Tuesday, 14 May 2013 13:35

NOTHING quite whets the appetite for a big championship feast than the starter comprising of a meeting between Mayo and Galway.
Whether these two ancient rivals can serve up a feast of football in Salthill on Sunday (throw-in 4 p.m.) won’t matter a whit to the respective managers, but whether he likes it or not, the pressure will be on James Horan and his team to get their championship up and running and kick-start the defence of their Connaught title on a positive note.
The good, or the bad, news for Mayo is most experts are tipping them to retain their Connaught title and, in fairness, the formbook would support those opinions.
Okay, the formbook is often torn up when it comes to the championship but I don’t think there will be any major shocks on the road through Connaught.
I expect and believe Mayo will win. The statistics are fairly clear. Not only have Mayo retained their division one status but they have qualified for a league semi-final in 2013 and a league final in 2012.
They are back-to-back winners of the Connaught championship and are fancied to do the three-in-a-row.
Those who see it otherwise can correctly point to Galway as always being a side that seems to come to life in the championship but they have fared poorly in division two of the league, losing to Laois and Louth, and it is generally accepted that they are in what is regarded as the transition period.
They also crashed to Sligo last year having beaten Roscommon to make the semifinal and have lost one of their most influential players in Padraig Joyce, who has finally retired.

Tuesday, 14 May 2013 13:24

THE biggest problem for Mayo junior team manager Michael Moyles is knowing what players will be available to him ahead of Sunday’s Connaught final meeting with Sligo in Salthill (2 p.m.).
The former Mayo player, who is also managing the Crossmolina senior team, is straight in at the deep end in this his first year at the helm of the Mayo junior side.
With Roscommon, Galway and Leitrim declining to enter the competition, both these teams are straight into Sunday’s final without a serious test, although Moyles has played a few decent challenge games against Corofin, Salthill and Garrymore and is happy things are developing nicely.
However, injury has ruled out a few players and a number of players have been forced to cancel due to work commitments or having to come home from  abroad.
Tom Parsons is a case in point. The Charlestown player has been travelling over and back from Wales for club commitments but was unable to give the manager his full commitment for Sunday’s final as he may have a problem with getting time off.
On his current form, and given his experience at senior level, he would be a huge asset to his county.

Tuesday, 07 May 2013 13:09

Peter Clarke, Mayo senior ladies senior Gaelic football team manager, is plotting the downfall of Cork in next Saturday's national league finalWHILE Mayo ladies senior team manager Peter Clarke is happy with the progress his charges have made since the start of the year, there is still plenty of room for improvement.

Dublin based Clarke, who took over the reins in January and is building a new team comprised of youth and experience, told The Connaught Telegraph that he and his management team were surprised to have reached the national league final against Cork in Parnell Park, Dublin, on Saturday evening next.

He said: “When I took over at the beginning of the year the aims were to build a new team around a few of the more experienced squad members and to try and keep their division one status in the league.

“The league is very important as every game you play in it you are up against a top team where you are able to gauge where your side is at in terms of competing with the best. It is also important for the younger players as they see on a weekly basis what is required to be a top player and the amount of learning they do is invaluable.

“Throughout the league campaign the team has learned a lot and come on in leaps and bounds. But there is still a long way to go and still plenty of learning to be done.