101 thoughts on “Championship fixtures this weekend”

1. I am just catching up with the blog and i think MAYOMAZE is correct. We have an awful lot of mayo spectators going to mchale park to watch the team and not being vocal enough . We need more of those spectators to become vocal supporters who shout and cheer the team on. I have talked to five or six of the mayo players and they say they love the place to be noisy with plenty of cheering and shouting. The new management should have somebody (Maybe be a job for Liam Horan) to encourage the supporters to have more colour and noise at our matches. the local papers could also have articles in the papers before games encouraging supporters to make mchale park a fortress that opposing teams do not like coming to. I am convinced this small change could make a big difference in 2023. Its great to have the club championships back this week and to see can we unearth a GEM .

2. Jimbo, I think colours not a. Major problem we usually well togged out, our colours however don’t stick out overly well when compared to a white, yellow or orange for example. Especially when wet the green and red appear quite dark.

3. its a disgrace i wasnt consulted by Mayo Gaa when these fixtures were drawn up. I want to go to about 10 of the games, but so many of them clash

4. @jimbo since St. Patrick (can’t think of his name right now) departed the scene r.i.p. the crowd is noticeably more flat. In his day he wouldn’t allow it to happen. We shouldn’t need someone to gee us up but in fairness when John?? was there he would beat his bodhràn and embarrass us into making more noise. His presence is sorely missed.

5. Mayo County Board start the championship on the wettest weekend in months and Mayo played Kerry nearly 2 months ago.You couldnt make this shit up.

6. @2 hops .yes we need to get another ”St. Patrick ” fast. i know the connacht rugby has a mascot (eddie the eagle) that helps get the crowd geed up to support the team. i have seen him there and he is very good before the match getting the supporters ready to support. It is something the mayo county board and Kevin Mcstay need to get for 2023 . it will be the best money that will be invested by mayo gaa.

7. “Mayo County Board start the championship on the wettest weekend in months and Mayo played Kerry nearly 2 months ago.You couldnt make this shit up”

   😀 😀 😀

   and you’d be hard pressed to find 4 finer weekends than those that happened throughout August – in which basically every other county could enjoy some great club action!

   Farcical stuff

8. Did the clubs not agree with starting it this weekend? I’m sure it was voted on.

9. Today must be a bumper day for barbers in Mayo with all the players getting their championship hair cuts for the weekend.

10. Oisin mcConville to be named as Wicklows new manager.

11. CB can not control the weather. I am sure clubs were consulted about time of championship.
    Split season in my opinion is a bad idea.
    County managers are calling the shots.
    I used to love when NFL games were played in the autumn.
    In them days the semi finals and finals of club all Ireland championship were played over a weekend, why not return to that,it only involves 4 counties.
    We cant leave half the year exclusively on TV to competing sports.

12. Ive heard it all now the county board being blamed for the bad weather

13. This place is worse than the Journal comments section at times. Colours and mascots and wanting the fixtures sorted so you can see all 10 matches in sequence to suit you. I would advocate that people reread their comments before posting but that presumes they wrote them without help in the first place.

14. Emmett Keane. You really think i was being serious about me complaining about matches clashing and not suiting me ?? Really ?

15. Some brilliant games this weekend and I can see wins for Westport, Ballintuber, Knockmore, Claremorris, Balla, Garrymore and Castlebar. Ballaghadereen/Ballina for a draw. Would have just about gone for Belmullet but the loss of Shane Nallen and Eoin O’Donoghue might be too much of a blow. Going for Claremorris to beat Breaffy was a difficult choice but they have an awful lot of young talent at their disposal in fact when their present minor crop come through they will surely be contenders. Hard to go against Aghamore but they do seem to have stalled with out Alan Freeman and Brendan Harrison there is a massive onus on Fergal Boland and in fairness he nearly always delivers but he needs help. Pity the bloody weather has broken but just make the best of it. Look forward to some of your reports on the games ye attend because it gives more of a personal touch. Have a great weekend ladies and gentlemen.

