Three Mayo players were awarded All Stars in this years GPA All Stars Awards held in Dublin tonight. Seven Mayo players in total were nominated for this years awards and the Mayo players that won this evening are Lee Keegan and Aidan O’Shea. This is Lee’s third GAA All Star award, while it is Aidan O’Shea’s second All Star.
Young Player of the Year 2015
Diarmuid O’Connor was awarded Young Player of the year, following in the footsteps of his older brother Cillian, who won Young Player of the Year in 2011 & 2012. The future looks bright!
Congratulations to Lee, Aidan and Diarmuid from all at Club ’51!
2015 GAA All Stars:
Brendan Kealy (Kerry); Shane Enright (Kerry), Rory O’Carroll (Dublin), Philly McMahon (Dublin); Lee Keegan (Mayo), Cian O’Sullivan (Dublin), Jack McCaffrey (Dublin); Brian Fenton (Dublin), Anthony Maher (Kerry); Mattie Donnelly (Tyrone), Ciarán Kilkenny (Dublin), Donnchadh Walsh (Kerry); Conor McManus (Monaghan), Aidan O’Shea (Mayo), Bernard Brogan (Dublin).
2015 International Rules Croke Park 21st November 7 pm
The 2015 International Rules one off test match between Ireland and Australia is to be played in Croke Park on Saturday evening the 21st November at 7 pm. Australia beat Ireland last year in Perth by 10 points to reclaim the Cormac McAnallen Cup. The match will be preceded by the Hurling Shinty international between Ireland and Scotland.
Pic: RTE
Pic : @GAA_Box_Scores
Ireland team: 1 Niall Morgan (Tyrone), 2 Colm Begley (Laois), 3 Gary Brennan (Clare), 4 Bernard Brogan (Dublin) CAPT. 5 Eoin Cadogan (Cork), 9 Mattie Donnelly (Tyrone), 10 Eoin Doyle (Kildare), 11 Peter Harte (Tyrone), 13 Darren Hughes (Monaghan), 15 Lee Keegan (Mayo) VICE CAPT., 17 Paul Kerrigan (Cork), 19 Jack McCaffrey (Dublin), 20 Ciarán McDonald (Tipperary), 22 Philip McMahon (Dublin), 23 Conor McManus (Monaghan), 25 Rory O’Carroll (Dublin), 26 John O’Loughlin (Laois), 28 Aidan O’Shea (Mayo), 29 Michael Quinn (Longford), 31 Donnchadh Walsh (Kerry), 33 Diarmuid Connolly (Dublin), 34 Paul Cribbin (Kildare), 35 Paddy Mc Brearty (Donegal). Stand by Players: 16 Paddy O’Rourke (Meath), 6 Killian Clarke (Cavan), 7 Ray Connellan (Westmeath), 14 Kieran Hughes (Monaghan), 21 Gearoid McKiernan (Cavan), 24 Dessie Mone (Monaghan), 27 Colm O’Neill (Cork), 30 Enda Smith (Roscommon) Manager: Joe Kernan. Australia team: Eddie Betts (Adelaide), Grant Birchall (Hawthorn), Luke Breust (Hawthorn), Patrick Dangerfield (Geelong), Dustin Fletcher (Essendon), Andrew Gaff (West Coast), Brendon Goddard (Essendon), Robbie Gray (Port Adelaide), Dyson Heppell (Essendon), Luke Hodge (Hawthorn), Sam Mitchell (Hawthorn), Leigh Montagna (St Kilda), David Mundy (Fremantle), Robert Murphy (Western Bulldogs), Nick Riewoldt (St Kilda), Tom Rockliff (Brisbane Lions), Jarryd, Roughead (Hawthorn), Nick Smith (Sydney Swans), Jake Stringer (Western Bulldogs), Harry Taylor (Geelong), Chad Wingard (Port Adelaide), Easton Wood (Western Bulldogs). Coach : Alastair Clarkson.
ickets for the 2015 International Rules test at Croke Park are currently on sale via www.gaa.ie and participating SuperValu and Centra outlets, priced at €25 for adults and €5 for children.
