GAA-GPA All Star Tour To Boston

GAA-GPA All Star Tour To Boston

The GAA GPA All Star Tour to Boston takes place this weekend.

Aidan and Seamus O'Shea with Robbie Hennelly from Mayo. (Photo: Sportsfile © Pat Murphy)

Aidan and Seamus O’Shea with Robbie Hennelly from Mayo. (Photo: Sportsfile © Pat Murphy)

The 2014 GAA/GPA football All Stars left Dublin Airport on Thursday last for the All Star tour to Boston. The match will take place at the Irish Cultural Centre in Canton Boston at 1.30 pm (local time). Former Mayo manager James Horan takes over as the 2014 team manager due to Jim McGuinness being unable to travel. Jim Gavin will be the 2017 team manager.

There are 7 Mayo players on this year’s GAA GPA All Star tour to Boston. Aidan O’Shea, Cillian O’Connor, Colm Boyle, Keith Higgins, Lee Keegan, Rob Hennelly & Seamus O’Shea are on this years team. The curtain raiser for the match will be an u-12’s selection from the Shannon Gaels club in New York taking on a selection form Boston.

Ian Galvin the New York manager said recently;

“We are really looking forward to the game. I’m delighted to get the opportunity to get the players together. We have a lot of new lads and there’s been a good turnover of players. It’s a huge honor for our players to be able to show their abilities before the best players in Ireland and I’m sure it will be a well contested game against Boston.”

The 2014 All Star Tour Players are as follows:

Aidan O’Shea, Mayo; Bernard Brogan, Dublin; Cian O’Sullivan, Dublin; Cillian O’Connor, Mayo; Colin O’Riordan, Tipperary; Colin Walshe, Monaghan; Colm Boyle, Mayo; Conor McManus, Monaghan; David Moran, Kerry; Donnchadh Walsh, Kerry; Drew Wylie, Monaghan; Fionn Fitzgerald, Kerry; James O’Donoghue, Kerry; Keith Higgins, Mayo; Killian Clarke, Cavan; Lee Keegan, Mayo; Martin Dunne, Cavan; Michael Darragh Macauley, Dublin; Michael Murphy, Donegal; Neil Gallagher, Donegal; Neil McGee, Donegal; Paul Flynn, Dublin; Paul Durcan, Donegal;Paddy McBrearty, Donegal; Rob Hennelly, Mayo; Rory O’Carroll, Dublin; Ryan McHugh, Donegal; Seamus O’Shea, Mayo; Sean Cavanagh, Tyrone; Shane Walsh, Galway; Tony Kernan, Armagh.

The New York team:

Gavin Joyce (Cavan), Ger McCartan (Kerry), Kieran O’Connor (Kerry), Ronan McGinley (Cavan), Keith Scally (Westmeath), Lee Kelly (Rockland), Mike Jim Fitzgerald (Kerry), Brian Connor (Leitrim), Keith O’Connor (Cork), Colm Maginn (Cavan), Sean Dalton (Cavan), JJ Mathews (Longford), Gary O’Driscoll (Kerry, Captain), Luke Loughlin (Westmeath), Jer O’Sullivan (Kerry), Tommy Warburton (Cavan), Richey Morgan (Armagh), Michael Hallissey (Armagh), Liam Deane (Barnabas), Shane Hogan (Barnabas), Ciaran Hughes (Leitrim), Mickey Leneghan (Cork), Ross Wherity (Kerry), Damian McCaughey (Manhattan Gaels), Keith Quinn (Leitrim), Jason Kelly (Offaly), Dermot Mullen (Cork).

