Photo: Mayo News
I realise that the focus has shifted back onto off-field matters at inter-county level over the last 24 hours but regardless of what’s happening there (or not) it’s still worth doing a quick summary of the action that took place over the weekend in the Senior and Intermediate club championships.
Starting with the SFC, the conclusion of the second round of group matches has seen the field start to narrow in the race for the Moclair Cup. Five clubs – Castlebar Mitchels, Ballaghaderreen, Garrymore, Westport and Claremorris – are through to the quarter-finals with one round of group matches still to play. Five more – Aghamore, Ballina Stephenites, Hollymount/Carramore, Crossmolina and Davitts – are already out of the running and will be seeking something from the final round to avoid getting dragged into a battle to avoid relegation from the senior ranks for next year.
In Group 1, Castlebar thumped Aghamore by 3-16 to 0-12 on Saturday evening, while Ballaghaderreen squeaked past Ballina yesterday by 2-9 to 1-11. Mitchels and Ballagh’ meet in the final round to decide which of them tops the group, while the Stephenites/Aghamore game is, in effect, a first round relegation avoider clash.
In Group 2, Garrymore’s 2-14 to 0-13 win over Charlestown on Saturday sees the South Mayo club safely through to the knockout stages. Knockmore and Bohola Moy Davitts played out a 1-13 each draw the same evening and that result keeps both of them potentially in the hunt for the second quarter-final spot in the group, though both will be looking for wins in their final group games to keep their hopes alive as well as to avoid ending up in relegation trouble. Moy Davitts face Charlestown in the final round while Knockmore play Garrymore in the other group tie.
The situation in Group 3 mirrors that in Group 1. Westport’s 1-14 to 0-15 win over Hollymount/Carramore and Claremorris’s 2-13 to 0-11 win over Crossmolina sees both victors through to the quarters while the losers are out. Like Group 1, the two table-toppers meet in the final round as do the other two at the bottom.
In Group 4, three clubs are still in the hunt for the two available knockout places while the other, Davitts, are out. Breaffy and Ballintubber played out a 0-13 to 1-10 draw on Saturday evening while earlier in the afternoon Kiltane crushed Davitts by 3-14 to 2-8. If Breaffy (who play Davitts) and Ballintubber, who face Kiltane, both win their final round games then they’re through but the Erris lads can make it to the quarters if they topple Ballintubber.
In the Intermediate championship, Kiltimagh lead the way in Group 1 following their 3-21 to 3-11 win over Mayo Gaels, while Belmullet are a point back in second point, having played out a rather extraordinary 4-8 to 0-20 draw with Ballyhaunis. Swinford top Group 2 after their 2-12 to 1-13 win over Bonniconlon. The other top teams in that group – Islandeady and Burrishoole – play their second round group match next weekend. In Group 3, The Neale emerged victorious from their local derby meeting with Ballinrobe, that 1-14 to 0-13 win putting them on top of the group. Ardnaree beat Mitchels B by 1-14 to 1-8 in the other game. Finally, in Group 4, it’s Louisburgh who lead the way, as they enjoyed a 1-11 to 1-3 win over Shrule/Glencorrib, while Parke beat Lahardane by 2-10 to 0-9 in the other group tie.
The final round of group matches in both the Senior and Intermediate club championships are scheduled for the weekend after next.
Don’t forget that the first episode of the Mayo News football podcast club series featuring all of the weekend’s championship action will be online tomorrow. It’ll be available to listen to on iTunes and SoundCloud, as well as on the Mayo News website and here on the blog. Stay tuned for that.
Belmullet result extraordinary in the sense that the referee brought his own umpire to the game. Belmullet were a point up, Haunis kicked a clear wide (having seen it live and watched in on game footage) and the point was given. The umpires flagged wide (the umpires the ref brought himself), he flagged it wide,until the linesman from Belmullet’s neighbouring club and parish invaded the pitch roaring at the ref, it was a point. Game promptly blown up, draw. Belmullet would have qualified, now have to get a result at Kiltimagh. Disgraceful from the linesman, who I won’t name, and the fact that the referee, nor the county board would even acknowledge, or review the footage, but will send this particular official to be involved in Belmullet games again. Why would the linesman overrule two umpires, but also why would the ref allow the linesman to over rule the two umpires he brought himself?
Was at knockmore moy davitts game. Ended in draw. Knockmore where the happier dream with final whistle. Moy davitts where in control. Brian Reape gave an expedition of ff play with 9 points and won a penalty. Serious question marks over rochford decision to drop him off mayo panel.
Although I didn’t see it myself, I have heard that Ballyhaunis point was a foot wide or more v Belmullet from numerous spectators and neutrals included. If so, an outrageous call by the ref.
Good to hear Reape has continued his US form and little doubt if he keeps this up about inclusion in panel.
Would like to know what other forwards getting big scores but from play. Presumably several frees in Reape’s tally. No issue with Reape left off this year, there’s a manager & 2 selectors though I will say one thing shitty January pitches aren’t a great guide for assessing players but A v B matches in late spring are.
Notice Diarmaid Connolly got 12 points in the Boston final, maybe we should divert him to Knock airport and see if he’d like to hang out in Mayo for a while. It is the silly season for sowing mad ideas.