16. How come the Kiltimagh game is in Charlestown?

17. Kiltimagh pitch is being developed.

18. We have have gone from complaining about the “farce” and “circus” of the management selection to the “farce” of the County Championship…….i wonder what the next farce we can conjure up will be

19. Championship should have started mid August surely county players would have regrouped after mayo exit, what young players coming through should Kevin be keeping an eye out for

20. Wouldn’t be passing judgement on split season until the second part of the split (club) has actually been played.
    I’m sure if you ask those who actually matter (players), they’re probably glad to see it.
    Admittedly, the timing could be better. If the GAA got rid of pre season competitions like FBD and the provincial (I know it won’t happen), you could have league and championship running from April to September, with no intercounty team allowed train until late February. That would be a bumper few months with football played in very good weather.
    On another note, it’s beyond farcical that Mayo are starting their club action this weekend. Counties who went much further in the championship are nearly wrapped up now on group stages.

21. Honestly the amount of moaning and bitching is on a different level, I’d rather be reading about potential players who can step up to senior inter County .
    It’s very likely that the management team will be scoting at all senior games.

22. Ah come on people are allowed criticise some things!

    I know this blog is more oriented towards the goings on of the county team, but elsewhere online and in real life the timing of the championship has been a HUGE talking point over the past few weeks across the county, especially given basically every county is well under way and August was such a good month weather wise

    Its a very valid complaint and here’s hoping the powers that be have taken notice and rectify it next year

    Anyhow it is what it is – the championship has finally arrived and today is like Christmas as a child for me! Really buzzing for the action now.

23. Love the start of the club championship. Hoping to get to four games in total. You can’t beat it. Good luck to all teams and supporters except the ones facing my own club ?

24. Fascinating to see the Westport team today. Down 7 or 8 starters against Garrymore in the league and still brought it to ET, Kevin Keane will be a huge loss however, despite all the younger talent he’s still a huge leader and focal point of the attack. They still have an embarrassment of riches though, there’ll be recent Mayo county minors (and maybe even seniors!) not even making the 15 most likely

25. No Colm Moran in programme.. must be away this year? Big loss..

    him and Kevin Keane were two stand out forwards last year

    Big year for Mark, and Fionn McD. The Lamberts and Oisin McLaughlin were super underage players too

    Leeroy is named at 8

26. JR – agree that Autumn league games were great. I remember one particular one – versus Galway, their first under Johnno. A draw I think, with a wonder goal from MacDonald, who else.

27. For anyone interested the team sheets for all the championship games this weekend are on the mayo gaa Twitter account – a fantastic service.

28. Southmayo Exile – absolutely a fantastic idea releasing the team sheets.

    Ryan O’Donoghue on the bench for Belmullet. Hennelly on the bench for Breaffy. Eoghan McLaughlin on the bench for Westport. Could all change come throw in of course.

29. Thanks Southmayo Exile for the heads up on the match programmes. Excellent facility!!!

30. I bet there will be no back chat to refs this weekend after the Rossies bad week.
    It has to stop abuse of Refs and players

31. Regarding players to watch can anyone fill me in on Dylan Prendergast from Louisburgh. A few months ago a teammate of his said he is definitely a great prospect and was on the way back from a serious injury at the time and I think Mike mentioned him in the podcast. Personally I have never seen him in action.

32. Big win for Westport.

33. Some hiding for The Neale

34. Westport handing out a fair old trimming to the neale.
    High time now westport kicked on and actually got to a final at least, they have the panel, the talent and deep deep resources

35. Not on twitter can you get the team sheets anywhere else for weekend matches

36. Here’s the link for them, Uncle Buck: https://mayogaa.com/news-detail/10081944/

37. – A complete mis-match in Cong through no fault of anyone.
    – It was therefore hard to judge any individual display.
    – The Neale were hammered at mid-field, lost ball continuously in the tackle, very loose marking which just made it super easy for Westport.
    – Few old timers from the Neale were better than any “Unbelievables” sketch, very entertaining and lucky enough the rain held off until just after final whistle.

