Mayo Team

Current Odds are Mayo evens Galway 6/5 with a draw 13/2

Galway’s Allianz Football League campaign will kick off with a strong lineup that includes 11 players who played in last year’s All-Ireland Senior Football Championship final.

Despite the absence of Footballer of the Year nominee Shane Walsh and defender Liam Silke, the team is poised for a strong performance against Mayo in their Division 1 opener.

Head coach Pádraic Joyce will be without Walsh, who is still recovering from a lengthy club season with Kilmacud Crokes, and defender Kieran Molloy, who has a long-term cruciate injury.

Patrick Kelly will also miss the game due to personal reasons. The team will still feature three Kelly siblings, with captain Seán Kelly at fullback and Eoghan Kelly at midfield.

However, the team will still feature three Kelly siblings, with captain Seán Kelly at full-back, Eoghan Kelly making his NFL debut at corner-back and Paul Kelly at wing-forward. Other notable inclusions include Salthill-Knocknacarra’s Daniel O’Flaherty, who will also be making his league debut at wing-back, and Dessie Conneely and Peter Cooke who recently led Moycullen to a Connacht conquest. With Bernard Power of Corofin returning as a substitute goalkeeper, the team is poised for a strong start to their league campaign. Expectations are high as they look to maintain their Division One status while also aim to make it to the All-Ireland final again.

Mayo team news to follow when available

Live Scores Available at IrishScores.com

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O’Neill joins Padraic Joyce’s Galway backroom after leaving the Cork senior football setup following the end of the 2021 season.

The upcoming season will be Joyce’s third in charge and the team will aim to go one further than the final of the Connacht Senior Football Championship.

They will also hope to return to Division One of the National Football League at the first time of asking.

The Kildare native left the Cork setup after their Munster Senior Football Championship final collapse led to the departure of manager Ronan McCarthy.

He had previously been in charge of his home county’s senior footballers from 2015 until 2019.

It was a period that saw the Lilywhites reach the Leinster Senior Football Championship final in 2017 and knock All-Ireland finalists Mayo out of the Championship the next year in the ‘Newbridge or Nowhere’ game.

O’Neill made a name for himself as a trainer on Liam Sheedy’s backroom in the manager’s first stint with the Tipperary hurlers.

He was involved with the Kerry senior footballers as part of Eamonn Fitzmaurice’s backroom and has also worked with the Limerick and Mayo footballers.

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Mayo GAA released a statement on Monday that hit out at the personal attacks that have aimed at players and management involved in their All-Ireland final defeat to Tyrone.

The county board deemed these attacks “unnecessary and unacceptable to all those involved with Mayo GAA.”

McCarthy doubles down on the stance Mayo have taken towards the comments aimed at figures that can be seen online.

“Words matter, what one says matters, what one puts in the public domain matters,” said McCarthy.

“This was a point I made at Congress in February 2021 in the context of, what Bob Costas calls, a corrosive assault on civility. That corrosive assault has been perpetuated recently by members of the ‘critics collective’ and by many people who term themselves supporters in their reaction to the All-Ireland football final.

“The criticism emanating from these people has been overly harsh, unfair and in some cases downright cowardly. It has gone well beyond fair analysis of team performance. Critical evaluation of match performance is fine and expected, but overly harsh scrutiny of amateur players is unjustifiable. It is inexcusable when it moves beyond the realm of what happens on the field.”

The GAA President added that he was surprised by the level of discord directed at players that some critics claim to support.

“It beggars belief that people who consider themselves supporters of a team would castigate members of that team, the management and the County Committee in a crude and, in some cases, personal fashion. Nobody sets out to play badly, nobody sets out to lose an All-Ireland, but it happens. Supporters, who are members of GAA clubs, who attend club games, and who know the commitment and sacrifice the players make, understand this. Unfortunately, it is a point that seems to have escaped far too many people in the last week.

“Stop unwarranted critiques of GAA members. Stop this corrosive assault on civility. Perspective is needed when commenting on games and sport in general – not least when players are amateurs. None of us know the long-lasting impact of this type of harsh criticism on amateur players and we need to be mindful of the positive mental health of others.”

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Both sides are looking to end long droughts and bring home the Sam Maguire to their county – Tyrone have not won since 2008 while Mayo have not won in 70 years.

Mayo were All-Ireland finalists last year and conceded an early goal – something not unfamiliar to them at this stage of the competition.

James Horan’s side recovered from the early setback but the power of Dublin proved too much.

However, this year, things are different – after a poor first half in the All-Ireland semi-final against their rivals, Mayo rallied and put in an exceptional performance to end Dublin’s reign over Gaelic football and progress to the final.