Group and school passes are also available, €3 per child with one adult free with every 10 children, please see www.gaa.ie/tickets for further information. Note for GAA Season Ticket holders: Season ticket holders should have received an email earlier in the week regarding special ticket prices as follows;
We have a special offer for 2016 Season Ticket Holders for these games on Saturday November 21st at Croke Park. Support your country!
For limited time only Season Ticket holders can purchase Adult tickets at a discounted price of only €20!!!
The pricing is as follows:
Adult €20 (€5 discount applied)
Juvenile €5 This offer is open until midnight on Monday November 16th
If you would like to avail of the offer, then all you need to do is log into your season ticket account and click on “Special Purchases”.
On a week like this, it has been hard to turn our thoughts to the game ahead, and for the remainder of the week and beyond they will undoubtedly remain with the family and friends of the late Darragh Doherty.
But this is a massive occasion for our county and on Sunday, more than ever, this Mayo team will be looking to do him and themselves proud as we face into an All-Ireland semi-final for the fifth year running. Truly these are glory days for and this Sunday versus the mighty Dubs, while it will undoubtedly be laced with poignancy has the potential to be the biggest and loudest day we have ever witnessed in Croke Park to date.
Vs
If there was ever a day to stand up and be counted as supporters, this is it.
If there was ever a day to empty your lungs in support of our boys, THIS IS IT.
It’s time for us to play our part once again. The Dubs are loud; and in all likelihood, we will be outnumbered. We need to work harder. Let no silence fall during this game. If we lead, we cheer. If we fall behind, we cheer louder. Be the best Mayo supporters we can be. Bring the colour, and bring the noise. It’s time to be the 16th man.
Being The 16th (And 17th) Man
As is now customary, here is our usual round-up of info on how to get there. We noticed that the sound people in the Western People have taken a leaf from our book this week and done their own essential matchday guide and we are very flattered altogether but we’ve a bit more info below that might be useful. If you have any other info you think people should know, get in touch.
Getting there
Driving
As we always say, leave on time … leave yourself plenty of time for the breakfast in Rathowen!
The Longford Marathon takes place in Longford (unsurprisingly), on Sunday, and Main Street in Longford will remain closed from 10-4pm. The N4/N5 bypass will remain open, but with potentially heavier volumes of traffic.
Don’t forget your change for the toll bridge. When nerves are fraught it may just be the straw that breaks the camel’s back. Many a marriage has run into difficulty under the e-toll sign in Enfield. Don’t say we didn’t warn you.
Don’t forget either to stop into Feerick’s in Rathowen for a hearty breakfast. In what is now a match day tradition Mid West Radio will be broadcasting on the morning of the game.
Parking
Mater Car Park: Sunday’s special offer is available at the Mater Car Park; the closest official car park to the stadium, with all day parking available for only €10 and it can be booked online here. Fans are advised to book early for this weekend to avoid disappointment.
Q-Park: Park for up to 24 hours on match-day in Q-Park Clerys for only €8. Or park in Q-Park Usher’s Quay for €4 upon presentation of a match day ticket. The Match-Day offer is for GAA matches only and does not cover concerts or other events in Croke Park.
Park Rite: All day parking on event days is available at Park Rite locations across the city centre for €5 for match day patrons upon production of your match ticket. Locations and pre-booking here.
Clonliffe College: The Clonliffe College car park is situated 5 minutes from Croke Park Stadium. Parking is available for just €10 on match days. The car park has 2000 spaces, including 100 disabled spaces and is accessible via Drumcondra Road Lower.
If this is your car, leave early. Like, now.
Buses
Here are some bus companies that will be travelling to the match on Sunday. If you know of any more, please let us know and we will add them in here. Call to book your seat in advance if you haven’t already, we don’t want to see any of you lot thumbing up the N5.
