A bit of digital gardening that I have to do on an annual basis here on the blog is to file away into the results archive the complete set of results for all matches played during the year. I’ve just now done this for 2020 so the permanent home for the year’s results is here.
A notable year it was too, in a number of respects. We’ll remember it in years to come, of course, for Covid and the way in which the normal playing season was interrupted for several months.
We’ll also recall it as another year in which we reached the All-Ireland final and, sadly, will remember it too as yet another final in which we came off second best.
But, despite it also being the year when our long stay in Division One of the National League finally ended, 2020 wasn’t all doom and gloom. We won Connacht for the first time in five years, in the process bringing through a whole raft of fresh talent into the Senior ranks.
So, a year of ups and downs but, on balance, more of the former than the latter, with the results of matches we were involved in now all filed away for posterity. That makes it 119 years of Mayo GAA results that are now contained in the Results Archive here on the blog.
I got a few mails during the year pointing out errors in some of the listings in the archive. I’m always delighted to receive these kind of notifications so if you do spot a mistake then please let me know – either in the comments or by email – and I’ll look into it.
And if you have been in touch and have seen that I haven’t yet corrected an error you’ve discovered then don’t be shy about reminding me. Sometimes I need a prod to spur me into action.
If you fancy a wander through the Results Archive at any time then click on the tab above or follow this link here.
Well done PJ on compiling the archive of 2020 it made brilliant reading on a wet Sunday evening
Great work Willie Joe. The archive is such a brilliant resource. You really should be having some downtime. Hope 2021 is kinder to you than 2020 and good for all who post here on the blog.
Unreal work with the archive Willie Joe. On another note I was checking cillian o Connor scoring records and can anyone tell me has any other player ever finished top scorer 5 times?i think not. It is a phenomenal achievement and he’s not finished yet. He still doesn’t get the credit he deserves. Amazes me how many naysayers are out there.
Apologies Willie Joe I put in PJ instead of your right name excuse my typing mistake in my post above. Keep up the good work for 2021
No Doubt You are correct in saying that COC has been top scorer 5 times in his career. He joined a unique club of great forwards like John Doyle Oisin McConville who have won it twice in their careers while he was playing underage football. He is the only footballer to do it 3 years in a row. This year was the 5th time and the winning margin was over 20 points. He became the top scorer in a single Championship game also this year with 4 .09 beating his previous record of 3.09 of 2018. Best of all he would have been this years top scorer in the championship without adding in his tally from the AI Semi Final v Tipperary. I have always got a great kick out of the jokers who called on him to be dropped from the team in the recent past ho ho ho.
Willie Joe
Just wondering if anyone on the blog remembers Mayo V Dublin challenge match to open the Swinford football pitch in I reckon 1978.
I was there as a 7 or 8 year old.Wondering who won….I seem to remember Dublin winning by about 4 points but I cant be sure ….distant memory…..nearly doubting it happened at all??
WJ This site and the archive is a great credit to your dedication and hard work for Mayo GAA people everywhere, Mile Buiochas. A fitting tribute to the great team and management that we currently enjoy. Long may they prosper.
Pat I will find out for you
@Pat, Years ago a Swinford clubman told me of Dublin with Brian Mullins playing Mayo in Swinford. So that would fit.
Thanks pj
Thanks for the response folks.Cant remember Mullins that day definitely Keaveney and Anton OToole and of course Paddy Cullen.I was standing looking through the wire around the pitch…..dont know what year it was really.
Pat – I’ve checked back just now on the Irish News Archive (a superb resource, for which I have an annual subscription and which gives you access to all back copies of dozens of national and local papers) and I’ve found the match report for that game. It took place on 13th May 1979 and it occurred in conjunction with the official opening of the Davitt Memorial Park and Community Centre in Swinford. Padraig Carney flew home from the States to officiate at the opening on the day.
Mayo beat Dublin by 1-11 to 1-6 in that match (we were kings of the challenge match back in the day!) which, so the report says, was “well contested and showed a welcome fighting spirit on the part of the home fifteen.”
The Mayo team that lined out in the game was as follows: J Cuddy; S Minogue, B Diskin, BJ McGarry; M Gavin, A Egan, A Garvey; WJ Padden, K Kenny; L Donoghue, J Gallagher, P O’Brien; B Fitzpatrick, JP Kean, J McGrath. Sub: D Dolan for Fitzpatrick.
Dublin had a reasonably strong team too, which did, indeed, feature Brian Mullins. Their team was: P Cullen; D Foran, S Doherty, J Brogan; P Reilly, T Drumm, F Ryder; B Mullins, D Hetherington; M Carlisle, T Hanahoe, D Hickey; R Crane, J Keaveney, J McCarthy. Sub: P Brogan for Keaveney.
