Connacht GAA finally confirmed earlier this evening (here) that the Connacht SFC quarter-final clash with Galway on Sunday week will be played at MacHale Park in Castlebar. Throw-in for the game on the 24th will be 4pm.
In the same announcement it was also confirmed that details on tickets for the match will be made available later in the week.
Glad that’s confirmed now.
That good new, and we could do with good news. Now to get a few injured players back, and beat Galway.
Hopefully we start as we mean to go on ….a win & make it a fortress.
Well that at last is some very welcome News, for Mayo, Mchale Park and Castlebar.. The playing surface looks excellent in the picture, so hopefully Mayo will do the new surface justice and win. It’s the first unrestricted, due to Covid regulations crowd allowed into McHale Park since the 1st March 2020, when we played Kerry, the day the first Covid positive was confirmed in Ireland.. It will probably sell out I’d imagine, what ever crowd that will be allowed due to health and safety restrictions.. The previous sell out for McHale Park was in the Super Eights in the Summer of 2019, when those wiser than ourselves taught that only a crowd 25K+ would be safe, in a much improved ground that had often safely held crowd’s in excess of 36K.. The Albany End was less than 25% full, and gaping holes in the crowd in the corners and Factory End.. It’s amazing that a ground that never had a safety issue before, need’s such regulations.. Don’t ever tell those people that thousands of people actually climb the Reek on a single Sunday in July.. they’d probably faint!
Valid point about the Reek leantimes.
Although at the time of that game v Donegal someone here pointed out that the issue with numbers isn’t always about the crowd inside during the game but that the H&S fellas get more flustered about how to get everyone out safely… The place can take over an hour to fill but empties in 15 mins. I’ve been going there for 40 odd years and never felt anything but safe at all times.
Anyway, it’s good to be back a full capacity, whatever that is.
Won’t even sell 20k tbh , crowds are absolutely rubbish the last few years with the exception of all Ireland final of course .
Not sure if this is good or bad. Doesn’t suit our one style of play of running the ball. For that to work, we’d need a wider pitch to create space for runners off the shoulder. Prefer the Hyde.
Either we adapt to the narrow pitch by changing a game plan (and current incumbent hasn’t changed a game plan in 8 years) or we lose. Here’s hoping!
The pitch is now wider not longer
.
I taught.. oops … thought, running off the shoulder was a contributory factor to the injury problems within the Mayo panel.
Less running & more composure please – kick-pass the ball & conserve energy.
The really incisive passes are to space – the space favouring the intended receiver of course. However I don’t think our so called preferred half-forward line has the required pace to trouble the quality teams.
However one lives in hope.
Either Way it doesn’t matter, style of play changas with time. The stand side corner on the Albany end was always a quakmire for league games.
@jrb that’s incorrect as has been reported many places since before the work started.
The pitch has been extended in length by 5m,obviously its not possible to widen the pitch in MacHale Park without taking out rows of seating.
Anyone know is u20 game been streamed anywhere
I believe that Liam Moffat deserves credit for getting it done,I also don’t believe that five meters makes that much difference,if we go with three across the the field it is only about a metre and a half less per player
It is, JP2 – it’s on TG4’s YouTube channel so I’ll be able to embed it directly here on the blog too, like I did for the Galway game. I’ll do a post on this later on.
Great News and well done to all in Mayo GAA for having McHale Park ready in time.
Hopefully we get some positive news on the injury front next week and we can have a right rattle at Galway.
Yes , congratulations to all involved in getting mchale ready , we all would of been quick enough in to ridicule them if they failed , mise included , so fair play .
For info, the pitch was extended by 5m and is now 142m X 82m. That compares well with Fitzgerald Stadiunm in Kilarney which is 144m X82m. A good few county grounds (including Roscommon and Galway) have the maximum width of 90m and the maximum length of 145m. The new playing surface, allied with the increased pitch length will be more suited to our game. It is a pity that the width couldn’t have been increased by a few metres on the MacHale Road side, but what it is now will be a good improvement.
It would be more beneficial that the width would match Croke Park but it is what it is for both teams.
I think it will be more difficult to expose defences, that could be good for us. I expect a sell out…
MacHale Park with a 4pm throw in has been on the GAA.ie fixture section since April 2nd, why was the Connacht GAA so slow to publish this news?
As for the price of tickets (for those that doesn’t have a season ticket) expect 30€ for stand tickets and 25€ for the concrete benches. For whatever reason Connacht is the dearest provincial championship matches to attend.
Excellent article by Sean Rice in this week’s Mayo entitled
‘Where to now for Mayo ‘
Essential reading!!
Thanks Oilean acla. Sean Rice is a long time working on that one
@mayomagic, It’s only been confirmed by the GAA in the last couple of days, there was no venue listed on the official GAA site anyway. It was never going to be listed until an inspection was carried out.
Well done to all involved for getting the pitch ready in time for the game on Sunday week. Hopefully it will be a good baptism of fire for our lads.
The unveiling of the ‘Heroes wall’ takes place on the Saturday evening before the Galway game at McHale Park, with purchasers invited to attend for photographs & refreshments. A nice gesture by the C.B. Credit where it’s due.
Thanks for that update, 2 hops. My invite to it came though by email this evening. As you’ve said, it’s a nice gesture and I’m looking forward to seeing the wall.
Id say tickets will be all the same price for Adults. It would be a nightmare to steward after people scan there ticket at the turnstiles, and then have to check people’s ticket a second time as they make there way to the stand.
Unless Stand tickets numbered seating i cant see it being any other way.
And if they are numbered , people could/will be up in arms if the seat they get isnt of there liking.
Moral of the story, clear the schedule for that day and get in the Q …..EARLY.
@viper it was on this section of GAA.Ie https://www.gaa.ie/football/connacht-gaa-football-senior-championship/mayo-galway/2128663/
and I know as i booked accommodation for a few friends in Castlebar once i seen that published on there.
@mayomagic, I have no reason not to believe you when you say it was on the official GAA site on the 2nd of April but it definitely hasn’t been on their site since then, in other words it had to have been removed because I made sure to check that before I posted about it a few days ago.
I believe @Sean Burke can also confirm that it wasn’t on the official GAA site on the 11th of April as he commented on it after I did.