Unlike most holidays, the League mid-term break this year feels like it’s dragged on for a long time. That said, it’s probably no bad thing from a Mayo point of view as we nurse our injury-ravaged panel back to health. Now, it’s off to Ballybofey we go.
It’s been quite the baptism of fire for new manager Stephen Rochford who has not only had to start his reign by playing catch-up, but has had to deal with a significant loss of manpower due to injuries and club commitments. Thankfully, the tide has started to turn a bit in our favour with news that a number of our walking wounded are back in training, and consequently, in contention.
Our thoughts therefore turn to Ballybofey this weekend as we prepare to take on an on-form Donegal. Resurgent so far this year under Rory Gallagher, they will be a big challenge and this would feel like a mouthwatering fixture if we only had a point or two on the board; but this game brings with it the pressure of feeling like a must-win in order to keep us above the drop zone.
Club 51 will be hitting the road for Ballybofey bright and early on Sunday morning. As is customary at most away games, we will be congregating before the game and the venue for this weekend’s meet-up is the Villa Rose Hotel, which has a bar that very conveniently backs on to the entrance of the stand where season tickets are scanned. We couldn’t have planned it better ourselves. They also have a new Sunday bar food menu that we can’t vouch for, but looks pretty damn daycent from where we are. And if you want something fancier there’s an A La Carte Sunday lunch menu too. There’ll be a few gathering there from about 12.30 so if you’re passing do drop in for a cuppa tae or the spuds.
@MayoClub51 Mayo Fans hungry for the win?? Food available all day long for the fans! Look 4ward 2 welcoming u to B’bofey #mayogaa#Donegal
Jackson’s Hotel is another handy spot nearby for a bite to eat and is only a five-minute walk from the ground.
Traffic and Parking in Ballybofey
Mayo GAA have helpfully added traffic info to their website. Be aware that there will be traffic delays coming into Ballybofey on the N15 (i.e. our route) due to road works. There will be temporary traffic lights will be in operation. so LEAVE IN PLENTY OF TIME.
Here’s the list of car parks:
Navenny car park as you come into town – just past Aldi, take the first right
Supervalu Car park – sign at junction into Navenny Car Park
Shopping Centre Car Park beside McElhinneys store.
Barrett’s Coaches will be running their customary bus service from Mayo on the day – call 097 83544 to book your seat. We’ll post further information on buses as we get it.
Pic via The Met Office
We don’t need to remind you at this point to bring the colour and bring the noise. The Mayo travelling support is quite simply, second to none and we know this Sunday will be no exception. Weather wise its predicted to be dry and sunny but bitter cold. We want to see plenty of those Mayo Bobble Hats and beanies on show!
Just a couple of other bits and pieces before we wrap up this post. Firstly a massive congratulations to Castlebar Mitchels on reaching their second All-Ireland Club final in three years. While we’re itching to see the Mitchels boys back in the green and red we are happy to hold out for another few weeks. The build-up will be something special again this year and we can’t wait to get to Croker on March 17th.
Congrats to to JP Coen and the Mayo hurlers on a stonking start to the National League with two wins out of two so far. Their next clash sees them away to Down on March 6th. Round 4 versus Wicklow is scheduled for Sunday 13th March at 12.45pm as a curtain-raiser to the Kerry game in MacHale Park – it would be great to see a big crew there to support them.
Donegal Gardai v Swinford
For anyone travelling up to Donegal and making a weekend of it, or anyone that would like to see a cracking game of Football, this might be of interest. Full details on SwinfordGAA.ie.
On Saturday 27 February Swinford GAA will play a Donegal Gardai selection at O’Donnell Park, Letterkenny at 3pm. This is our return trip after the Donegal Gardai appearance at the official opening of Robert McCallion Memorial Park in Swinford.
After the game there will be a presentation at the Station House Hotel, Letterkenny.