38. Is it true Eastern Gael got two players sent off against Cill Chomáin?

39. Weather is promised dry and sunny is it not for the afternoon tomorrow? Brutal morning but it’ll be a dry ball for throw in

40. Bigger tests for westport but good to see Fionn McDonagh back to his best. The big positive was Rory Brickenden at full back. Strong, fast and good use of ball. Could be in running for county team. The 3 mcLaughlin boys lined out and young Conal Dawson a future star.
    Ronan Hughes probably got the best point of the day but impossible to say how he would slot into a set of good forwards

41. Obviously a remarkable result in Cong, but I’d doubt there’ll be a single Westport man, woman or child getting carried away after that.. I recall a thumping being handed out to Balla in the group last year yet they ultimately absolutely blew a glorious opportunity in a semi against an unfancied Belmullet (and huffed and puffed over the line against Ballina too). It becomes a different competition altogether in the knockouts.

    Both Ballina and Ballagh will be disappointed.. could well come down to the dreaded score difference if neither can beat Knockmore

    That’s an excellent result for Kilmeena – carrying on their momentum from earlier in the year nicely. A bit surprised to see how facile the wins for Burrishoole and Kiltimagh were.. could Kiltane (such great warriors in senior only recently) be dragged into the dreaded relegation quagmire?

42. Oisin McLauglin a brother of Eoghan is worth a look at for Mayo, has to be one of the fastest players in the County and is very dangerous going forward.Also very impressed with Pat Lambert well worth a look too, he has great vision , can take a nice pass and link well and take some lovely scores.Westport nearly have 8 players of County standard available to them.In terms of talent they are the best club in the County.

43. Westport certainly have the panel Supermac, and are certainly the best squad in it in terms of depth, but you can only start with 15 and there’s many who might argue that Knockmore’s first 15 still looks possibly superior on paper, with Ballina, Castlebar, Btubber and Breaffy not a whole lot behind them either in that regard

    I wonder will the lack of a real experienced and top county forward cost them? ROD virtually bet them on his own last year, look at Cillian over the years for Btubber, O’Shea has obviously been huge for Breaffy – Westport don’t have any guaranteed Mayo starter up front (or even a guaranteed forward to make the 26?), Fionn McDonagh obviously has bundles of ability but its a big ask to expect him to drag them over the line on a soggy October day against a Knockmore or Btubber or whoever

    I think if a Tommy Conroy or ROD or even a Darren McHale or James Carr was from Westport they’d win Mayo handy and give the All Ireland itself a huge rattle, but without a free scoring top class inter county forward there’s that question mark over them imo..

    They’ll need their whole team to really stand up on the big day. With all that said I do think they may well make a county final, but my money is still on Knockmore right now

    It becomes a different sport in a month’s time

44. What position does oisin McLaughlin play

45. Oisin McLaughlin was actually in the Mayo squad for a period a few years ago

46. Oisín plays wing forward usually. He’s a year older than Eoghan. Did anyone see the Ballagh Ballina game? A lot of current and future Mayo players involved so would be interested to hear how they did.

47. Only got to the Kiltimagh / Holl-Carra game. Convincing win for Kiltimagh. Wasnt expecting much from Kiltimaghthis year but they never fail to surprise. Setup to be a good group with Kilamine vs Kiltimagh and HC vs Kilmeena next week. Could end up with all teams on 2 points – at min I expect at least 2 teams on two points so this looks to be a group going down to the wire

    Had hoped to get to Garrymore for South Mayo derby but something came up and had to go home. Garrymore missing a few big names (Enda Hession, Liam Horkan and Gary |Golden) and won easy. Thought Davtts would put up a better performance against a weakened Garrymore team. Heard Colm Boyle went of injured after about 20 mins so that was a blow to Davitts. Havent really heard much more about this gameyet but Garrymore only going to get stronger.

