Time to get back at it

Well, finally i have got off my ass and decided to get back into the blogging. Work and usual crap have had me hectic, but also a good dose of lazyietus took over. WJ and TIALTNGO, will have been keeping you all in touch so back tomorrow with a more and a promise to keep it up to date over the course of the championship

Some day it was

So just home and in the door after a day where two games went to the death full fellings tomorro evening, but go on Mayo and Ireland.

Rossies up for border raid

Last weekend, Galway came to Charlestown with a formidable reputation and manager who seems to know how to beat Mayo. One second reading, Galway were missing a number of players and we got through by a point in the end after letting them back into the game when they should have been dead and buried. This weekend we can’t afford to do anything like that at all, because hopping over the fence at the top of the garden are those raiders in primrose and blue. Three years ago, there wasn’t any real football fan who didn’t at least raise a smile in seeing Fergal O’Donnell’s men guide Roscommon to an All Ireland minor title, in mayhem scenes in Cusack Park in Ennis. On a day they haven’t seen as bad traffic congestion in the county trying to get to the ground since the day’s of Lougnane and the breaking of the curse of Biddy Early.

Follow the leader, Mayo captain Tom Parsons will be leading the charge tomorrow

On route to winning that All Ireland final Roscommon beat us in our own back yard in a game we some might say threw away, but that’s not to take from the momentum they built up on road to the final, it self which many Mayo fans will remember as we ourselves were about to take to the field in HQ full of hope and expectation under messers Moran and Morrison. Kerry had them beat out the gate that day, only for pure doggedness to see them pull the game level and force a reply, which led to bedlam in Ennis and Wille Hegartys commentary become one of the most iconic pieces of local radio ever produced in Ireland, after it was included in a Newstalk documentary on the event, which is a good listen for any football lover and can be found at their
website in the podcast section.

But enough of that looking back on others success, in the last three years our lads in the bibs have won three consecutive Connacht titles, in 06, 07 and 08, but now were in 09 and it’s time for a new batch to step up to the go in search of our 22 Connacht title at this grade, a pretty good return for a competition that has only been running since 1964. Last weekend against Galway we saw a pretty good performance from the lads in green and red with the shot selection at times the only thing that would be a major worry. At the back Robert Hennelly is as good as anyone else in the county between the sticks and will be pushing hard for the senior spot sooner rather than later. The full back line of Michael Gallagher, Kevin Keane and John Broderick were solid and dependable, even if Broderick’s selection over clubmate Sean Prendergast did cause a bit of surprise to some at the game, while the half back line was a bit similar to the senior set up, wing forwards very good going forward, but when their turned on the back foot they could struggle, while Lee Keegan at centre half back was a bit to prone to straying up field rather than being the one who held the back line together. Both Kevin McLoughlin and Donal Vaughan in the wing back positions are excellent footballers and will be big players for Mayo in years to come. McLoughlin seems to be the only doubt ahead of the game, he will be missed if he doesn’t make it.

In midfield Tom Parsons captained the side alongside Crossmolina man Cathal Carolan, it’s hard to believe that Parsons is still u21 but he looked at home there last weekend after some iffy displays for the senior side, it looks like he could be coming back in to some very good form at just the right time for this competition. Carolan was selected at ten but a switch around saw him move into be Parsons mop man and fixer doing the sniping work at the base of the break ball and generally causing a nuisance to his opponents, and personally NOOSS, thought he put in an excellent display.Frank Burke, Aidan O’Shea and Cathal Freeman manned the inside 40′ and each were on top of their games, every time O’Shea looked to make a run at the Galway defence he was dangerous. While Freeman ran McLoughlin close in the running for Man of the Match, he was always there to take on the ball and almost always took the right option with his delivery. The Aghamore man will have to be on top form again tomorrow if Mayo are going to win. The full forward line, well it wasn’t the best line of the side, but Mikey Sweeney and Jason Doherty did get the goals that were vital and thats what they’re there for.

While Mayo have always brought through a good batch of players every year from the minors in to the u21s, Roscommon have almost the entire side who won the minor All Ireland in 2006 in their panel for tomorrow, it’s some achievement to keep that batch of players together or is there too much being lumped on a group of players who had won unforgettable summer in the sun, who may have been greater team than the sum of the individuals on the side. Either way they’ll come to town with players you know like Donal Shine, Peter Domican, Fintan Cregg and Conor Devanney. All guys with a lot of ability, but NOOSS, has the feeling that we’ll be able to get over the line on this one, but only after a very tight struggle and don’t be surprised if theirs extra time needed.

What dah papers say

Noel Connelly in the Mayo News ahead of the game

Noel Connelly in the Western People on the game

Pat Holmes in the Mayo Advertiser on the game

The view from over the border form the Roscommon Herald

Another view from over the border, from former MWR man John Mulligan

There is a light that never goes out view (And this man knows his football in Mayo)

Fixture pile up ?, this is a fixture motorway smash!

Another weekend and another double bill or indeed quadruple bill, with seniors, u21s, minors and the hurlers all out in action. Three of them are even on on the same day with two at the same time. On Saturday the uU21s will be in action in the Connacht semi-final in Charlestown against Roscommon at 2.30pm. While if he head north-west from there in Crossmolina also at 2.30pm, Martin Brennan and Pete Finnerty’s Mayo senior hurling side will be in action in the National Hurling League against Armagh. Well if the small ball isn’t your game and your that much of a fanatic, why don’t you hop foot it down from Charlestown after the u21 game and you might catch the last of the action in the Connacht Minor League, between last years All Ireland runners up under the guidence of Ray Dempsey and the 2007 minor champions Galway. And just to round off the weekend we have the dubs coming to Ballina on Sunday for a bit of fun in the national football league, and people reckoned John O’Mahony was gone a bit mad talking about a fixture pile up. This is a fixture car crash for Mayo this weekend.

Mayo inter-county fixtures

So we've the u21 footballers and the senior hurlers at the same time, and the minors are playing where at 4.30, I wonder where the county board officals will be?

Saturday March 21

Connacht u21 Football Semi-Final

Mayo v Roscommon in Charlestown @ 2.30pm

National Hurling League Round Four

Mayo v Armagh in Crossmolina @ 2.30pm

Connacht Minor League Round Two

Galway v Mayo in Pearse Stadium @ 4.30pm

Sunday March 22

National Football League Round Five

Mayo v Dublin in James Stephens Park, Ballina @ 2.30pm

You would have thought that maybe a hurling and football double header in Ballina on Sunday could have been considered, while maybe holding off on the minor league game until the following week and have it as a curtain raiser for the league game between Galway and Mayo in Pearse Stadium. But hey, I’m not in charge of this stuff.