Month: January 2002

Mayo Senior Football Match Report
So January Football has begun with the commencement of the FBD Connaght League and Mayo had a bumper weekend. By meeting Sligo in Kent Park on Saturday and Roscommon on the Sunday at Ballyhaunis.

Sligo 1-14 Mayo 2-10
Mayo got off to a flying start in the opening seconds when full-back Neil Carew stepped over his own goal with the ball under pressure from the Mayo forwards following a cross from Michael Mullins. But for the following 30 minutes they were forced to concentrate on defensive measures in an attempt to stem the flow of score from Sligo’s eager forwards.
With the help of a biting wind the home side built up a tally of eight points without response until Conor Mortimer had Mayo’s first point in the 31st minute. The wind was certainly a help to Sligo, but they were also well organised and patient, and while they used the wings to the benefit of the speed Gerry McGowan and Mark Breheny with some degree of success, a lot of danger came also from their urges through the centre of the Mayo defence. When the Mayo defence did actually close down Sligo’s main access route, their scoring became more intermittent and Mayo were only four points behind at the interval (0-10 to 1-3) even though Sligo had much more of the play. Noel Connelly was the outstanding back in that half. His experience stood out, his intervention and attacking instincts drew positive responses from the rest of the defence, especially Pat Coyne, having a fine game at left corner back and to some degree Tom Nallen and Kenneth Mortimer making a return to the side a little slower yet, but steady and Gary Ruane anxious as ever.
At midfield Shane Fitzmaurice was given a deserved trial alongside Michael Moyles. What the Crossmolina man did, he did well, and Fitzmaurice showed especially in the final ten minutes when his punching of the ball pressurised the Sligo defence that he has the potential to win his place in the central area. Moyles injured an ankle in the second half and was taken off by stretcher, but the injury is not as bad as first thought he ought to be back in action in a few weeks.
The Mayo defence came under renewed pressure in the opening minutes of the second half when Sligo scored 1-1 in five minutes. Their goal came from corner forward Mark Breheny. Their goal came from corner forward Mark Breheny after linking up with John Partland and Gerry McGowan. It put Sligo eight points ahead and they were to reach a lead of nine before Mayo embarked on Recovery. Noel Connelly was the driving force of their come-back, and Conor Mortimer, Stephen Carolan and David Nestor the gleanors of some fine points. But it was Mortimer’s opportunism that set the final minutes alight. Another player might have been content to offer no challenge for a ball that seemed to be going wide from Noel Connelly’s centre after Fitzmaurice was fouled. The Shrule man contested it with a couple of backs. His fisted effort shot across the face of the goal deceiving everyone, and the ball glanced off the far upright of the net. Fortuitous maybe, but full marks to Mortimer for his zeal. That score left just three points between them. Stephen Carolan cut that to two. Dara McGinty increased it by one again and Micheal Mullins and David McDonagh reduced it to a single point in the dying seconds.
Both sides were of course experimenting, and the outcome served only to confirm the thin line dividing all teams in the province with the exception of perhaps of Leitrim.
Scorers for Mayo: C. Mortimer(1-4); S. Carolan(0-2); N. Connelly, D McDonagh, M. Mullins and D. Nester(0-1). Mayo: D. Clarke; K. Mortimer, T Nallen, P. Coyne, G. Ruane, J. Nallen, N. Connelly,S. Fitzmaurice, M. Moyles, J. Gill, D. McDonagh, M. Mullins, C. Mortimer, D. Nester, S. Carolan. Subs David Heaney for Moyles. M. McNicholas for Gill.

Other results and news
In the Mayo-Roscommon game the Result was: Mayo 1-15 Roscommon 1-11 Scorers for Mayo: D. Higgins (0-1), J. Gill(0-2), S. Carolan (0-1), D. Nestor(0-1), J. Horan(1-2), C. Mortimer(0-8).

Mulvey Park Mayo have commenced training on their new grounds adjacent to the Castlebar Mitchels Complex. Named Mulvey Park after former Secretary Johnny Mulvey, who is still thankfully a prominent member of the county board, the pitch will be used for preparation of all county teams. In other years Mayo depended on the generosity of the Parkes and the Tourmakeadys to prepare their teams for the various competitions, and owe a deep debt of gratitude to the clubs for obliging them. Now they have there own ground, provided at a cost in excess of £200,000. It will be the home of their teams from now, where plans will be formulated for the various competitions and, perhaps, a winning strategy for the long awaited Senior All- Ireland.

Kieran McDonald
Kieran McDonald is unable to give his Commitment to the Mayo Panel for the time being. Kieran is working in Galway at the moment and is hoping that he will be able to give a commitment soon in the New Year maybe in time for the Championship.