    Hope to get to Claremorris Breaffy tomorrow and I think Balla Belmullet is at 4:00 so will make the short journey down to that also hopefully

48. @WideBall
    David McBrien scored Ballaghs goal.
    Good to see the likes of McBrien,Fionn Mcdonagh and Mark Moran playing today.
    Please God we get some luck with injuries and we get to see Cillian ROD and Tommy Conroy in 2023 all fit at the same time.

49. Good to see Ross Egan listed in the Aghamore line up. A player I remember scoring heavily at under 20 level in the same team as ROD and Tommy Conroy.
    Has he been playing the last year or so? I am not in Ireland so I am a bit out of the loop.
    Willie Joe it is great to see the team sheets. I know you have enough on your plate but it would be great to see a link every week for those of us not in the Twitter world.

50. Mind the house you will get them on the Mayo GAA website also

51. Mind The House – Ross Egan has been involved with Aghamore the last few years. Was very good player with Mayo U21’s a few years and still is playing ok with aghamore but just never kicked on that bit more that we expected him to

52. Tradition means a lot in club football. It is very hard for a team fo make a breakthrough .
    Good luck to Wesport if they do.
    But remember if they meet Ba?lina,Ballintubber, Castlebar or knoçkmore, those teams will expect to win

53. Any word on how the ex Wicklow footballer McGraynor played today for Westport? Did he feature at all?

54. I heard he is injured driveitlong

55. Tradition is about togging strong and doing things right on and off pitch. That is very much Westport right now.

56. Westport really do have the players needed to go all the way. Unfortunately for Westport they also seem to have that ability to not turn up on one day each year. Hard to know what to make of yesterday’s trimming for the Neale. Even taking into account Westport’s strong lineup to only manage 3 scores while conceding 26 is a major worry and probably psychologically could be hard to recover from. If Westport eliminate that once a season off day they can see it out this year as I’d love to see Lee Keegan lifting the Moclair Cup (unless Aghamore are the opposition). The rest of the big-hitters in action today and I’m intrigued to see if Claremorris are finally going to step up. Looking forward to seeing Champions Knockmore against Aghamore but with a bit of trepidation tbh. Regarding Ross Egan. A few years ago Aghamore won the U21 title and Ross got motm, hewas only 16 and though he played for Mayo in that ill-fated U20 final against Kildare he just hasn’t really kicked on to become the player we all thought he would be. Something we should all bear in mind when we get excited about our Mayo U17s.

57. I think if Westport had Colm Moran and Conor McGraynor this year they’d have too much quality and pace for everyone.
    McGraynor also tips the balance that they’d have enough big men.
    If they eventually get Kevin Keane back a big boost.
    There’s a footballer I like Paul Lambert. He’s a very accurate kickpasser of the ball.
    I seen him do like a hurling mid range slicer of a pass and the ball traveled horizontal into the chest of the receiver. Never seen a pass like it.

58. I always get confused between the Lamberts 😀

    Pat was a phenomenal underage player and the main attacker for Rice in their Connacht cup win a few years back if I remember correctly. Surprised he never got a look in with mayo yet, like mark moran did who is around the same age

    Can’t say I know a whole lot about mcgraynor but he arrived with a good reputation.

    Is Colm Moran gone from the whole chship? Worth remembering he was the main man who bailed them out v ballina last year so would be a huge loss come the key knockout games

    One thing they have is fierce competition for places. Training must be very competitive. Experienced guys like Keegan, kev Keane and Brian McDermott are still crucial to have around the dressing room as it’s very easy for young lads to understandably get carried away with results like yesterday.

    The average age of the team minus those guys must be 21 or 22!

    Great day for west mayo as a whole with burrishoole and kilmeena putting up great performances. Surely the Burgh will add to it today also!