Also, we couldn’t not share this video. It might only be February, but it didn’t stop this crew from Lisaniska National School getting together to Hit the Diff for Mayo. What a cracking tune! All together now … “Don’t you dare look back, it’s all history ….We won’t rest til we’re the best”
Finally, for those of you not travelling to Ballybofey, the Mayo Ladies are taking on Armagh on Sunday in Round 4 of the Lidl Ladies NFL. The game throws in at 2pm in Swinford Amenity Park, and the Mayo ladies will be aiming to hang onto their 100% record in the League so far. Follow the action here on the Mayo Ladies GAA twitter account.
It’s been a while since we posted here, but we are back in action and what better way to start than with a clash with our biggest local rivals? This Sunday sees the first of a possible three (or more) clashes between Roscommon v Mayo in Round 3 of the 2016 FBD league. In our first game under the management of Stephen Rochford, we saw off NUIG in the first round of the FBD in MacHale park in front of a home crowd of 2,390 (though we estimated there must have been over 3,000!). Last Sunday we put in a good performance against the students of IT Sligo in Ballina Stephenites, again in front of a large Mayo support of well over 2,000.
Pic: GAA.ie.
This Sunday Roscommon v Mayo in Hyde Park(announced on Thursday that Hyde Park is unplayable by Connacht Council and the match is now moved to MacHale Park at 2pm), will be the first meeting between the two sides in 2016. We are calling on all Mayo supporters to “Bring The Colour, Bring The Noise”, as there will be no doubt a large travelling Roscommon support, especially on home turf.
The match was originally scheduled for Ballinlough, (we were looking forward to standing beside the tree growing through the stand there!), but due to the expected large crowd it probably would not have been a big enough venue to hold the thousands expected to attend. And now at least we don’t have to put the lawnmower in the boot for the trip to Hyde Park!
The match throws in at 2pm, so get to MacHale Park early and bring the flags! (Remember the delays at the NUIG match due to large crowds of supporters).
Statement From Roscommon GAA Regarding Change of Venue (22.30 14th January)
It was with great regret that Roscommon GAA had to inform The Connacht Council of the GAA that the County Ground “Dr. Hyde Park” was going to be unplayable for the FBD game against Mayo.
This game had previously been moved from Ballinlough where it had traditionally been held every second year alternating with Ballyhaunis.
Roscommon GAA offered the secondary county ground St Brigid’s Kiltoom as the venue and Connacht Council GAA decided that this venue would not be in a position to accommodate the expected large crowd.
As the FBD league is a Connacht Council GAA event they decided to refix the game for Mc Hale Park Castlebar. Roscommon GAA regrets that we are unable to play Mayo in Roscommon on this occasion.
It is planned to install a new pitch in Hyde Park.
What has happened this week reinforces the need for this and will ensure it happens much sooner. Hopefully the Gaels of Roscommon will fully support Roscommon GAA in this venture and Club Rossie in the fund raising for it.
Ends.
In other news, the National Football League may not even have started yet, but our thoughts are already turning to London and the first round of the Connacht Championship in Ruislip at the end of May. Keep an eye on our page for updates – we’ll be putting together a post with some information shortly.
Looking forward to seeing many of you in Castlebar on Sunday and here’s to a great year ahead. Up Mayo!
It’s that time of year again and the Allianz prediction league 2016 is now up and running! The Allianz prediction league will start on the 30th of January and continue throughout the league, finishing with the league finals at the end of April. To enter, you will need to log in and set up an account at www.allianzleaguesprediction.ie. If you have entered the prediction league in previous years, just log in to your account and enter.
Mayo Club 51 have joined again this year and we’ve set up a football mini league called … you’ve guessed it … Mayo Club 51. To join our football mini league just enter this code: 5WGFS8Jl5VMy
We recommend you to copy & paste the code when first registering for the mini-league.