David McDonagh
I was speaking to David McDonagh(scored a point for Mayo at the weekend) recently and he suggested to me that following last years Interview that he would bare all for Charity on currane.net.

2002 Mayo GAA Preview
So here it is. I am going to give you my opinion of what Mayo GAA fans can expect in 2002. Well, last year, on the football side of things was probably an O.K year. To start off, Crossmolina won the club championships, a big boost for the County, and then, Pat Holmes brought home the NFL championship, our first major trophy in over 30 years. We did see disappointments in the championship when a side with a lot of expectation flopped!! Losing the Connaght championship by a late goal and then being out-played by West Meath in the quarter finals. Back to the drawing board for Mr Holmes.
The U21&Mac226;s did very well winning the Hastings Cup and reaching the All Ireland Final only to be outclassed by Tyrone – although it was a very poor performance by Mayo. In my Opinion Mayo are the biggest underachievers in Gaelic Football. The talent is in the County for everyone to see. Mayo Minors have been reaching All Ireland Finals continually for the last 5-10 years. In the Club Championships Mayo Club teams have been reaching All Ireland Finals year after year. Yes, so have other Counties, but out of Ulster, only one team made an impact over the last few years, Crossmaglen. From Munster it was Nemo Rangers and from Leinster it was Eire Og and now Na Fianna. But in Mayo there have been a number of teams; Crossmolina, Ballina Stephenites, Knockmore, Castlebar Mitchels and Garrymore have all reached the final. I believe a decent Manager and Mayo could do the business and I believe they only have to win it once and then the Sleeping Giant will be no-more.
I believe however, that Mayo this year will reach the quarter finals of the NFL And, depending on their form they may reach the semi finals. I do not think they will win it but I hope Mr Holmes has learned his lesson from last year. Too much emphasis on the League led to a severe slump in the Championship. With the FBD Connaght League starting this weekend; Sligo on Saturday and Roscommon on Sunday, Mayo will have chance to test out new players. I wont even predict how Mayo will do in that, with that competition anyone can win it maybe even New York. With the Return of James Horan and Kenneth Mortimer to the side and the departure of Kevin Cahill, Mayo are a different team this year and I’ll stick my nose out and say they will win the Connaght Championship by side stepping Roscommon/Sligo/Leitrim and edging past Galway. And after that anything can happen – I wont go as far as saying they’ll win the All- Ireland because they wont. Kerry Will. I believe Kerry will beat before them and after them this year after last years humiliation. I can also see Dublin having a slight impact in there somewhere.
As for the club championships all I can say is, all the best to Charlestown who are in the semi finals. I don’t know how they’ll do to be honest – I hope they will make the final.
In the Mayo club scene, I believe Garrymore will win the Senior Title. They reached the league final and were beaten by Hollymount. In the Championship they were edged out in the semi final by the eventual winners Charlestown so I can see them being under Dogs for the title.
As for Achill, well, I would like to see a good year from them this year, and hopefully we will after a very poor year last year.
So that’s my round up for 2002. Hopefully, I won’t be too far out.

Rejuvenated Dublin
It may be early January when no major prizes are being handed out, but hope springs eternal for the Dublin football team.
After a few lean seasons, the weekend charity game against a ‘Blue Stars’ selection showed that some of the young talent waiting in the wings is ready to make an impact. After Lyons men engineered an impressive 2-16 to 1-14 win, the name on everyone’s lips was that of Eoin Bennis, after his scoring contribution of 2-1. Not that Lyons is getting carried away, however.
Lyons said in a recent interview “We’ll be bringing him along nice and steady to see how he improves over the league, He does things naturally, but he’s light and he’s small and needs to do a lot of work on his body. But you never know, he might be there in June.”
After a championship season when the failings of the Dublin forwards were well talked about, most of the attention is focusing on whether or not Lyons can unearth some scoring gems to bring in the league. At the Thomas Davis venue in Tallaght, Dublin certainly shot some impressive scores, although the manager is keen to stress that success-hungry fans shouldn’t read too much into it.
“Sure it’s early January,” he remarked. “It’s nice to get out and play football because that’s what it’s all about. But kicking the ball over the bar at this time of year is a different thing from doing it in the championship.
“Still, it was nice to see the players kicking a little bit better and believing they could score. We were after having three defeats and were almost on the crest of a slump.”
Ray Cosgrove and James O’Connor were other players who impressed in the scoring stakes, while established faces, Ciaran Whelan and Colin Moran, also turned in effective displays.