    Am loving the balance to castlebar’s team. Still a few stalwarts knocking around like ger mc, Newcombe, Douglas but a real exciting rebuilding job underway
    No donie Vaughan anymore – fair to say not much came out of that transfer, and there won’t be too many crying about that

    Huge one for cmorris – again very much a younger looking side but exciting talent in there at the same time. Can a few more outside of Shox shoulder the scoring burden this year?

59. “Something we should all bear in mind when we get excited about our Mayo U17s”

    Hear hear Joe – so many instances of similar cases going back over the years. Some lads play their best football at 16/17 and never reach those heights again

    On the flip side plenty don’t fully get going until their 20s – or even 30s!

60. Castlebar look in good physical shape. They look real broad shouldered and lean.
    That was an excellent Burrishoole win in Kiltane.
    Always liked Louisburgh. Small pick but putting a good 15 on the field each year.
    Intermediate looks wide open.

61. Watched the Kilmena v Kilmaine match on MayoGAA TV. Unfortunately there is no chromcast option as it would be nice to watch on TV screen!
    I thought Ja Mullin and a few of Kilmena forwards looked good!
    Best team won!

62. It’s hard to know what make out of Westport, they can only be this young and up and coming team for so many years.
    I’d say their average age is not much, if any different to Castlebar and Knockmore. When think of pick they have and fact they 2 decent size parishes (3 if count poor Kilmeena where it seems they’ve set up camp with new grounds) they should be always there or there about.
    Yet their junior team hasn’t featured really at all.

63. Gizmobobs – looking at their team from yesterday, Westport are still very young. Two U18s in the starting team. Lee Keegan is the only one in his 30s. I think after Keegan and McDermott, the next oldest could be Fionn McDonagh who’s only 24 or 25.

    Castlebar and knockmore would have a lot more lads in their late 20s and 30s.

64. Wouldn’t know the exact Castlebar ages TBH wide ball.
    Knockmore would probably still have 10 or 11 starters under 24/25. About 5 that cohort be about 21 or younger. And others who may feature like Burke, Battle L.C. age.
    3 McHales Shane, David and Darren and McLoughlin be older.

65. @Oilean Acla, Can’t you Bluetooth connect your smartphone to your TV and watch it that way?

66. HDMI from laptop works anyway, Bluetooth can be tricky sometimes

67. Screencast or share should work to share phone screen rather than the video on the page itself

68. Older Bluetooth often the voice has a lag. Ya the hdmi cable works, but I like the simplicity of from the phone.

69. Screencast? How to do Gizmobobs for a non gizmo person?
    I have used HDMI from laptop.
    Pity we cannot chromcast ! I have contacted the company!
    Mile buiochas for your advice!

70. Did Swinford get a walkover ?

71. They did, Km79. The Mayo GAA results round-up last night had them winning by 0-1 to 0-0.

72. Thanks WJ
    Never like to see that for a championship game. Especially the first one in a group. Makes a mess of it for all concerned

73. Anybody having trouble buying tickets for club games

74. Aaron Hughes for Garrymore looked like a player with huge potential. I have only see him a couple of times but looks tall and strong with pace. Really liked the look of him – I assume some on here will have seen a lot more of him than I have, thoughts ?

75. Knockmore 3.08 to 0.11 Aghamore

76. Looks like same old story with claremorris. Easily beaten by breaffy in decoy gear

77. Looks like the same old story with claremorris easily beaten by breaffy in second gear hard trip to belmullet next week

78. Ballycroy and Ardagh, Ballycroy fighting hard to get a result. Can’t recall their last strong junior championship result Ballycroy.

79. Hard luck Ballycroy, good to see them being competitive. Lost by 1pt in what seemed a cracker.

80. Sounds like James Carr dragged Ardagh across the line in that one.

81. Credit to Belmullet without the 2 O’Donoghues making the long trek to Balla and digging out a 1point win!

82. I watched the Knockmore v Aghmore match by linking a HDM1 cable from my laptop to my computer then right clicking mouse and hit cast- gives you an option if you have 2 TV’s- Bob in your uncle! It took me a while to figure it out!
    FfS don’t cast to your good lady’s TV by mistake!!
    Good game best team won. Kevin Mac man of match followed by his fellow County players. They do stand out! I was impressed by a few young players on Aghmore team and they tried and fought hard to the end! FB was well marked but still a good player! Let’s hope he continues for foireann Mhuigeo!
    A great service for those of us who are domiciled outside the county and for €90.00 good value for 20 matches!
    Mile buiochas to CB!
    Mhuigeo Abu!