Join mini league example
There is no limit to the amount of mini leagues you enter (last year we entered into 5 different mini leagues!) You only need to enter your predictions once each week, all the different leagues you are entered into will be updated automatically. The code above is for the football league. If there is enough interest in a hurling mini league, let us know and we’ll set one up. Although it’s mainly for a bit of craic and to test how well you think you know your football. We will do a weekly Mayo Club 51 mini-league table update here on the site. We’ll have a rummage through the attic and basement here in Mayo Club 51 and see if we can come up with a prize for the winner of the predication league at the end of April. If you have any problems joining our mini league please contact us.
So, How does the Allianz Prediction League Work?
Competition duration: The competition starts with the first round of leagues games in February and concludes with the last fixture of the leagues regardless of whether it is a final or not. If any fixture or a final is drawn and goes to a replay, then the replayed fixture will be included in the competition for predicting.
Extra Game weeks: An extra game week will be added if a fixture or fixtures are rescheduled for a week which had no scheduled fixtures previously.
Prediction Input: You must select a margin of victory for one of the teams or select a draw. Players will not be allowed input predictions for a week until the first day of the week or until all fixtures have been clarified for the week.
Changing a prediction: Just select blank where you had input the margin or click on the draw box again if you had predicted a draw.
Non-Input of Predictions: Players will be allowed to miss the input of predictions for one week when they will receive the average score of all players in the competition who input predictions for that week for. Players will be given half the average weekly score for any subsequent weeks where they don’t input predictions.
Scoring Update: Player’s scores for a week will be updated before the start of the following week.
Games cancelled or abandoned: Points will not be awarded for fixtures that are not played or abandoned. Replays or rescheduled games will be added to the set of fixtures for the weeks they are scheduled.
Overall Competition Winner
The player in the number 1 position on the overall leader board after the scores are updated for all the competition’s predictions, is the winner of the overall competition.
Scoring system
Scoring is based on regular time (70 minutes play) only. Extra time scores not included in the scoring.
Drawn Game
40 points – Draw predicted.
Non Drawn Game
20 points – Correct Winning Team predicted +
10 points – Exact Margin of victory (= 30 points)
9 points – Margin of victory within 1 point
8 points – Margin of victory within 2 points
7 points – Margin of victory within 3 points
6 points – Margin of victory within 4 points
5 points – Margin of victory within 5 points
4 points – Margin of victory within 6 points
3 points – Margin of victory within 7 points
2 points – Margin of victory within 8 points
1 point – Margin of victory within 9 points
Leader board Ranking
Players with the same score in the same league are ranked by their most recent weekly results.
The player with the better recent performance is ranked higher.
Sample Leader board Table (at the end of week 3)
Update Monday 7th Dec: The GAA has confirmed that the postponed games in the Interprovincial Championships will not take place this weekend. Re-fixture details will be confirmed after the next CCCC meeting on January 12, 2016. Ulster GAA had expressed a hope that the games, which fell foul to Storm Desmond on Saturday, would be rearranged for this weekend.
Update:This weekend’s 2015 Interprovincial Championship Football and Hurling competitions have been postponed until further notice due to adverse weather conditions.
The 2015 Interprovincial Championship are on this weekend. This year Munster play Leinster at 4pm on Saturday 5th December in Pairc Esler in Newry. Ulster face Connacht at 7pm on Saturday in the Athletic Grounds in Armagh. Ciaran Branagan is the referee for Munster v Leinster, with Eddie Kinsella the referee for the Ulster v Connacht game. The final will be on the following day Sunday at 2.30 in the Athletic Grounds Armagh.
Earlier today, the Connacht team managed by John Tobin to face Ulster were named. Mayo have 4 players representing Connacht. The Mayo players are; Connacht captain Chris Barrett; Neil Douglas; Jason Doherty and Conor O’Shea. Connacht last won the Interprovincial Championship in 2014.
