More club dates for your diaries, this time involving matches with some silverware on offer.
This coming Saturday at MacHale Park, the Connacht Intermediate and Junior football finals are being contested. The county has skin in both games, with Kilmaine bidding for provincial glory in the JFC decider while neighbours The Neale have their sights set on the Connacht IFC title.
First up at MacHale Park on Saturday will be Kilmaine who take on St Michael’s of Sligo in the Junior final. That game throws in at 3pm.
Then, once the generator gets revving and the lights come on it’s the turn of The Neale who are set to contest the Intermediate final against Galway’s Oughterard. Throw-in is 5pm in that one.
On Sunday it’s hurling that takes centre stage. That afternoon Tooreen are heading back once more to Athleague, this time to play Kinvara of Galway in the final of the Connacht Intermediate club hurling Championship. Throw-in at Athleague is 2pm on Sunday.
Finally, some advance notice of a match of considerable importance that’s fixed for Sunday week (24th November). This is the LGFA All-Ireland Junior football final, in which CL MacHale Rovers will be taking on Donoughmore from Cork.
This All-Ireland decider has been fixed for Duggan Park in Ballinasloe where throw-in on Sunday week is set for 2pm. No doubt there’ll be a big North Mayo following heading for Ballinasloe then but, for those who can’t make it, the final is being streamed live on Facebook by the LGFA – details on that here.
By chance i was in sligo last weekend and took a trip out to The Neale vs Geevagh. The Neale much the better side in the second half and have real good footballers in young Conroy and Walsh in the middle. I have seen Oughterard many times and are a very good side also. Fast and powerful on the ball with very dangerous forwards that will take watching. I am going to go with my Galway neighbors as from what i seen of The Neale they are pretty ponderous getting the ball out of defense and kickouts were slow and easy to read. Going to make the trip down to castlebar for what shoud be a great “Local” derby.
Good luck to Kilmaine and The Neale in their respective finals on Saturday
On a side note I just hope that the Connaught council don’t rip supporters off with overpriced admission….
See centre in oughterard are selling the tickets for 15 euro.
Both teams changing, the Neale now wearing the mayo blue and oughterard the Galway maroon.
Weather looks OK, both teams will want it dry and calm.
I too have seen Oughterard plenty of times….the Neale would want to probably play their best game of the year to win this one. Oughterard should really be a senior club.
Anyone else think that the price for the semifinal in tuam was too high at 20euro adult and more importantly 15euro OAP/students,
Deelrover..yes of course it was Connaught council being greedy as usual,it was also 20 euros to get in to senior quarter final in Mchale park the previous weekend..ridiculous in my opinion and shows what they think of the grassroots Gaa supporters…they are slowly killing the golden goose and killing the our great game with greed
NUIG bet University of Limerick tonight in the Higher Education Senior League Division 1 Semi Final 1-18 to 0-11.Togged for NUIG were Matty Ruane, Eoin O’Donoghue and Stephen Brennan of Claremorris and for UL both Fionn McDonagh and James Carr were in action.
Really looking forward to the hurling final on Sunday. Will be interesting to see how Tooreen Cope with the pace and power of Conor Whelan. Kinvara are slight favourites and will be fore warned of Tooreen’s point taking ability. With former Galway All Ireland winner Colm Callinan in goals for Kinvara, taking your points may again be the best option for Tooreen!
Good luck to both football clubs on Saturday, tough games for both.
Matty Ruane was outstanding in that game. Carr was useful also but Eoin O’Donoghue got the line through a carta dubh!
Ronan Carolan of Parke has joined the Roscommon panel, was he asked in by Horan does anyone know?
Not sure about talking up Oughterard as highly as some are here. They won one of their 3 group games and only won the county final on penalties.
In the Connacht semi final they beat a weary Tulsk by a bit to spare who were playing their 4th game in 4 weeks but that game I belive was was 1-9 to 1-8 after 45 minutes.
The Neale have a very decent chance of landing the intermediate title in MacHale Park.
Kilmaine should win the Junior title as they have already beaten the best opposition in that championship in Glenamaddy
Wasn’t talking up Ougherard. They’ve been decent for years and like I said should be regulars at senior level in Galway.
Listening to commentary on midwest a few weeks ago the lads on it (usual commentator & Nigel) saying how healthy club football was in Mayo. Hmmm…
The co senior champs have no real standout forward, Cillian’s consistent but he’s no longer a player who racks up big scores from play.
The Neale comfortably beaten today.
More work needed at club level in Mayo. Particularly with regard to coaching teenagers how to score, its too late when theyre adults. We’ve been saying it for years… zzz
Huge win for Kilmaine. The Sligo crowd were desperate altogether it must be said.
The Neale v Oughterard were level at HT but the two Tierney brothers took over the game after the break. Oughterard win 1-16 to 0-11.
Take Westport out of it…when’s the last time a Mayo club won an All Ireland?
Again it’s been said a million times but we need to get a winning mentality in Mayo. Unfort it’s not at the level it needs to be at. Mayo needs a club side to come along and really up the standard. I thought Westport were heading that way but seems they’ve gotten complacent. In fact they’ve been very disappointing so far at senior club level.