WJ ; Probably the late eighties to start of the nineties, a Dublin/Mayo challenge in Claremorris on a Sat. evening and no hotel stay for Dublin team!! but a stay in Knock in side by side guesthouses?
How I came to know of that game was in relation to big physical lay down the law players. The Swinford man mentioned that that 1979 game there was a lot of physical stuff with Brian Mullins. That was how Mullins stuck in my mind.
Must have been fairly obvious as this was year 2000 he mentioned it 21 years later.
I think I may have been at that game, Citog – though only if it was prior to 1988 as that was when I emigrated. I have a vague recollection of being at such a game and I even think I took some (bad) photos of the action. That’s a worthwhile rummage to undertake …
Thanks WJ and all…..
There was a man with me that day that said we won…..he was right from the looks of it.
Amazing how you can remember things differently than they were. I though OToole played that day and I remember Hanahoe for sure.
Anyway thanks again……..reminds me how big a part Mayo football plays in our lives
Well, that proved easier than expected! That match in Claremorris took place on 16th May 1987 as part of Claremorris GAA club’s centenary celebrations and Mayo won by 0-12 to 0-10 (see – we were the best team in the country in challenge matches those times). The match was a tournament one, played for the Seamus Gallagher Cup. According to the Western People, the match was to be preceded by an U12 game between Claremorris and O’Toole’s of Dublin, with a function in the clubhouse afterwards where Flamingo were supplying the music.
Given the date, I can now say for certain that I was at that game, which means I’m probably correct too about my amateur photography at it. But where, I wonder, are the photos?
Liam Horan wrote a detailed report on the game for the Western and the Mayo team listed for it was as follows: Eugene Lavin; Martin Carney, Micheál Collins, Kevin Beirne; Frank Noone, F Tuohy, Jimmy Browne; TJ Kilgallon, Seán Maher; Liam Niland (0-1), Noel Durcan, Padraig Brogan (0-2, free); Kevin McStay (0-2), Liam McHale, Anthony Finnerty (0-7, five frees). Sub: Peter Forde for Noone (inj).
I’m enjoying all the detective work on games yea have attended decades ago.
Rummaging through some of the archives to try and nail down when the first time I would have seen Mayo playing. Still working on it.
I see Wj Padden played minor football in 1977 and also played for our seniors in the National league in 1977. Probably other examples of people who have played minor and senior in the same year but not too many.
The archive is a fantastic resource. I took a wander through some years and spent way longer than I anticipated. It’s interesting to see when players first appear in a senior line up, usually in the league. Padraig Brogan racking up big scores from midfield. I also saw a minor result where we overcame Sligo, conceding 5 goals but no points in the process. An awesome undertaking, WJ. Thank you.
I really hope James see sense and calls in Peter Naughton this coming year. The most accurate inside forward we have in the County and we let him off up to Sligo.
@TH Would he win his own ball against Dublin? Personally I don’t think he would.
It’s a bit of an exaggeration to say Naughton is the most accurate inside forward in the county. Cillian O’Connor?!
I said before the championship that unfortunately for Naughton, there are already lots of right footed corner forwards on the panel. We could do with a left footed one, possibly Aidan Orme?
Wide ball at Mayo club level Naughton possibly is. Only one way to find out if he can cut it at county level like Cillian does. I’d certainly have him ahead of lot of players in the current set up given his versatility, speed and scoring ability.
Aidan Orme is in doing S&C currently.
Good to hear Gizmo.
But guys, do ye remember the 1987 Connacht final v Galway in McHale Park, Mayo went out tamely, missed many frees in the game.
Do I remember, Mayo88? Will I ever forget! We lost that final by 0-8 to 0-7, in what was probably the most frustrating Mayo performance I ever witnessed. We had enough chances to win three games but just couldn’t score.
Yeah 1987 Connacht Final was unbelievable. I think we led 5-2 at half time but we were terrible in front of the posts. We let a poor Galway side take a Connacht title away with them. It was horrendous to watch. Mayo 0-7, Galway 0-8 tells it all. We could easily have 0-20 on the board. Took a long time to get over that.
An interesting exercise for bloggers and yourself WJ while we have a bit of downtime might be to see what earliest match day programmes we can locate. I know a rummage around my attic should unearth a few as I used to really value them as a youngster. I wonder what year the match programmes came out?
In that 1987 Final, we scored just two points from play. One each for Martin Carney from corner back and Charlestown’s Denis Kearney from centre-half forward. It was depressing stuff alright. You’ve brought it all back to me.
From the excellent Archive:
1987 CONNACHT FINAL: Mayo 0-7 Galway 0-8 (MacHale Park, 12/7/1987).
MAYO: E Lavin; M Carney (0-1), J Browne, D Flanagan; F Noone, J Maughan, J Finn; TJ Kilgallon, WJ Padden; N Durcan, D Kearney (0-1), P Brogan (0-4, all frees), K McStay, L McHale, L Niland (0-1, free). Subs: M Collins for Noone, M Butler for Kilgallon, T Byrne for Butler.