If we’re going to bellyache then I’d like to mention that Bonniconlon were denied two stonewall pens in the same incident against Swinford in the IFC. I know of these calls can be quite subjective but I’ve watched it back on video a few times and simply cannot understand how the officials didn’t see any infringement??
I understand Reape had a fine return to club football on these shores. Who stood out over the weekend?
Belmullet must be raging , the ref shoud have over-ruled his linesman though.
Similar situation in cong yesterday. The Neale kicked a clear point in the first half from the stand side, the umpires hadn’t a clue of the should put the white flag up or not, signalled wide, ref consulted them and deemed it as a wide. The linesman came on and said in his opinion it was over the bar. The ref still gave a no score. Overall it was a great championship game of football with the neale deserving winners but the officials were terrible. The even made the players wait over 5 minutes on the pitch before the came back out after half time. Disgraceful!
Just heard Newstalk. I hope if any rumours are true that decisions taken are not caused by cock ups from CB, leaks or anything else other than personal decisions. I have a lot of time for SR, makes few mistakes but willing to take risks, some slow changes too but mostly from starting 15 being better than subs. No manager including Gavin is exempt from mistakes (but his are minimised by having a bench that could beat most counties).
This Ah Ref guy definitely doesn’t have the good of Mayo football at heart spreading rumours before proper news channels can confirm what’s in the pipeline for next year and what’s the hurry with any such stories anyway? We had until late Sept or early Oct to start planning next year. The local village gossip mongers in a football context.
It’s not just him, Shuffly, it’s those who are leaking like a sieve to him who also have major questions to answer here.
Was in Louisburgh yesterday and had to take our beating fair and square, weather was none to pleasant but great to be our again, hearing the rumors today too and I must say I would love if we could keep all our business under the radar???
Rochford gone
Rochford has resigned
Stephen gone. Effectively pushed by the Board. A change is good in my view but he is a decent man, who came so close and deserves huge thanks. Mayo County Board add another to the many they have shafted over the years
Mayo GAA say he has not resigned!
Its some of our county board members that should be geting the road. Some of them there now for far too long and seem to fall out with every manager at some stage.
The good times are well over now. Im expecting players to follow him out the door. Just cannot beileve it.
Jesus the more things change the more they stay the same;
https://www.irishexaminer.com/sport/gaa/football/a-case-of-history-repeating-itself-in-mayo-football-423718.html
If Stephen is gone, it would appear the County Board created a situation whereby he felt he had to go (as he had previously signalled he was waiting on). If that is the case, the County Board need to look at the way they deal with these situations. Forget whether you agree with Stephen being the man for the job, he’s given time to Mayo football and should be treated properly. These situations shouldn’t arise. Mickey Moran was treated poorly in 2006, Kevin Mc Stay and Liam McHale were treated poorly in 2014 and now it appears Stephen has been treated poorly. Not about any of them getting jobs or not, not about them being the right or wrong people to lead Mayo, its about being professional as a County Board and treating people with respect.
I’d say the leaking of the selectors to the Mayo News over the weekend must have got the CB’s gander up. Who would take the job now reporting into the current executive setup after another embarrassing clusterfcuk?
I hope this doesn’t break any rules Willie Joe?
Taken from the RTE Sport website:
Stephen Rochford has resigned as Mayo football manager after a stand-off with the county’s Executive Committee.
On Sunday, it was announced that former Galway and Sligo manager Peter Ford had agreed to join forces with Rochford as part of the Mayo management team for next year.
Ford and Shane Conway, who are currently working together as joint managers of the Breaffy senior club team, both accepted Rochford’s invitations to come on board as Mayo selectors in 2019.
A meeting between Rochford and the Executive Committee then took place in which it seems a major fallout occurred.
And in a statement released on Monday evening, Rochford revealed he had stepped away after three years in charge.
“After a meeting of the Mayo GAA Board’s Executive Committee last night, held to discuss the management team I had assembled to manage Mayo senior men’s team in 2019, the board issued a statement saying they wished to meet the management team and me about our structure and plans,” the statement read.
“It was apparent from what transpired at that meeting that the desired level of support for me as manager was not forthcoming from the Executive Committee.
“This disappoints me greatly. Accordingly, I see no value in meeting with the officers of the board and I am resigning my position as Mayo manager.
“I thank all those who supporters me during the past three years, two of which saw Mayo come so close to winning the All-Ireland title.”
Rochford added it was a “great privilege” to manage the county and says he was optimistic that his new-look backroom team would have built on the foundation set by others.
“Like all Mayo people, I enjoyed the good days when the team won and suffered the disappointments when the results didn’t go our way.
“The 2018 season was a disappointing one for all involved, and for our supporters. However, I had every confidence that our new backroom team had the capacity to build on the progress of previous years and drive the team on in 2019.”
I’m very sorry to hear about Steven Rochford.
Does anybody know what problem exactly did the executive committee have with Steven ???
It really does look now like all the good news stories from last week were just lining up the cannons for Stevens exit.
Hope he can enjoy his break from football and won’t have to worry anymore about the grim reapers that were out to oust him.