Another weekend of club Championship action takes place over the next two days, with the first pieces of this year’s silverware set to be handed out.
Pride of place this weekend is the Senior hurling final. This is usually a Tooreen/Ballyhaunis affair – only six times in the last twenty years has the decider not been contested by these East Mayo neighbours – but that’s not the case on this occasion.
That’s because Castlebar Mitchels secured a shock one-point win over Ballyhaunis in the semi-final a few weeks back, earning them a place in the final for the first time since 1998. It’s the first time Ballyhaunis won’t be contesting a TJ Tyrell Cup decider since way back in 2001 and it’s the first time since 2011 – when Westport faced Ballyhaunis – that it’s not a Tooreen/Ballyhaunis showdown.
Another change this year sees the final played at MacHale Park, as Tooreen and Ballyhaunis have been hosting it every other year in recent times. As far as I know, that 2011 decider between Westport and Ballyhaunis was the most recent time the county’s big event in hurling was staged at the Castlebar venue.
This year Tooreen – who lead the way in the roll of honour with 29 titles – are chasing three Tyrell Cup victories on the spin, which is their best run of success since they completed a four-in-a-row back in 2000. I’m not sure if Castlebar Mitchels have ever won the county hurling title. They certainly haven’t done so in the recent past.
There’s a good, in-depth preview of the hurling decider by the redoubtable Michael Commins in this week’s Mayo News – that’s here. By the way, the match on Sunday is being streamed live, free of charge, by Mayo GAA TV via Facebook. Details on that here.
The Senior final throws in on Sunday at 2.30pm. It’ll be preceded at 12.30pm by the Junior B football decider between Eastern Gaels and Crossmolina B.
Ahead of all that, the Junior A football final is on at MacHale Park tomorrow evening. Battling it out for possession of the Pete McDonnell Cup then will be Kilmaine and Castlebar Mitchels B. That title decider throws in under the lights at 7pm.
https://digitalmarketingmayo.com/awards/
Has be you Willie Joe
Absolutely, has to be WJ .. just out of curiosity, is there a connection between the Mayo news team and the blog.. Not being smart asking that WJ ..
Love the blog and its knowledgeable posters
Fingers crossed for WJ, he deserves it.
Stop it, lads! Awards are of no interest to me.
Just to answer your question, My Ball – there is, obviously, a strong link via the podcast and I’ve also written a few pieces for the paper over the years.
Sorry WJ that one definetly has your name on it!!.
Will only put your name in if you consent Willie Joe. But think you be more than deserving winner
Thanks, Gizmobobs – I appreciate the sentiment but awards aren’t my thing at all so I’d prefer not to be nominated.
I think it’s a shame you don’t allow your name go forward Willie Joe, your blog has been with us through thick and thin through halcyon victories in Croke Park and cold rainy January FBD days I couldn’t imagine the journey we have all been on for the last number of years without this blog it is well deserving of an award.
Another club weekend, another few hundred turn up on the terraces. Quite how we have sell outs and ticket hunts for the county team each summer yet nobody will turn up (in their backyards) to watch good club fare. We really are the ultimate bandwagon county
That not to say you should expect loads at junior games but last weekend was really dispiriting. No hype in the papers about them either
The blog will still be there, Backdoorsam, award or no award. It’s not what keeps me going, though, as I said, I do appreciate the sentiment. The main issue for me looking to the future is whether or not I’ll still have the required time, as things are set to change on that front for me before too long.
I watched the Dublin quarter final on RTE last night between Na Fianna v Ballyboden and the best forwards on show were Colm Basquel (3-4),Ryan Basquel (0-5) & Conor McHugh (0-6).The Basquel’s father is a native of Aghagower while McHugh’s father is a native of Swinford.All three despite their quality have not yet broken into the Dublin team and have being on the fringes of the panel over the last few years. Just think it might be worth Mayo management having a word with them to see if they’d be interested in transferring to us under the parentage rule.Examples of this last season Conor Cox Kerry to Roscommon & Shane Horan Dublin to Offaly.