@ 2 hops. I have no idea about the earliest Match Day Programme but if memory serves me correctly I think the late Jack Mahon had an article in the 1987 Connacht Final edition that mentioned about the first programme for a provencial decider. I think there were Team Sheets for quite awhile, but programmes as we know them today may well have just started in the late 1960s/early 70s. I have a collection in the attic and if I come across that programme or article I will confirm this. Willie Joe will probably get there first.
86 and 87 were lost years for that Mayo team. We lost to Roscommon in 86 and Galway in 87, on both occasions we had more than enough ball to win easily but squandered chance after chance. Very frustrating matches, both played in Castlebar.
We should have won 5 Connacht titles in a row from 85 to 89 and that may have made all the difference in that 89 final !
Best thing about that ’87 final, if I remember correctly, was the Macnas parade/exhibition at half time.
Other than that, appalling.
The 89 team is held in high regard but I often thought they were let down by some players still playing 1960s hoof the ball randomly football.
2 hops- have seen them for 50 &51 finals.
What a petty headline on tomorrow’s Connaught Telegraph ‘alleged covid breach in croke park’. Pathetic. No danger they would print a rebuttal against Brolly’s spiteful rant against our amateur players. It seems not one local media outlet is going to call out Brolly and defend the team.
I’m afraid I’ve nothing to add to the debate on programmes. It’s not a topic I know anything about.
I’d agree with you, All The Way, that we should have won five Connacht titles from 1985 to 1989. I recall, standing on the pitch in Hyde Park after we’d hammered Roscommon in that ’85 Connacht final, saying that nobody in Connacht would beat us in the west for the next 4/5 years. Galway still looked shot after the trauma of ’83 and Roscommon’s four-in-row glory days were well behind them. We had a young, talented side, with plenty of the team who won U21 in 1983 coming through and it looked like we were the coming team. Losing to Roscommon in ’86 was bad (partly explained by a bad spate of injuries in our ranks) but losing to Galway the year after in the manner we did was cat altogether. We sure didn’t look like the coming team then.
You’re correct too, Catcol, about Macnas. That was the only positive thing from our perspective about that day!
I know for sure there was a 1936 AIF programme…….I was chasing one I saw on eBay a few years ago to go with the original 1950/51 programmes I have…….I missed it……still looking for a 1936 one…….Very thin programme, a white sheet folded I’d say……
Well said go again
However I do think the more rebuttal Brolly gets the better he likes it as it keeps him in the news a total attention seeker…..who uses the GAA to enrich himself
Joe Umbrella’s latest attack on our squad was both unfounded and scurrilous. However, there’s a very easy answer to that without having to dignify his remarks with a written response: stop inviting him on MidWest and stop inviting him to club functions down here! It beggars belief that it has gone on up til now, but there you go.
Umbrella’s modus operandi is to sycophantically lavish uncritical praise on those who win and to demonize those who don’t. If Dublin ever hit a rough patch again (admittedly looking unlikely in the present circumstances), then he will turn on them in the blink of an eye, as he has with Tyrone and Donegal in the past (and indeed his erstwhile employer RTÉ).
@It means nothing to me, Ignore the man. He won’t be too famous when all he has is Eirtime.
Why is a local paper printing that on the front page?? Nonense. Wasnt it a pity Liam Moffat didnt grasp the opportunity to lay it on the line to the Derry fella what we think of him. WJ – would you consider putting up JP Kean’s recent excellent piece (it has been shared numerous times on facebook, but some here may not have seen it). Edwin McGreal was on twitter defending Kevin McStay – its the players that need defending. Had a quick glance at the Mayo News now – no rebuttal. Liamy MacNally had some nice words. People seem happy to say that questioning what brolly writes or that we shouldnt read it are our only options. Well I’m not happy with those options. I note he is Mayo Roscommon Hospice Ambassador – I wonder are the Hospice happy with his constant personal attacks on amateur footballers. I intend to contact the Hospice in January. I have also contacted Mid West radio. Finally werent Mayo GAA very quick out with their statement denouncing Tim O’Leary back in February – yet silence now.
What Brolly fears the most is silence. Then it’s finally just you and your own shortcomings.
I agree wholeheartedly, JP. The less everyone on here – and elsewhere too – says about or reacts to that individual, the better.
The ‘broken crossbar’ game is probably my earliest memory going with my dad and uncle as an 8 year old. The ‘I scream, you scream we all scream for ice cream’ chant!!! I consumed every bit of that day with jaw dropping awe. It probably wasn’t a great game but I feel in love for sure from that day on with the green and red.