The Boston team: 

Eoin Connolly (Connemara Gaels), Paddy Coakley (McAnespies), Colin Mc Carron (Donegal), Sean Doherty (Donegal), Shane Kelly (Shannon Blues), Damien Doolin (Connemara Gaels), David Clifford (Shannon Blues), Sean Connelly (Connemara Gaels), Garry Brilly (Wolfe Tones), Pat McNicholas (Connemara Gaels), Conor Mullen (Shannon Blues), Niall Gallen (Mc Anespies), Paudie Kenneally (Christophers), Collie Donnelly (McAnespies), Pat Murray (Shannon Blues), Ian Whelan (Kerry), Noel Graham (Connemara Gaels), Matt Smith (Donegal), Gareth O’Neill (McAnespies), Mike O’Brien (Wolfe Tones), Coleman Mulkerins (Connemara Gaels), Cormac Joyce-Power (Wolfe Tones), Robbie Croft (Kerry), Conor Fitzgerald (Shannon Blues), Ciaran Mc Devitt (Donegal), Sean Moriarty (Shannon Blues), Joey Fitzpatrick (Kerry), Dan Kenneally (Christophers), Dan McCabe (Wolfe Tones), Shane Kavanagh (Shannon Blues), Joe O’Shea (Kerry), Mark Dunphy (Donegal).

Full All Star tour details.

Forget getting in “early”. Get in on time!

Forget getting in “early”. Get in on time!

And here we all are again! This truly is a great time to be a Mayo supporter. The buzz in the lead-up to these games is something only a handful of counties can enjoy and we’ve had this for 4 years running now.

Hopefully your plans have all been made. If not, take a look at MayoMick’s post on alternative travel options now that the trains aren’t running. But whatever your plans, do your best to get into Croke Park on time for the All-Ireland Minor semi-final between our lads and Kerry. Remember, these lads have put in a serious shift so far this year with wins in Tuam against Galway, against Ross in the Connacht Final and a comprehensive victory in Croke Park v Armagh. These lads are in peak physical condition, something that’s hard at the best of times, but many of these lads juggled their training with exams. Not only that, but this team are a joy to watch. They play lovely football, but are well able to dig deep when it’s needed. So, get in on time (not early!) and roar these lads on to another All-Ireland final.

In other news, the senior 15 has been named for Sunday and, as always, this is followed by our now ritual “rallying call”. Bring your kit, bring your flags, bring your drums, bring your fog horns. Bring it all and make more noise than you’ve ever made before! After the anthem, we want the lads to know that we are there with them every single step of the way. If someone starts a chant beside you, join in,don’t leave them hanging. We’re all in this together! This group of players and management have reached levels of intensity and performance that we have seldom seen before in this country, let alone this county.

They have done their bit. Now let’s do ours.

HoranFans

Photo: TheScore.ie
 

Safe travels!

MayoMark

 

Let’s be real … we all want the same thing

Let’s be real … we all want the same thing

In the next of our series of guest posts, we’d like to welcome Shamrocks (yes, of course that’s his real name) to the hot seat to take us on a journey from past to present. For those of you who remember ’89, this will bring back some magic memories.

An unorthodox Mayo man of sorts, born in England and brought up in a rural north Wicklow village ’til I was 11 years of age, before moving to the homeland of Mayo. My father was a native of Achill Island, it was there we spent most of our holidays as kids. It was always Mayo from day one, it was part of who we were and the county team was where I identified my connection to the place that will always be home.

My first memory was the old Salthill in 1984, travelling down with my comrade and chauffeur, my father. This is where it all began , the adventure of the journey down west, the anticipation of seeing the flags out of the car windows and then to the climax of seeing the footballers of Mayo run onto the pitch. Unfortunately we lost out to Galway on that day. My memories of the game itself are not too clear, I was only 6/7 years of age I suppose, but it’s amazing how silly things remain in the head, like only knowing the name of Willie Joe 😀

The years went on and the same journey was taken. ’85 I got to see them lift the Nestor Cup in Hyde Park; that was special but again too young to really take it in . ’87 seems a lot clearer, a really low-scoring game against Galway in Castlebar, but another defeat.

1989 is where it really comes alive for me.