TG4 deferred coverage today is Roscommon county final between Roscommon Gaels v Padraig Pearses.Ronan Carolan recently transferred from Parke to Roscommon Gaels might be worth watching. He has scored 0-8,0-4 & 0-1 over the last three games for them.
Mayo are not eligible for them type of transfers
Jp2 as far as I’m aware all counties are eligible to the parentage transfers.Mick Deegan had a son play for Dublin in recent years despite him play club football in Meath.
When that transfer rule was brought in it was for the ” weaker ” counties which included the likes of roscommon, as for the deegan situation maybe he was born in dublin.
Under Section 6.2 of the Official Gaa rules states if The player’s parents at the time of the member’s birth were permanently resident in that County or if that County is the County of the first Club of either of his parents.
Lads, those transfers are never going to happen. those players mentioned are Dublin players who want to play for Dublin, they have no interest in playing for Mayo. Dublin will not let quality players like that leave. Parachuting in players will destroy the morale of the team especially young players trying to break into the panel. If those type of transfers did happen and we were to win AI then it will be forever said we needed Dublin players to do it.
I see County Board meeting is not going ahead this week. I (like what Kevin McStay said in podcast) am sick of seeing Mayo top news stories for wrong reasons every winter. Huge media interest AGAIN. I live outside the county and I am withered from people asking me “what is going on now with the mayos”. We need leadership. I cannot stay passive or silent on this any longer. The questions raised by the Foundation in email to the Clubs are so serious and need answering. Why haven’t proper receipts been forwarded?? Why arent the business plans for the Academy and Centre of Excellent prepared?? Mayo GAA need the money to even keep near the Dubs. Other donors are watching. I say fair duce to Tim O’Leary and Foundation for calling County Board out on this.
Without wishing to go into any detail – there has been an emergency with someone on the mayo gaa county board. The meeting has being rightly postponed for a week at least and that is correct in my opinion. I think we can all do with a rest anyhow.
Tim
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I don’t know who you are WMD but I agree with your account 100%. For the benefit of Mayo GAA, we need to strip the personalities away and start planning on how we wish to move forward
[Deleted].
WMD – if I were you, I’d make at least some effort to acquaint myself with the facts before posting in the vein that you have. Maybe start with having a proper look at the Mayo GAA accounts for recent years (link here) so you can see what has been happening in financial terms this past decade.
You’ve made a specific claim about an “emergency bailout” having occurred in 2018. Can you please provide some evidence to back up this claim? If you can’t provide such evidence, then I’m going to have to delete what you’ve posted.
Also, it’s easy to make insulting remarks about people who volunteer their time and without whose efforts over many years Mayo GAA would be in a far worse place. You’ve only started posting comments here fairly recently and I would remind you that comments which are aimed at insulting or offending others aren’t welcome.
Chris Kelly – can you provide evidence please to support that claim you’ve made about the debt? If you’re happy to make such a claim then I can only assume you have the necessary evidence to back up what you’ve said.
All – my concern continues to mount about how some people are using – and all too frequently abusing – the comment facility here on the site. I’ve less time now than I used to have to moderate comments – and will probably have even less before too long – so, if this trend keeps up, I’m going to have to give serious thought to what this will mean for the wide latitude people currently enjoy when posting comments here. I’d ask everyone to please bear this in mind if they want the status quo to remain in place.
County final weekend.
Hope the rain stops.
Both ballyhaunis and the Neale will provide a great game if the conditions are suitable.
Not so sure about the senior final, ballintubber will attempt to choke the life out of ballaghaderreen with possession football, they won’t mind if they win but the football was awful.
Note. The last time ballaghaderreen won senior was 2012, the same year the Neale won their first ever county junior title. What are the odds on the two of them doing it again?. And Ireland to beat the all blacks in the morning. What a great day that would be.
@Willie Joe a Bad weekend for your adopted club St Vincents, one of their worst ever display in a knock out Dublin championship game? I couldn’t get over how off the pace Diarmuid Connolly was, his club mates looked for leadership from him and they got zero.
