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2002 Mayo GAA Preview
So here it is. I am going to give you my opinion of what Mayo GAA fans can expect in 2002. Well, last year, on the football side of things was probably an O.K year. To start off, Crossmolina won the club championships, a big boost for the County, and then, Pat Holmes brought home the NFL championship, our first major trophy in over 30 years. We did see disappointments in the championship when a side with a lot of expectation flopped!! Losing the Connaght championship by a late goal and then being out-played by West Meath in the quarter finals. Back to the drawing board for Mr Holmes.
The U21&Mac226;s did very well winning the Hastings Cup and reaching the All Ireland Final only to be outclassed by Tyrone – although it was a very poor performance by Mayo. In my Opinion Mayo are the biggest underachievers in Gaelic Football. The talent is in the County for everyone to see. Mayo Minors have been reaching All Ireland Finals continually for the last 5-10 years. In the Club Championships Mayo Club teams have been reaching All Ireland Finals year after year. Yes, so have other Counties, but out of Ulster, only one team made an impact over the last few years, Crossmaglen. From Munster it was Nemo Rangers and from Leinster it was Eire Og and now Na Fianna. But in Mayo there have been a number of teams; Crossmolina, Ballina Stephenites, Knockmore, Castlebar Mitchels and Garrymore have all reached the final. I believe a decent Manager and Mayo could do the business and I believe they only have to win it once and then the Sleeping Giant will be no-more.
I believe however, that Mayo this year will reach the quarter finals of the NFL And, depending on their form they may reach the semi finals. I do not think they will win it but I hope Mr Holmes has learned his lesson from last year. Too much emphasis on the League led to a severe slump in the Championship. With the FBD Connaght League starting this weekend; Sligo on Saturday and Roscommon on Sunday, Mayo will have chance to test out new players. I wont even predict how Mayo will do in that, with that competition anyone can win it maybe even New York. With the Return of James Horan and Kenneth Mortimer to the side and the departure of Kevin Cahill, Mayo are a different team this year and I’ll stick my nose out and say they will win the Connaght Championship by side stepping Roscommon/Sligo/Leitrim and edging past Galway. And after that anything can happen – I wont go as far as saying they’ll win the All- Ireland because they wont. Kerry Will. I believe Kerry will beat before them and after them this year after last years humiliation. I can also see Dublin having a slight impact in there somewhere.
As for the club championships all I can say is, all the best to Charlestown who are in the semi finals. I don’t know how they’ll do to be honest – I hope they will make the final.
In the Mayo club scene, I believe Garrymore will win the Senior Title. They reached the league final and were beaten by Hollymount. In the Championship they were edged out in the semi final by the eventual winners Charlestown so I can see them being under Dogs for the title.
As for Achill, well, I would like to see a good year from them this year, and hopefully we will after a very poor year last year.
So that’s my round up for 2002. Hopefully, I won’t be too far out.

Rejuvenated Dublin
It may be early January when no major prizes are being handed out, but hope springs eternal for the Dublin football team.
After a few lean seasons, the weekend charity game against a ‘Blue Stars’ selection showed that some of the young talent waiting in the wings is ready to make an impact. After Lyons men engineered an impressive 2-16 to 1-14 win, the name on everyone’s lips was that of Eoin Bennis, after his scoring contribution of 2-1. Not that Lyons is getting carried away, however.
Lyons said in a recent interview “We’ll be bringing him along nice and steady to see how he improves over the league, He does things naturally, but he’s light and he’s small and needs to do a lot of work on his body. But you never know, he might be there in June.”
After a championship season when the failings of the Dublin forwards were well talked about, most of the attention is focusing on whether or not Lyons can unearth some scoring gems to bring in the league. At the Thomas Davis venue in Tallaght, Dublin certainly shot some impressive scores, although the manager is keen to stress that success-hungry fans shouldn’t read too much into it.
“Sure it’s early January,” he remarked. “It’s nice to get out and play football because that’s what it’s all about. But kicking the ball over the bar at this time of year is a different thing from doing it in the championship.
“Still, it was nice to see the players kicking a little bit better and believing they could score. We were after having three defeats and were almost on the crest of a slump.”
Ray Cosgrove and James O’Connor were other players who impressed in the scoring stakes, while established faces, Ciaran Whelan and Colin Moran, also turned in effective displays.

Champions League Round Up – Arsenal
Henry the hero for Arsenal
A last-gasp strike from Thierry Henry ensured Arsenal FC advanced into the second phase of the UEFA Champions League Group C along with Panathinaikos FC after the London club beat RCD Mallorca 3-1 at Highbury.