We as a family had moved down home at last, to a rural village in east Mayo, Kilmovee, where my grandmother came from on my mother’s side. The first game against Galway in Tuam. We never won there (at the time) so a draw was a mighty return and we easily did the business in Castlebar in the replay, McHale and Larry with the goals. Next it was the Rossies and another draw, the replay was epic and no Mayo supporter of my age or older will ever forget Jimmy Burke’s goal in extra time. Hyde park erupted into an explosion of green and red; it was just priceless. The semi v Tyrone was of course the first time a lot of Mayo supporters ever seen Mayo win in Croke park in senior championship including father/mother and daughter/son generation. I suppose it was a bit like what winning the All-Ireland would be like now. The weeks leading up to the final were indescribable in terms of excitement – all the towns were decked out, the songs were released. As a child, the memories are of sheer happiness, the crowds at Knock airport to see our heroes off, running after the team coach with my new school mates from Tavrane NS through the thousands of fans singing ‘Willie Joe, Willie Joe’’ – it is just something that will stay with me forever.

Willie-Joe-1989

What a journey we have had since. The losing of finals down the years is what everyone likes to throw at us and of course it has been disappointing but is there any Mayo supporter out there who would swap all those journeys we have had in 89/96/97/04/06/12/13 for some form of mediocrity  like the vast majority of counties experience ?

We are now in a phase where we have reached the last two finals and are about to contest our fourth semi-final on the trot. People are getting uptight about where we are at – have we still a chance or are we burnt out as a unit? There is a sense of supporters being divided on aspects of what should have happened in finals and other issues. The truth is nobody really knows, we can all guess but let’s be real, everyone has one thing in common  – we all want the same thing.

So let’s get behind our bucks the next day in Croke park against Kerry, and roar them on. We are favourites with the bookies to beat Kerry in an all Ireland semi-final. Don’t be frightened by it, embrace it. Horan, Buckley, Prendergast and the panel have earned the fucking right to be a top team, now let us act the same, and fill her up with green and red!

Horan: one step closer to immortality?

Horan: one step closer to immortality?

James Horan’s first game as Mayo manager was an FBD game in Castlebar in January 2011. His league managerial debut also took place in MacHale Park against Down a month later. He opened up his championship managerial career in West London on a bright afternoon which almost went down in the history books as a black day for Mayo football. Two further championship games in very bad conditions dictated that he brought his men to Croke Park in July 2011 as Connacht champions but with the tag of serious underdogs to face Cork, the All Ireland champions. James Horan That day he made nonsense of Spillane’s ranting about Connacht football’s “Junk Status”, ridiculed Brolly’s assertion that Cork would easily progress and set the tone for some historic Mayo days in Croke Park over the next 3 years. For many that is the day that the Horan era really started. Now the Horan era is surely coming to a close and we face Cork once again. This time Mayo will be installed as favourites and rightfully so. Cork were physically and mentally superior to Sligo in Saturday’s qualifier. In Sky Sports high definition each man looked taller and broader, and even more importantly than this, they had far better ideas when on the ball. Colm O’Neill dominated the game ably assisted by Paul Kerrigan. Sligo had a patch of dominance and took a fine goal in the third quarter but the game was never in doubt. Keeping Kerrigan and O’Neill quiet will no doubt be key to Sunday’s game plan. Cork now have a huge step up in the calibre of their opponents in the space of a week. They started brightly against Kerry but were unable to compete with them as the game progressed.  I think the match-ups will favour the Connacht champions and while we, as Mayo supporters, will never get used to going to Croke Park as favourites, the players and management seem to have no problems with it ,judging by our wins over Down and Tyrone. Regardless of our chances of lifting the blessed chalice in September, and regardless of whether he continues in the job, we cannot doubt that James Horan’s tenure has been a great success.  Let’s keep enjoying it and hope fervently that Sunday’s game will bring him one step closer to immortality.

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