Tyrone also came up against a long-standing rival in Kerry – the last time the two sides had met saw the Munster champions run out 6-15 to 1-14 winners over Brian Dooher and Feargal Logan’s side.

Tyrone have been a different animal in the championship though, winning the Anglo-Celt Cup and looking hungry for more, even after a Covid outbreak within the camp.

It is Tyrone’s first appearance in an All-Ireland final since 2018, where they also fell foul to the well-oiled machine from the capital.

Yet, both sides have banished old rivals and set up an exciting showdown at Croke Park – excitement is something the predictability of Gaelic football had lacked in recent years.

This final is unpredictable and that’s what makes it such an interesting match-up – two teams who have unique traits but also some that are very similar will battle it out for the biggest achievement in Gaelic football.

And we sit and watch it unfold.

Lineups

Mayo: Hennelly; O’Hora, Keegan, Plunkett; Durcan, Coen, Mullin; Ruane, Loftus; O’Connor, O’Shea (C), Walsh; McLoughlin, Conroy, O’Donoghue.

Tyrone: Morgan; McKernan, McNamee, Hampsey; Burns, Harte, K McGeary; Kennedy, Kilpatrick; Meyler, O’Neill, Sludden; McCurry, Donnelly, McKenna.

Subs: Quinn, Bradley, Canavan, Donaghy, Kelly, McCann, McDonnell, HP McGeary, McShane, J Munroe, Shields/C Munroe.

Odds

Mayo 10/11

Draw 7/1

Tyrone 11/8

TV Coverage

The game will be available to watch on RTÉ 2 and Sky Sports Arena. Coverage begins at 3:30 pm on RTÉ with Sky starting their coverage at 4 pm.

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Tyrone’s camogie team missed out on silverware for the county while their Men’s football side went one step closer to the Sam Maguire.

The goals were crucial with two of them coming from Ciara Delaney, having been set up by player of the match Áine Charlton. Captain Helen O’Malley also raised a green flag but Tyrone almost pulled off a spectacular comeback, getting to within one of the westerners having trailed by 11 but they just could not get over the line.

Mayo led by 2-6 to 0-4 at half-time thanks to Delaney and O’Malley’s majors, the latter part of a run of 1-5 without reply as Tyrone failed to score in the second quarter. When Delaney finished after another strong run by Charlton 15 seconds after the restart, it seemed like curtains.

But with Reagan Fay in inspired form and bringing her tally to eight points, the Red Hand women rallied. Niamh McNulty’s goal after an excellent catch was a real boost but when it seemed like momentum was in their favour, Mayo dug deep and Orla Hession pointed to leave Tyrone needing a goal that they couldn’t get.

Meanwhile, champions Armagh, who beat Clare in their semi-final by 2-13 to 1-6 on Saturday, will play Wexford in the All-Ireland premier junior final at Croke Park on September 12, as a result of the Yellowbellies’ 3-18 to 0-8 victory over Roscommon.

Roscommon had two early chances but two wides resulted and once Wexford got to grips with the excellent opposition sweeper, Rachel Fitzmaurice by playing the wings, they began to make hay.

Megan Cullen got an eighth-minute goal and it was 1-2 to 0-0 at the water break. On the resumption, all the Wexford inside forwards, Emma Tompkins, Emma Codd and Lisa Firman registered points and  Ailis Neville scored to make it 2-7 to 0-1 at half-time.

The Roscommon point came from a long-distance free by Shauna Fallon just before the short whistle.

The Connacht side were awarded a penalty early in the second half but Fallon’s shot was too central and goalkeeper Lara O’Shea was able to make the stop.

With that, any hope of a spectacular comeback dissipated.

When Roscommon removed Fitzmaurice from her sweeping role as they needed to chase the game, it opened space and Wexford profited. Chloe Cashe, who had been kept to a point in the first half, got a goal at the end of an excellent move on 41 minutes and finished with 1-8.

Fitzmaurice and Niamh Watson tried hard for Roscommon but it was all about Wexford, Clodagh Jackman, Aideen Brennan, Cashe, Neville and Cullen among those to shine.

Elsewhere, the talented Áine Magill completed 24 hours she won’t forget in a hurry as she played for Antrim in the intermediate semi-final against Galway and then against Laois in the Tesco All-Ireland B semi final.

She up a star outing for Antrim in their win over Galway by scoring 1-3 from midfield as the Saffrons’ minors as they came out on top of a thriller against Laois by 3-19 to 3-12 to reach the Tesco All-Ireland B final.

