our Dublin 15 postcode. I felt it my duty to fight the good fight against the sky blue epidemic that has swept the capital this past decade. He […]
A week on from Mayo’s Connacht championship semi-final defeat to Roscommon, it’s time to put some distance between the county and this latest provincial setback. The Mayo News football podcast did this literally, by hitting the road for Clones where, with Sunday’s Ulster semi-final between Cavan and Armagh as the backdrop, the talk quickly turned towards Mayo’s reversal in Castlebar […]
Habit’s a funny thing. At the end of every FBD League campaign I always find myself doing a stats piece on who we played, what we scored and all that. I do something similar at the end of the League. For the last three years (2016, 2017 and 2018) I’ve also ended up penning a piece on the qualifier road […]
I’m back, a bit frazzled after the wedding, truth be told, which was a lovely occasion held at an utterly original and unique venue. The only downer on the day was, of course, what I was hearing – only faintly, as the mobile coverage was very poor where I was located – in the dispatches from Castlebar. Before talking about […]
Photo: MichaelMaye.com The votes are in and counted in our final Man of the Match poll of this championship campaign. There are no prizes for guessing on how this one went either. Diarmuid O’Connor put in a colossal shift for us against Kildare at Newbridge yesterday evening, leaving absolutely everything – and a whole load more – out on the […]
The highways and byways of the qualifiers have given us great days out over the last few summers. Part of the fun has been the dicing-with-death element of these knockout fixtures, in which, up until yesterday evening, we’ve always managed to secure the wins we’ve needed to keep the run going. In yesterday evening’s Round 3 tie against Kildare, however, […]
So another game day has arrived for us in this scorching hot summer we’re having. This evening’s Round 3 qualifier is our fourth match of this championship campaign, our third in four weekends. Nobody needs telling what the venue is for this one – it’s St Conleth’s Park in Newbridge where Kildare provide the opposition and where Meath’s David Gough […]
We’ve just named our team to face Kildare. Here it is: Mayo (All-Ireland SFC Qualifiers Round 3, 30/6/2018): David Clarke (Ballina Stephenites); Chris Barrett (Belmullet), Ger Cafferkey (Ballina Stephenites), Keith Higgins (Ballyhaunis); Lee Keegan (Westport), Colm Boyle (Davitts), Paddy Durcan (Castlebar Mitchels); Diarmuid O’Connor (Ballintubber), Stephen Coen (Hollymount/Carramore); Kevin McLoughlin (Knockmore), Aidan O’Shea (Breaffy), James Durcan (Castlebar Mitchels); Jason Doherty […]