Michael Moran Bus Hire 087 2330097 Westport > Castlebar.
Fred Queenan Bus Hire 086 8656449
Treacy Coaches Bus Hire Ballina 096 22563
Lavin Coaches Kiltimagh 086 8676737
Michael Griffin Bus Hire 094 9252156 Swnford Leaving the Gateway Hotel @8am
Trains
Irish Rail have announced extra services to Dublin to cover the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Semi-Final on Sunday 30th August. There will be three extra trains with one departing from Ballina and the other two from Westport. Booking on www.irishrail.ie is essential to secure your train ticket.
The following additional services have been added to accommodate supporters travelling to/from the match:
08:25hrs Wesport – Dublin
08:45hrs Wesport – Dublin
09:05hrs Ballina – Dublin
18:20hrs Dublin – Westport
19:10hrs Dublin – Ballina
19:20hrs Dublin – Westport
To book these services please click on this link, but do so soon as they are expected to sell out.
For extra matchday fun, when you reserve your seat you can opt to have your name displayed overhead. We wonder how many Willie Joe Paddens will be travelling this weekend …
Best use of the reserved seating function we’ve seen yet
Just pray this name doesn’t appear beside yours
Other Stuff
Tickets
Ticket demand for the semi final match between Mayo and Dublin are at All-Ireland final levels! Anyone with a season tickets that was lucky enough to avail of the offer to buy 4 extra “bring a friend” tickets on their account were very lucky as this offer sold out in less than 24 hours! Tickets on ticketmaster and from Supervalu also sold out within days. All the clubs in Mayo will be struggling to cater for all the tickets requested and will only be able to issue about 80% of tickets ordered. Hopefully there will be more allocated to clubs later in the week in the second allocation.
Anyone without tickets on the day of the match could try the Croke Park ticket offices. One is located on Dorset Street upper and another is located on the North Circular Road opposite Gills Pub. Otherwise, if you do find yourself with a spare ticket and no takers (a highly unlikely scenario!) you could give us a shout as we have been inundated with messages looking for tickets.
Pre Match Meet-Up
Traditonally, Willie Joe over on Mayo GAA Blog organises the now-customary pre-semi Saturday night meet-up in Bowes pub on Fleet Street. As a mark of respect, however, given the week that’s in it, it will not be going ahead this year. Here’s hoping we have a pre-final meetup to look forward to instead, however.
On the day, because of the crowd volumes, it’s unlikely that there will be access to our usual haunt in the Croke Park Hotel for ticket-holders other than those who are in the Hogan Stand, so there will be no Club ’51 pre-match meet-up on the day.
Social Stuff
Everleigh Garden on Harcourt Street (who once famously refused entry to Aidan O’Shea – sorry lads, too funny not bring up) are offering free entry with a Mayo jersey this weekend and also have competitions galore over on their Facebook and Instagram pages.
DTwo nightclub, also on Harcourt St are offering free entry with county colours before midnight and are having a pre-match party on Saturday night featuring Wesht of Ireland “gyp-hop”band The Latchikos (they’re class). Mention to Steven on the night that you’re part of Club ’51 and he says he’ll look after you (whatever that means – we reckon it definitely means a few free pints. Right Steven?)
If you don’t want a sore head for Sunday Willie Joe over on Mayo GAA blog has details of two great sporting events, one on each side of the river in this post.
Season Ticket Holders Lounge
The season ticket holders lounge is a new initiative from Croke Park for season ticket holders. You can pre-purchase dinner vouchers through the “Special Purchases” section in your season ticket account. You have until midday today (Wednesday 26th August) to avail of the offer. The adult menu costs €15 and U-16 menu costs €10.
“We are continuing our new offering for Season Tickets Holders for this All Ireland Football Championship Semi Finals in the form of a Season Ticket Lounge at Section 401. This is an area with tables exclusively reserved for Season Ticket holders who avail of this Special Purchase option. Service time is from when stiles open until the start of the second match.”
