The focus has swung firmly back onto inter-county action since the start of the New Year but the All-Ireland club championship has, of course, yet to come to the boil and this afternoon the GAA confirmed the dates and times for the penultimate round ties in both the senior football and hurling championships (full details here).
Castlebar Mitchels’ semi-final with Kerry’s Dr. Crokes has been fixed for Saturday, 15th February at O’Moore Park, Portlaoise, where throw-in will be 3pm. Later that same day up at Páirc Esler in Newry, Dublin’s St. Vincents will go head-to-head with Derry’s Ballinderry in the other semi-final (throw-in 5pm). Both semi-finals will be shown live on TG4.
By the way, before all that Kiltane will be in action in the All-Ireland Intermediate football semi-final. The Erris lads face Cork’s Clyda Rovers in that one, which is fixed for Duggan Park, Ballinasloe, on Sunday week (January 26th), with a throw-in time of 2pm.
Why Portlaois? Whats wrong with Clare, Portumna, Gort or Limerick.
Whatever about Portlaois, what about my game of golf 🙂
Maybe a chance for Mayo people up this end to support the Castlebar lads.
That’s crazy bring ing a match to there hope the Mitchell’s win and beat Kerry ha ha
Very best wishes to Kiltane and Castlebar
Clyda Rovers have serious Cork senior stalwarts in Paudie Kissane and Ray Carey and defend exceptionally well but at the other end, they don’t hit the onion sack very often. While we all know Kiltane can score at will – it should be a great clash of styles. Kiltane to win by 4 pts+
Castlebar were favourites to win Mayo but third favourites to win Connacht, and they thrived on the underdog tag to win the provincial title. Crokes will be favourites in the semi but I think if they keep great Cooper to the minimum, and play to their potential, they can do it. Castlebar to win by 2pts.
Ill be honest i have not seen Mitchells play .What are there chances against Dr Crokes?
Could lead to a bigger contingent for the castlebar men alright
As i said before christmas, im expecting a Mitchels v Vincents final paddys day! 😀
Portlaoise is 130 miles from Castlebar and 135 miles from Killarney.
Ennis is 90 miles from Killarney and 82 miles from Castlebar.
And where does the GAA schedule the game for?
There must be some debt on O’Moore Park, that’s all I can say.
Mitchels are a team that play to the final whistle, never give up, take the knocks and come back stonger. Alot of pace and physical strenght in the team. Very hard beaten. However Brigids are the team that should be repersenting Connacht this year, we were ass raped by Duffy. Good luck all the same.
I agree that the game did seem to swing in Mitchels favour as a result of Duffy overuling his linesman with the line ball decision (my mate was 4th official and 10 yards away from it, he said the linesman called it right) as the resultant line ball led to the red card and equalizing point. However, in fairness, Mitchels had played for a long time with 14 men and twice Bridgids had them on the rack but failed to put them away. Mitchels hung in and when they had their chance, they took it.
Rossie , you should of constructed your post the other way around , it would be far nearer your sentiment just to come out with the ” brigids should of won and were robbed by Mr Duffy “, whom ye think is in the pocket of the Mayo cb.Never mind the soften them up a bit first, were way beyond them aul tricks now , like p Doorey of old type nonsense. Tut tut
How did ” goes to Hollywood ” get on with his appeal? Are ye still dreaming of him pulling on the primrose and blue in some superman comeback stylie?
Wouldn’t it be mighty beat the Kerry team and then to beat Vincents.that i have to say would soften the blow from last September.:)
I see Edwin McGreal is tweeting that Mayo were training in atrocious conditions last night.
Fair play – but I was playing tennis last week in equally bad conditions. I hadn’t thought to tweet anyone on it – but maybe I should.
Not for me, it wouldn’t with my Vincents connections!
Im sure they will be happy for you when Mitchells beat them:)
Everybody is focusing on the linesman’s decision being overturned in that “crucial” call in the Connacht Final. But was it a linesman’s call or did the ref give a free for something which he saw before the ball crossed the line? I do not know as I was on the terrace on the other side of the field and eyesight is not that good. It’s good but not that good. That the ball was kicked from the sideline is irrelevant.
I would argue the merits of training in atrocious conditions , is there no indoor facility ? the All-Ireland series is rarely played in atrocious conditions.
might toughen them up for the connacht canmpionship alright but i cant really see how these lads might have gone to seed over the christmas.