It was truly shocking, Mayomagic. I’m struggling to recall when I last saw such a poor display from them – four points in total and just a single score after the break. It’ll be a long winter after that showing!
Here, here WJ as regards the bullshit comments coming out from “keyboard warriors” proclaiming to be Mayo supporters.
Granted things are far from perfect in the Mayo GAA county board and it is in dire need of a re-structure and overhaul (to be fair, Mike Connelly said as much himself). However, people taking potshots from behind the anonymity of a computer screen at amateur volunteers who give of their time freely, would want to grow a pair. If those people have all the solutions, then why don’t they go to their club executive (if indeed they are club members at all?) and request to be a county board delegate. Then go to the monthly 3 hour bore-fest and try to change things in a positive light from a position of authority? If these individuals are so passionate about the well-being of the game why don’t they go in to the room, debate their argument with the 31 other clubs, put forward organisational change, put their neck on the block? Why? Because it’s a lot easier to piss in on the tent from the outside, from the comfort of their keyboard in their office/sitting room. I know from being involved at club level and club committee level, you are fucked if you do and fucked if you don’t. End of. You are there to be shot at, everything that goes wrong is your fault and everything that goes right is never mentioned again. I can only imagine what it is like at county board level because, knowing the little I do know from trying to help and run things at club level, there is no way in hell would I put my name forward for county board level and I am as passionate about Mayo football as any poster here.
There are a few old relics in the county board that need to be moved on, undoubtedly, but a large part of the problem is the clubs. They very rarely send their best people to county board meetings as delegates. The clubs will want to keep their best people at club level, looking after their own interests first. The “Me fein and fuck the rest” attitude prevails. At the end of the day, it is the clubs that vote the county board in to power. Like the politicians we have, we get the county board we vote for, so if we want to improve the county board we need to improve the candidates that run for election. To do that we need clubs to nominate their best people for county board elections.
In the meantime, we should take Cork GAA as an example to model ourselves on. In a very short space of time, they have gone from being nearly a laughing stock and controlled by a one-man dictatorship in Frank Murphy, to being competitive at underage level in both codes (All Ireland minor and U20 football champions), recruiting the very best S&C coaches from professional sports and getting their ducks in a row at county board level with a new CEO appointment. They have succession plans in place for their underage managers and have a plan in place for the next 5 to 10 years. It’s not rocket science.
Rober…not a very educated post,Ballintubber have been one of the top scorers in this years championship,in the semifinals ballina set up deep defensively and it’s Ballintubbers fault…..haha…check out the stats if you want…and by the way teams can play possession football if they so wish.
@Pebblesmeller, Can’t disagree with allot of what you have said there… But the Top Man and Chairman the Mayo County Board is Mike Connelly… and guess who became the Player’s Liason Officer when,Noel Connelly (Mike’s Brother) and Pat Homes were appionted Joint Manager’s, of the Mayo Senior Football Team, none other than Mike Connelly who was then Vice Chairman of the Mayo County Board at the time of the appointment… Surely the Vice Chairman, Chairman should not also be the player’s Liason Officer especially when the Manager happens to be his own Brother… It’s easy to imagine this possible seneario, Player A, is not happy with some aspects of the Managnent, whoud he, or could he go to the Manager’s own Brother to complain about some particular aspect of the Managment?… It’s now obsiously true that Several Senior Player’s were not happy with that particular Managment, and it all blew up with maximum National Media attention … It ended up very badly, for both Noel and Pat, even though I taught that they were doing reasonably well with the Team at the time…. And I’m sure that it wasn’t all about who the Player’s Liason Officer was either’…. Galway hurling Team had a similar crisis at the same time, and Player’s Coup got rid of Hurling Manager Antony Cunningham, and now both Mayo and Galway County Board are again making the wrong sort of headlines but for very similar reasons again’… Even if it were possible to have the perfect administration of Mayo GAA it doesn’t nessarly follow that it would transpire to success on the playing field, but look how close we have came in the recent past… Would better administration be enough to get your County over the line, possibly, it certainly would be a help
… Would better administration make it easier to recuit the best Manager’s and Coach’s in the future, almost definitely I would say… Like event’s on the playing field, the bar in County administration is the Dublin County Board, certainly from the outside they seem to have all their Ducks in a Row and are very successful in getting every possible unfair Advantage for Team Dublin… Now to manage the affairs of the Dublin County Board is no mean feat, it’s certainly a bigger Job than managing the Mayo County Board….It wasn’t always thus in the Dublin County Board either’, but it certainly appears to be nowadays… That’s what we have got to compete with!