Match previews
For those of you at home on Sunday, the Sky Sports panel preview the All-Ireland SFC semi-final between Dublin and Mayo live on Sky Sports 3 on Sunday 30th August at 3.30pm: Mayo v Dublin preview
The Mayo News have their usual pre-match podcast online, featuring Sports Editor Mike Finnerty, Mayo ladies footballer Fiona McHale, and Castlebar Mitchels manager Declan O’Reilly with host Rob Murphy.
MidWest Radio will have their traditional pre-match preview show on Thursday night from 10pm.
And Off The Ball have an interview with Pearce Hanley on life down under:
Can’t make the game? No problem!
Mayo Movie World in Moneen, Castlebar are showing the match for free in HD – drop into the cinema to book your ticket.
Replay Details (!!)
If (god forbid!) the game ends in stalemate and there is a replay, this will be held in Croke Park (yes, in Croke Park) on the evening of Saturday 5th September.
#13forNo13
You will probably have seen this online already, but if not, former Mayo great David Brady has suggested that Mayo supporters in Croke Park on Sunday pay tribute to the late Darragh Doherty, who wore the no.13 jersey, by way of a massive round of applause in the 13th minute of the game. The idea has been widely shared and supported and in a reminder that solidarity transcends sporting rivalry within the GAA family, most of the Dublin supporters’ groups have also come on board to lend their support to the initiative.
Please share and spread the word to all Mayo supporters who may not be online, and let us raise the roof for our fallen brother.
Bring the Noise …
What more can we say? Bring your flags, (even one flag per car makes a MASSIVE difference) your voices, your hearts and souls and let’s bring that infamous Mayo Roar back to Croke Park. This is it!
Maigh Eo Abú!
Mayo v Dublin All Ireland Semi Final 2015 Match Programe
Elvery’s Pre Match Promotional Advertisment
Here’s the advertisment from Elvery’s the week before the match which Mayo Club 51 took part in filming. #SpineTingling
It was with great sadness that we learned yesterday of the death of the talented Kilmaine GAA and All-Ireland winning minor footballer, 19 year-old Darragh Doherty in a tragic accident on Sunday night near Ballinrobe.
It seems like only yesterday that Darragh was lighting up the Connacht and All-Ireland Minor Championships with those magic goals, and his individual display in September 2013, on one of the greatest footballing days in our proud county’s history, will live long in the hearts and minds of Mayo gaels worldwide. His colleagues in Kilmaine GAA have described him as “an outstanding footballer who bought honour and glory to club and county”, and anyone who witnessed him play will know just how much commitment he brought to the cause.
All of us at Club ’51 would like to extend our deepest, heartfelt sympathies to Darragh’s family, friends, clubmates at Kilmaine GAA and from the Mayo minor squad and management. This is the second such tragedy to hit the Kilmaine GAA community in recent months, and our thoughts are also with the family of the late Pádraig O’Dea at this time. We would also like to wish Darragh’s friend Niall, who was also involved in the accident a speedy recovery and our thoughts are with him too and over the coming months.
In what has truly been a tragic weekend for the Mayo GAA community, we also extend our sympathies to the loved ones of Daniel Rushe of Kilmovee GAA, who passed away over the weekend in Adelaide.
Such a loss of life at such a young age is hard to comprehend in its unfairness and senselessness, and this tragedy transcends any sporting rivalry or football game. But while it is hard to contemplate sport at such a tragic time, in sport lies solidarity and healing, and there is little doubt that Darragh’s family and friends will be in the thoughts of every Mayo and indeed Dublin supporter in Croke Park. So let us all do Darragh, who proudly represented our great county with such distinction, proud on the day.
Sleep well, Darragh, and thank you for the memories. You will never be forgotten.
Darragh Doherty (left) lifts the Tom Markham Cup with his teammate, Tommy Conroy on 22nd September 2013.
EDITED: To add in footage of this magical moment that will live long in our memories. Thanks to Amanda Doherty for uploading.