Antrim will face Offaly in the final, who defeated Derry by 4-12 to 1-8 in the other semi-final.

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The news comes after the semi-final was rescheduled twice due to a Covid outbreak within the Tyrone camp.

Joint-manager Feargal Logan confirmed that the full squad has been training together in the past few days and that a final assessment will be made on the fitness of certain players on Thursday or Friday night.

“There was a good period there where we didn’t have everybody on the training field at the same time but we have got to that point now which is helpful and positive and where everybody is physically present and they are out of isolation,” Logan told the Irish Independent. “We’ve got everybody together,” he confirmed.

The fixture was initially pushed back to Saturday, August 21st but Tyrone made it clear that they could not fulfil the fixture on that date so it was pushed back a second time.

The Ulster champions wanted to be as best prepared for the semi-final as they could be and felt that playing the game on August 21st would not allow them to do that.

One player in the Tyrone camp was hospitalised after contracting coronavirus with many others showing symptoms.

Logan is anxious about the possibility that close contacts could further complicate the inter-county side’s plans.

“Any phone call can take you out as a close contact, you’re very anxious with every call so until we get through to Thursday even Friday night, it will be hard to say.

“On paper, nobody is in lockdown but we still have players coming back and we have to assess them for the next couple of days.

“I couldn’t say to you that some boys you would like to start would be playing in Croke Park. Hopefully, it will be reasonable. Some of the rules around isolation have been lessened again up here.

“It has been partly close contacts but the reality of it was infection against a serious number of players and that was the difficulty,” he added.

The winners of the fixture will play Mayo in the All-Ireland final on Sunday, September 11th.

The final was also rescheduled twice in order to accommodate the winner of this weekend’s tie.

Logan made clear that the postponements were necessary as the outbreak within the squad had threatened the county’s participation.

The former Tyrone under-21 All-Ireland-winning manager also said that he was grateful that Kerry were as understanding as they were.

“It’s for real. We’re doing our best to get this gathered up. We don’t want to be making excuses.

“I hope Kerry have got the message from us. We would apologise that anyone would be put out but that was just the way it all happened and it developed that way.

“We couldn’t see any other way out of it and we appreciate what Kerry have done. The GAA deserve great credit too for what they’ve done. This could visit any community, any house.

“I wouldn’t wish it on any football team.”

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The second All-Ireland semi-final will start at 3.30 pm on Saturday, August 28 at Croke Park and the winners of the tie will face Mayo in the All-Ireland final at 5 pm on Saturday, September 11.

The fixtures were delayed for a second time after Tyrone announced they could not fulfil their upcoming fixture on Saturday, August 21 after a Covid outbreak in the camp.

The Covid outbreak in the setup has caused the county to play without some players in the Ulster Senior Football Championship final against Monaghan.

Their semi-final was originally intended to be played on the same weekend as Mayo’s victory over the defending champions Dublin.

The GAA say the revised schedule has been finalised with the integrity of the championship in mind and to ensure that Kerry were not denied a semi-final outing.

Tyrone’s county board have welcomed the decision made by the CCCC to postpone their fixture for a second time.

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Dublin beat Kildare by 0-20 to 1-9 in Croke Park to retain the Delaney Cup and win their 60th Leinster title overall.

Dessie Farrell’s side was not perfect on Sunday but a strong third quarter put the game beyond any doubt after a close third half.

The eight-point win margin was the county’s lowest in a Leinster final since 2013 when Jim Gavin’s Dublin beat Meath by seven points (2-14 to 0-15) on their way to a first All-Ireland out of six under the 10-year Dublin veteran.

Dessie Farrell gave his thoughts on the Delaney Cup win over Kildare in a post-game interview with DubsTV.

The inter-county manager lamented his side’s shot selection in the first half after they squandered several chances.

The side looked as if they wanted to walk the ball through the Kildare defence and it was detrimental to their impact in the opening half.

Their strong third quarter saw the side revert to taking high-possibility chances when presented with them.

“Having discussed it at half-time, the players themselves saw that as a challenge,” Farrell said.

Kildare played the game defensively with some extra players dropping back to stifle the Dubs’ impact in attack.

Their set-up led to Dublin often moving the ball from side to side in an attempt to open up spaces for their forwards to take advantage of.

Ciarán Kilkenny led the Dubs’ third-quarter charge with two points, with Niall Scully also grabbing two in a period that was worthy of the Leinster title.

Dublin’s focus now turns to their All-Ireland semi-final showdown with Connacht champions Mayo, in a repeat of last year’s All-Ireland final.