83. Great win by Belmullet

84. Belmullet pull it out of the fire after looking in big trouble v balla, Ronan murray with a hattrick surely must be up for player of the week

    Tubber will have a serious say yet in this championship, they are a championship side and in Jason gibbons they have the best midfielder in the county by a mile

85. Ballycroy should have won the game v ardagh best team for 50 minutes

86. Did ROD play for belmullet?

87. Aidan O’Shea really played absolute havoc inside at full forward today in Claremorris. He still has that x factor and has a lot to offer yet for Mayo

88. I hadn’t heard of Ronan Murray for Belmullet. Anyone care to enlighten? Three goals when your team needs three goals is big cohojnes stuff.

89. Actually Ronan Murray came back from league of Ireland, I had heard about that but the name wasn’t sticking with me. 31 years of age.

90. https://westernpeople.ie/2021/03/03/murray-heads-for-pastures-new/
    Think this the man you asking about JP. I stand to be corrected mind.

91. Played professional soccer for Ipswich and Notts county in England JP, and more recently LOI for Dundalk and Galway. He’s about 30 now, probably too old for Mayo but who knows.
    He’s pretty small but a very talented sportsman

92. Small guys age better in terms of their pace and fitness. Still only 31. You’d figure he’d be pretty aerobically fit and must have plenty pace to hack it in a high level of soccer whilst not being tall.
    Interesting to see how he goes in the next few games.

93. Mikey3. No Ryan was named on the bench but didn’t get a run and Eoin is in Australia.

94. That’s a fine result for belmullet.. maybe one of the most important of the weekend

    An early loss and it would be some uphill battle without their best two players and a target of sorts on their back after last year

    You’d back them now to beat claremorris (how on earth can they not get any form going at senior?) next week and qualify for the quarters

    Big statement by btubber aswell against a dangerous opponent just up from inter

    Wouldn’t shock me at all if they went all the way. Theres not many more seasoned teams around

95. Apologies… Brendan Carr!

96. When Rod first got injured the rumored injury was Gilmores groin. I hoped it wasn’t true as that is a tricky one or get over . Seems to be long term now so………

97. Are soccer players really suited to the the Gah? Would love if Murray prospered, but that Boylan lad who looked so promising never made an impact, and the Murphy lad a few years earlier, same story

98. The problem with stepping away from the game for a few years is that the player is not compounding that intangible game sense year on year.
    If a player had a lot of pace and was a good goalscorer, maybe there’s a squad role jersey 26 to be called on late in games when a goal is needed.
    One thing I have found underrated in Gaelic football is goalscoring ability. You’d be better off scoring two separate points and making a few tackles with the way a lot of managers view the game.
    But without goalscoring your team really lacks weapons and threat.
    Some players are better goalscorers than point takers.

99. Agree JP. Remember when Jason Doherty first came on the scene, he was scoring a lot of goals. Horan turned him into a different animal. That’s not to knock what he did/became.

100. Yes was thinking on that Catcol.
     One could take the Moneyball approach and require a certain % goalscoring.
     Mayo forwards have had well heralded careers but when you look at games played and goals scored a conversation was missed on whether a complete lack of goal threat was factored properly into selection?
     It leaves work to make up for the other attackers.

101. It’s all about overall gameplan. Jason as a ferocious tackling forward worked so well, especially from ’13 onwards. It fitted into the overall team playing style.

     Maybe it’s time to change. Make our forwards still tackle, but they must remain in advanced positions, like D Clifford.

     Jason Doc and Cillian frequently roam outfield. No use there.