Getting back to the county team, I see Terry Reilly has a piece in the Examiner informing readers that Peter Burke will take up ‘Runner’ duties for the coming season as well as continuing as a goalkeeping coach.
Full article – not very long – is here:
http://www.irishexaminer.com/sport/gaa/football/buckley-now-a-mayo-selector-255324.html
I don’t think Duffy is in the pocket of Mayo county board Sean, I just think he is a bad ref. You have a massive chip on your shoulder towards anything Ros, its apparent in any Ros related posts. As regards Frankie he is taking his case to Croke Park, as the Connacht council upheld the original decision. Comment about Dorrey is old and shallow, rise above it man.
At Andy D, Duffy over ruled the linesman, he did not see any free prior to ball going over line.
I still think Mitchels have a fine young side, with great battling qualities, the gripe is not with them. Thats not softening people up thats a fact based on beating the 2 best clubs teams in Connacht.
Id say Dubai seems like a distant memory now for them:)
‘he All-Ireland series is rarely played in atrocious conditions.’
True. But the National League usually is. Quite a few Connacht championship ties too – both the semi (v Galway in Castlebar) and the final (v Roscommon in Ros) of 2011 spring to mind.
How many years did Burke actually play for Mayo.I cant recall him for too many years playing.
Peter Burke played from 1997 to 2004 after which David Clarke took over. He was an excellent keeper and I would think he has a lot to contribute as a coach.
I was standing near the dug outs the ball came off Feeneys knee but those are the breaks needed sometimes Brigids got some themselves a few years ago against Corofin. All the best to Mitchels against Crokes i would be concerned the momentum from winning Connacht might be lost with the long break.
No free was given, Duffy over ruled the line ball claiming the ball came off Senan Kilbride
Re Brigids/Mitchels and the line ball, any decision that occurs in the dying moments get all the focus whereas, there were 3/4 decisions that clearly went Brigids way when they were coming back into the game after Mitchels took the lead
I think it could be argued that Frankie and Cake could definitely have walked the line for a string of offenses which largely went unpunished throughout the game. On the other hand Morans red card for Mitchels was extremely harsh!
2/3 of Brigids come back points came from extremely dubious frees.
One would hope that over the entirety of the game, the good and bad calls balance each other out, and on this occasion I think they did.
Can we change the subject please the Mitchell’s one fair and square hopefully we beat the Kerry’s
Wow i didn’t realise he played for that long.Mind you in saying that i was only 11 in 97 so i prob really only remember his latter years.But your right mighty keeper with lots to contribute.
Rossoneri, agree with you. Little bit of Mayo sensitivity here!! Why should Mayo be above honest comment from any source? Inferiority complex???
And the President of the GAA is fro Laois,
My first post here btw…. Great site, well done to all involved! I was just wondering, is it a help or a hindrance to the county senior team to have clubs involved in the latter stages of the club championships, especially the way the season is currently structured? e.g. last year when Mayo had no teams involved and the u21 team was beaten in the first round of the Connaught championship, James Horan then had a full deck of cards to choose from, very early in the season. Would it be better or make more sense if these games were played before Christmas? It would be interesting to hear the thoughts of Pat Holmes, the Castlebar Mitchels manager, on this issue. What do ye think?
You couldn’t be up to those bucks in Dublin
http://www.joe.ie/gaa/gaa-news/pic-theyre-feeding-cattle-out-of-the-sam-maguire-in-north-dublin/
I remember them alright davy but my point is that mayo are at a level where training for the latter stages ratther than the early stages might be wiser.
Well seeing that he only started one mitchels man in sept he might not be too bothered. But I think moran and feeney deserve their place on starting 15 with possibly two more (eoghan reilly and kirby maybe) getting a look on panel and 2 more from kiltane too to add to panel
Duffy overuled the linesman call. The linesman correctly gave a line ball to Brigids but the ref. overuled his linesman because he was certain it came off a Brigids player. These are the “inches” that make the difference between winning and losing. Anyway, Mitchels finished far stronger and won the extra time handy enough even when both sides were back to the full compliment of players.
Did you ever try and 10 x 150m sprints in a soggy wet bog of a pitch? It’s a hell of a lot more taxing on the system than doing the same drills on a nice dry one. It’s all about stamina and endurance training for now, speed and sharpness will come later in the year.
In fairness the Brigids number 6 was harshly sent off a few minutes after the restart, so it was 14 v 15 for most of extra time.