Photo: Mayo GAA
The full Connacht 2015 Interprovincial Championship team are as follows;
Manager: John Tobin. Damien Comer, Danny Cummins, Fiontán Ó Curraoin, Gareth Bradshaw, Gary O’Donnell, Gary Sice, Liam Silke, Paul Conroy, Paul Varley (all Galway); Cathal Shine, Ciaráin Murtagh, Darren O’Malley, Diarmuid Murtagh, Neil Collins, Sean McDermott (all Roscommon); Chris Barrett, Captain, Conor O’Shea, Jason Doherty, Neil Douglas (Mayo); Eoin Flanagan, Kevin McDonnell, Pat Hughes (all Sligo); Kevin Conlon (Leitrim).
The Ulster 2015 Interprovincial Championship team are as follows;
Manager: Pete McGrath. Niall McKeever (Antrim); Aaron Findon, Tony Kernan (both Armagh); Raymond Galligan, Gearoid McKiernan (both Cavan); Chrissy McKaigue, Brendan Rodgers (both Derry); Conor Laverty, Kevin McKernan, Donal O’Hare, Mark Poland (all Down); Tomás Corrigan, Eoin Donnelly, Captan, Barry Mulrone, Sean Quigley (all Fermanagh); Dessie Mone, Karl O’Connell, Colin Walshe, Drew Wylie (all Monaghan); Colm Cavanagh, Sean Cavanagh, Mattie Donnelly, Peter Harte, Niall Morgan (all Tyrone).
Free entry to the 2015 Interprovincial Championship match’s for season ticket holders
ST Account: *******
A Chara,
We are delighted to offer our 2016 GAA Football Season Ticket holders the opportunity to attend this weekend’s Interprovincial series.
Season Ticket holders can claim a complimentary WEEKEND TICKET which will allow them to attend the semi-final of their choice as well as Sunday’s Interprovincial Football final.
The semi-finals take place at the Athletic Grounds (Armagh) and Pairc Esler (Down) respectively with Sunday’s final also in the Athletic Grounds. full fixture details are available HERE
If you wish to attend this weekend’s games please log in to your account and click on the “Special Purchases” tab.
Instructions on how to do this are available HERE
Ticket(s) must be claimed before midnight, Thursday December 3rd.
Its has been announced tonight that Stephen Rochford appointed Mayo manager. He has been appointed on a three year term, with a review after each year. Stephen takes over the Mayo management position from Noel Connelly and Pat Holmes, who stepped down last month.
Stephen Rochford has been officially ratified as Manager of the Mayo Senior Football Team for an initial 3 Year Term reviewed annually! #gaa
Rochford has brought together a fairly impressive backroom team. Donnie Buckley will be staying on in his position as team coach/selector and will be joined by former All Ireland winner with Armagh Tony Mc Entee (coach/selector). Dr Sean Moffitt stays on as head of the medical team. The team physio’s are Liam Moffitt and Martin McIntyre.
Barry Solan who recently signed up with Arsenal football club in London, will also be staying on in his position as head of strength and conditioning of the team. Barry will be joined by former Ireland and Connacht rugby player, Gavin Duffy, who himsef is also a former Mayo GAA minor player.
Maurice Horan who is a former Limerick manager joins the team and will be looking after stats, analysis and video review. Stephen has also recently drafted in a former footballing colleague Sean Carey as a selector. Carey played on the 1995 minor team which was captained by Roachford, and is a former club player with Kiltane GAA and Junior player with Ardagh GAA club.
Caroline Brosnihan Dietician and Stephen’s brother Eoin Rochford (who is an army captain) will be in charge of Logistics are also named as part of the backroom team.
Rochford has said recently;
“There’s a great, great bunch of lads there,” said Rochford a few weeks ago. “There’ll be new faces, I’m sure coming in, whoever is the new manager. But I think there’s good days ahead for Mayo GAA, and if I’m lucky enough to take up the position, we’ll do all in our endeavour to get them across the line in 2016.”
We wish Stephen and his back room team and all the players all the very best for next year. On we go again on another roller-coaster of a journey in 2016!
Edit 01/12/2015;
Stephen Rochford was interviewed earlier this evening on Newstalks Off The Ball programme. Interview can be heard on the podcast below.
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