“[Mayo] were very, very impressive in that second-half performance against Galway in the Connacht final. Very little separates the teams over the year’s so I think everyone can expect a massive tussle.”

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Mayo comes into the Connacht provincial championship off the back of a very strong National Football League campaign.

In contrast, their opponents enter the Championship after a big loss to Wexford in the Division Four shield.

The All-Ireland finalists breezed past the opposition in Division Two after their relegation last season.

The defending provincial champions weathered a Westmeath storm in the first half of their only challenge in Division Two.

The Mayo attack has been in hot form with 102 points from four games.

Cillian O’Connor showed his quality with expert free-taking and the rest of the team chipped in with points every game.

Furthermore, the Mayo defence has improved after the Heather County’s 2020 campaign was the definition of gung-ho football.

The Connacht giants’ opposition has had a less positive start to the 2021 season.

Sligo started well with a convincing three-goal win over neighbours Leitrim.

Their attack has been impressive in their first games under Tony McEntee.

Sean Carrabine has been a consistent scorer in the Sligo full-forward line and should play well against Mayo.

However, their defence cracked against the stronger sides in Division Four North.

Sligo had another three-goal display via three penalties against Antrim but gave the Saffrons three of their own, losing by a point.

Furthermore, Mickey Harte’s Louth put three past Sligo goalkeeper Eamonn Kilgannon to doom the Magpies to the Division Four Shield.

In addition, Wexford gave the Yeats County another tough day with a dominant victory to win the shield.

SCORERS
NFL Div 4

Full time
Sligo: 0-9(9)
Wexford: 2-15(21) pic.twitter.com/cO7kNUMCwJ

— Sligo GAA (@sligogaa) June 13, 2021

This was the only game where their attack could not keep up with the opposition as Wexford ran out 2-15 (21) to 0-09 (9) winners.

The Wexford loss was a wake-up call for a side that is slowly improving.

But their slight improvements are not enough to take down a side with as much quality as James Horan’s Mayo has.

Sligo should not trouble the Connacht champions.

The winner of Mayo v Sligo faces Leitrim on May 11th.

Predicted Winner: Mayo by 15

The post Preview: Connacht Football Quarter Final – Mayo v Sligo appeared first on SportsNewsIreland.

The six counties of Munster will go head-to-head for the Munster Cup.

The provincial finalists in 2020 – Tipperary and Cork – have earned byes to the semi-final.

The draw can be seen here.

Munster Quarter Finals

Limerick v Waterford

Limerick will host Waterford in the first of two quarter finals.

The winner will face last year’s finalists Cork on July 10th.

Limerick’s Gaelic football has had a promising start to the season, building on their impressive 2020.

In contrast, the new league format has flattered Waterford.

Billy Lee’s Limerick has gone from strength to strength over the past few years and saw themselves a game away from Division Two after some impressive performances.

The Treaty County got their revenge on Munster champions Tipperary after last year’s tight Munster semi-final loss.

However, they were unable to make it two promotions on the bounce as they fell to Rory Gallagher’s Derry.

Waterford was beaten convincingly by Division Four South’s top side Carlow.

A lifeless performance in Dungarvan was cushioned by a one-point win over Division Four Shield winners Wexford.

The slim victory saw Waterford in with a chance of promotion but those hopes faded quickly.

Antrim’s blazing start against the Deise saw Shane Ronayne’s side condemned to another year in the fourth tier.

Billy Lee’s Shannonsiders should ease through.

Prediction: Limerick by 5

Kerry v Clare

Kerry will welcome Clare in the other quarter final tie in Fitzgerald Stadium on the same day.

The winner of the tie will advance to face defending Munster champions Tipperary on July 10th.

Peter Keane’s Kerry side has started 2021 as they mean to go on with some fantastic showings in the National Football League.

A stellar second-half comeback against Dublin is the prize jewel in a magnificent crown.

The fluency of play and domination of the midfield and high-ball showed how good Peter Keane is as a tactician.

David Clifford has reached the next level of his game in 2021 with some fine attacking displays, most notably bagging a hat-trick against Galway.

Their opponents Clare had another bright season in Divsion Two.

A four-point loss to Mayo is indicative of the quality the side has.

Their one-point loss to Cork halted their push for first in Division Two South.

However, they have the opportunity to continue to build upon their recent growth.

Furthermore, David Tubridy broke the National Football League points record during the season.

Kerry will have too much in the canister for Clare to handle but the Banner have the chance to let Peter Keane and co. know that they’re serious.

Prediction: Kerry by 5

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