Mayo name team to face New York in championship opener
There are no debutants in the starting 15 as Mayo GAA senior football manager Kevin McStay has named a strong team to face New York in the opening round of the Connacht GAA Senior Football Championship this weekend.
Regular defenders Stephen Coen, Paddy Durcan and Eoghan McLaughlin make up a very formidable half-back line ahead of Jack Coyne, Rory Brickenden and Sam Callinan, now all established starters, in the full-back sector.
Matthew Ruane will be partnered by the versatile David McBrien at midfield on Sunday, with Jack Carney, Fergal Boland and Bob Tuohy making up an impressive half-forward line. The inside line also has plenty of potency, with sharpshooter Ryan O’Donoghue, Tommy Conroy and Aidan O’Shea all listed to start.
The game at Gaelic Park in the Bronx on Sunday will see Aidan O’Shea make his 185th Mayo appearance. It will be his 85th championship game, a new Mayo record and equalling Kerry legend Colm ‘Gooch’ Cooper on the national stage. Only Marc and Tomás Ó Sé (Kerry), Sean Cavanagh (Tyrone) and Stephen Cluxton (Dublin) have more championship appearances now than O’Shea, who made his debut for Mayo against Derry back in February 2009 in the Allianz National Football League.
Mayo Captain Paddy Durcan will make his 100th Mayo appearance on Sunday, while Fergal Boland will be making his 50th appearance for Mayo this weekend.
Mayo have won the previous five championship clashes with New York quite comfortably. The most recent meeting was in 2019, when they had 21 points to spare (1-22 to 0-4), with victories secured also in 2014 (4-18 to 0-8), 2009 (2-19 to 0-10), 2004 (3-28 to 1-8) and 1999 (3-13 to 0-10).
The winners of Sunday's game will play Roscommon in the Connacht semi-final on the weekend of April 20/21.
The New York v Mayo contest will be broadcast live on GAAGO, with live commentary on Midwest Radio also with Michael D. McAndrew and Martin Carney. Mayo GAA will have live updates from the game plus all the colour and pageantry from Gaelic Park across all social media channels.
The Mayo team in full is as follows: Colm Reape; Jack Coyne, Rory Brickenden, Sam Callinan; Paddy Durcan, Stephen Coen, Eoghan McLaughlin; David McBrien, Matthew Ruane; Bob Tuohy, Fergal Boland, Jack Carney; Aidan O'Shea, Tommy Conroy, Ryan O'Donoghue.
On the subs' bench are: Rob Hennelly, Aaron McDonnell, Cillian O'Connor, Conor Hunt, Conor McStay, Darren McHale, Enda Hession, Fenton Kelly, Michael Plunkett, Padraig O'Hora, Paul Towey.