Oughterard are a good side, both Tierneys may feature for Galway in the new year..
Mayonze…so the clubs in mayo who have been cruicified by the county board with levies Piaf to the county board are now to blame for not coaching forwards…the clubs do their best in underage and adult coaching but they have their hands tied by lack of structure from the top …I mean county board has no plan..
Well done to Kilmaine. Great performance and a massive win to claim the Connacht title. Wishing them the very best of luck in the All Ireland semi. Unfortunately things didn’t go the same way for the Neale. Yet again a Mayo club is outclassed by their Galway counterpart. Year after year Galway clubs just seem to be able to produce these young quality forwards at every level with the ability to perform on the big occasions. Contrast to the Neale where the likes of Tommy Conroy made little impact when paired against a good quality defender. Mirrors intercounty level where Galway look likely to dominate Connacht well into the next decade.
At the Connacht finals today. The Intermediate final first half was a cracker, good fast football, hard tackling, several goalmouth misses and good score [point] taking. Second half belonged to Oughterard with the Tierney’s taking control. I’ve seen Enda Tierney a number of times with Galway and I felt, having seen the Mayo final, that The Neale would have trouble marking him. So it proved. And then Tommy Conroy failed to live up to his billing. Apart from the Co final I last saw him in the U20 final v Kildare. I wouldn’t put all the blame on Tommy. Early on there seemed to be no attempt by the outfield players to bring him into the game and he was trying hard to get into it, resulting in his taking up poor positions. When he did get possession the ball just didn’t run for him.
As for the Junior final, what a cake walk. No use whatever to Kilmaine who had their last serious game v Glenamaddy.
Finally, anybody know when the All Ireland semis are? Or who / which province Kilmaine are meeting?
Fair play to Kilmaine, picked themselves up after disappointing county final to win Connacht. I think it’s a Kerry team for them next. Tough on the Neale but Oughterard were a class ahead in second half.
Just back from keoghs…. A great evening for our club. There was nothing in it until the 50th minute and a chance the neale had and missed and a ball intercepted from our lads got the tail up.
Again il echo my sentiments earlier. Kickouts were very slow and easy to read and the neale defenders were slow getting the ball out. Tommy Conroy was well marshelled and Stephen conroy was very poor…. Sat back to much.. We had our homework done and we will enjoy it…. Fair play to the neale lads…. Very gracious in defeat
Just a comment on club football in Mayo. While its great to compete in provincial junior and intermediate finals I think Kerry have a great system as they take play divisional sides in Senior and take it very seriously. That allows all players regardless of which club they are from to play Senior club if they are good enough. So the likes of Clifford who comes from a small rural club gets to play a starring role in the Senior final last weekend. If you look at the Kerry teams you will see lots of them come from junior and intermediate clubs. This doesn’t seem to impact negatively on their junior or intermediate competitions either as the have a great record of national success at these grades. The only slight downside is that the winners of the senior title if an amalgamated team can’t represent Kerry in Munster championship. That’s why Austin Stacks are representing them this year. Other than that its all positive with everyone if good enough getting the opportunity to play Senior club. I know we did something similar in Mayo in the past but it was very half hearted and the divisional clubs did poorly. If it was taken seriously and the junior and intermediate clubs co operated fully it could have a really positive effect on club football and ultimately for the county senior team.
To win just once, you’re right but I and others have made that point literally for the past 5 years on here. The Kerry structure is a major advantage to them as it enables more players operate at a higher level, increases the standard of the ‘average footballer’ and widens the net for catching talent. How many Mayo senior players have come from a junior club in the last 20 years? Kerry have had two junior club players lift Sam…Darren and Declan O ‘Sullivan (different clubs).
Tom Thumb…if we are relying on the present co board to do anything with real vision and initiative, well, then, we’ll be waiting…. so yes it is up to the club’s cos I’ve lost all faith in it coming from those whose responsibility it is to drive Mayo football forward.
Forward we ain’t goin.
Tooreen are 0-12 to 1-3 up against Kinvara at half-time. Hon the parish!
Tooreen have done it – they won by 0-21 to 2-10. Connacht IHC champions for the second time.
Fantastic win by Tooreen, Connacht champions again
Great stuff from Tooreen today. This should be the 3 in row but we wont go into that?. Its ridiculous what these lads have just done. A bunch of lads from Mayo, a county who apparently doesn’t know one end of a hurl from the other, have just beaten a team with conor whelan in the forward line. A 2nd connacht title in 3 years. These boys are the real deal folks! Lets get out and support them for the semi-final everyone. Up Mayo but more importantly tonight Up Tooreen!
Bonfires burning around Tooreen tonight! In fairness to Whelan his class dragged them back into it but Tooreen were the better all round team. For the 3rd year in a row the Galway supporters have the same reaction, they expect to play a team of slow mullackers who defend with their lives, but Tooreen are a fast skilful team who retain procession and can score from any angle. Their scoring rate reflects their approach. They are joy to watch, a Mayo team playing quality hurling, well done to the village!