We’re delighted to welcome to the guest slot this week a Mayo fan writing from across the water, Rambling Paddy. Based in London Town. Paddy is an avid follower of Mayo’s fortunes from across the water and here’s his account of what it’s like supporting Mayo football from across the Irish Sea. You can follow him over on his blog, A Rambling Paddy.
Last weekend, the first transatlantic pilgrimage touched down at Knock airport to great fanfare. With a welcome party led by An Taoiseach and witnessed by national media it certainly was a day of great significance for a regional airport that continues to innovate and punch above its weight. Although I should correct myself when I say the plane “touched down”. As anyone that’s landed into Ireland West Airport can testify, that may give an unrealistic impression of what is sometimes a not-so-gentle landing. Not infrequently, adverse winds and fog can mean a tricky approach and getting wheels on terra firma can be rather abrupt. And that’s not actually a bad (if slightly tortured) metaphor for the experience of following the fortunes of Mayo football. Not always blue skies and we can often end up being brought back down to earth with a bump. Not one for travellers of a nervous disposition.
Following from overseas can both intensify and dilute that experience. Even in such a technologically-connected world, being one step removed from the day-to-day conversations brings a certain sense of exclusion. Who’s going well at training. The rumoured line-ups. The challenge matches. These are just a few thoughts that might merely be easy discussion topics when bumping into a neighbour at home but they don’t usually crop up in the corner shops of Clapham. And although this may seem insignificant, it adds to the latent sense of occasion that only an extended Mayo run in the championship provides.
To compensate for this, I tend to forensically trawl through all coverage of Mayo football online. And if we’re currently spoilt with the quality of the football, then the level of coverage they receive certainly does it justice. Amateur writers such as “An Spailpín Fánach” and Willie Joe of Mayo GAA Blog fame are always compulsive reading. And I use the term amateur in the same sense of the football itself – professional in all but name. We’re also fortunate with the quality of the regional media and the digital supplements of The Western People and The Mayo News are always worth coughing up the few quid for. The Mayo News team in particular deserve extra plaudits for their innovative podcast which has been good company on several tortuous tube journeys. In addition to that local coverage, a few of the national writers seem to have a grá for Mayo football – the ever-excellent Keith Duggan at the Irish Times in particular. All are consumed fanatically.
Additionally, any calls home at this time of year invariably involve a five minute maternal briefing on any local or family matters, followed by a forty-five minute in-depth analysis with the old fella on the next championship game. Now that we’re heading for a semi-final, I’ll probably have to up that allowance to an hour. The ties might be slightly remote, but still maintain a tangible connection to the atmosphere. And anyway I shouldn’t complain. London is a great city, and I’m fortunate that it’s still accessible enough to facilitate regular trips home for family, friends…and football. Or more correctly, I’m fortunate that Knock Airport exists to facilitate it.
The relationship between the airport and those of us that travel over and back regularly can be summarised by a conversation I heard recently while queuing at Stansted. Two middle-aged Mayo gentlemen ahead of me waiting to board, returning after a week’s work on the building sites of London. I gathered it wasn’t their first tour of duty overseas. Having spent twenty minutes complaining about the cost of the departure charge at the airport, they ended up talking round in circles eventually praising its value compared with the cost of travelling to Britain in the eighties. By the time we were ready to board, a general consensus had been reached that for the convenience of having an international airport on their doorstep, donating all their worldly goods at the gate wouldn’t be outrageous. (For any airport staff reading I’d disagree – a tenner is plenty!) In summary: we shouldn’t take Monsignor Horan’s landmark achievement for granted.
And to flog that airport metaphor to death, we similarly shouldn’t take the achievements of this current Mayo team for granted either. For that reason, I had sufficient confidence prior to the Donegal clash to go ahead and book flights back for the semi-final. A gamble on meeting the Dubs in Croker on the last weekend of August. Another flight, another trip to headquarters.
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