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I know people have referenced Dublin and Cork -but also look at Tipperary GAA..Senior Hurling and U-20 hurling champions within 7 days – we can only dream of that kind of success. A hurling board and sponsor all singing off the same hymn sheet. Liam Sheedy staying on for another year – same (massive) backroom team. Teneo to continue sponsorship. No drama.
WMD – I gave you the opportunity to provide evidence to support a specific allegation you made in that comment posted yesterday. In that overly long response you’ve just posted (now deleted as it contains further allegations and inferences) all you can offer in response is that it was simply your opinion. Well, I’m sorry, but that’s not how it works around here. If you make a specific allegation it needs to be one firmly grounded in the facts not some bullshit opinion that you’ve pulled out of your nether regions. Opinions and facts aren’t – despite what many, including the current incumbent of the White House, might think – interchangeable. Not around here at any rate.
I’ve now deleted that earlier comment and I’m afraid you’re in indefinite moderation as well as I can’t be confident that you won’t try to post some other baseless claim at some point in the future. If you do plan to post any comments here again, then please take the time to read the house rules – here.
https://www.independent.ie/sport/gaelic-football/mayo-in-crisis-over-11-6m-debt-on-mchale-park-redevelopment-26792635.html
http://www.mayonews.ie/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=21506:croke-park-deal-to-save-mayo-gaa-200k-a-year&catid=14&Itemid=100008
The above two articles clearly show that the loan was over 15 years originally, then the loan was taken over by Croke Park and the term went to 29 years
Clubs are now paying €6500 a year in levies for 29 years instead of 15 years
REDCOL,
Paying €33,000 per month is much more manageable than €48,000 per month. That is offset by the longer term of the loan. In the case of my own mortgage what started out as an intimidating figure dwindled under the effect of inflation to an almost negligible figure. Maybe inflation will not be as big a factor in the future as it was when I was paying my mortgage but in a period of 29 years there is a good prospect it will have its effect. Regards the club levy, I’m not clued in on the details but surely the clubs, by their vote at Co Board, have approved it. Does the levy include the Club/County draw?
Goagain,
In Liam Sheedy did not stay on for another year. Was that due to a disfunctional Co Board? Or was it due to Liam Sheedy’s own preferences and circumstances? One way or another it proves nothing. Cork are primarily depending on voluntary Co Board officers as Mayo are. Sometimes you hit lucky in that the person elected measures up, sometimes you are unlucky. You don’t have the luxury of professional recruitment specialists n choosing Co Board Chairpersons.
AndyD
The County draw make up most of the levies. It’s 4500 for junior clubs. 5500 for intermediate and 6500 for senior so every club has to sell either 45, 55 or 65 tickets to cover themselves. For the last three years clubs got a rebate from the board. It started at at 500 or 600 three years ago but it’s over 2000 now. It helps but you have to run a Cul camp during the summer and sell twice your quota to get the top amount. Clubs are getting nearly 94000 this year according to the email we got two weeks ago. We run the club on draw tickets sales. Top seller for the last 15 years.
Cant print the euro sign. Euro button is broken
Chris Kelly – I’ve given you 24 hours to provide some evidence to back up that claim you made about the MacHale Park debt and how the restructuring compared to other counties. You haven’t provided any so I’m now deleting your comment.