Automatic qualification
Arsenal, having been beaten by Mallorca 1-0 in the opening group game, needed to beat the Spanish side by two clear goals to guarantee automatic qualification. Manager Arsène Wenger’s side, after dominating the opening period, looked to have grabbed that two-goal advantage just past the hour through efforts from Robert Pires and Dennis Bergkamp, their goals coming in the space of two minutes.

Quick thinking
But Mallorca, who had adopted a more ambitious approach after the restart, refused to buckle. And on 74 minutes Álvaro Novo, released by Alejandro Campano’s intelligent pass, rounded goalkeeper Richard Wright to pull the score back to 2-1.

Calm finish
In response, Arsenal threw everything forward and Pires had a goal ruled out for offside, just before Henry’s late intervention. Henry’s goal owed everything to the quick thinking of Giovanni van Bronckhorst. With seconds of the game remaining the Dutch international took a quick free-kick and delivered the ball to Henry. The Frenchman, who had been struggling with a groin injury in the game’s latter stages, calmly stroked the ball past Leo Franco to send Highbury stadium delirious.

Perfect crosses
In the opening period Arsenal had attempted to go through the middle of the Mallorca defence with some intricate passing. When those first two Arsenal goals finally arrived, however, the Spanish side’s defence were breached by crosses from Fredrik Ljungberg and Van Bronckhorst. First, on 61 minutes, the Swedish midfielder crossed from the right and Pires sidefooted the ball home from a difficult angle. Then two minutes later, from the other side of the pitch, Van Bronckhorst got to the by-line and delivered a perfect cross for his countryman to head the ball past Franco.

Relentless pressure
The first half had been so different as Arsenal huffed and puffed. With Mallorca content to sit back and soak up Arsenal’s pressure, Wenger’s side searched relentlessly for the opening goal. Henry, who has scored in four of Arsenal’s five games in this first group stage, frequently drifted out wide to the flanks, trying to make space for Bergkamp, who was playing just behind the French striker.

Cerebral strike
Henry and Bergkamp had Arsenal’s two best chances just before the interval. First Henry reacted the quickest to Ljungberg’s cross from the right, but the Frenchman’s shot went fizzing past the post. Bergkamp’s effort was more cerebral. The Dutchman flicked the ball past Nadal and spotting Franco off his line, chipped the Mallorca goalkeeper, but his shot went narrowly past the post.

Lone striker Luque
Mallorca looked to Alberto Luque to snatch a goal. The young striker was nearly released by Fatih Akyel’s long pass, but Sol Campbell made an important tackle to clear the danger. Luque’s other effort – a long-range shot from the halfway line – was easily gathered by Wright.

Champions League Round Up – Liverpool
Liverpool given a fright in Portugal
Liverpool FC’s passage into the next stage of the UEFA Champions League will have to wait at least a week after they were held to a 1-1 draw by Boavista FC at the Bessa stadium.

Liverpool still top
The English side remain top of Group B on nine points, but Boavista and BV Borussia Dortmund are now only a point behind on eight. Next week’s final group matches (FC Dynamo Kyiv v Boavista and Liverpool v Dortmund) will decide which two of the three teams make it through.

Early chance
Liverpool started by far the stronger of the two sides, forcing Boavista back from the off, closing them down fast in midfield and almost going ahead as early as the second minute when a Gary McAllister strike was tipped over the bar for a corner by goalkeeper Ricardo Soares.

Wrong-footed keeper
Even the loss of defender Sami Hyypiä with a hamstring injury on six minutes failed to quell their forward momentum, and in the 17th minute they went ahead. Robbie Fowler was dragged down by Paulo Turra on the edge of the penalty area, leaving Danny Murphy to float his free-kick expertly over the Boavista wall and into the net past a wrong-footed Soares.

Completely different team
Whatever coach Jaime Pacheco said to his players at half-time it certainly did the trick as Boavista were a completely different team after the break, holding possession for long periods and clinically probing the Liverpool defence while they searched for an opening.

Missed crucial chance
Liverpool’s sorties upfield were few and far between but they could have put the game beyond Boavista’s reach after 53 minutes when Emile Heskey’s instinctive right-foot shot was superbly saved by Soares. The miss proved significant as eight minutes later the Portuguese league leaders were level.

Headed equaliser
Erwin Sánchez’s corner from the right found Elpídio Pereira. He was able to outjump McAllister and send his powerful header past Danny Murphy on the goal-line and into the net.

Dominated possession
Although Boavista continued to dominate possession after the equaliser, they could not land the knockout punch on a Liverpool side that had looked solid throughout and proved itself expert at soaking up pressure.

Ireland Soccer News
McCarthy has a lot to learn in Tehran
Mick McCarthy will be starting from scratch when he sits down to size up the Republic of Ireland’s potential World Cup play-off opponents when he takes his seat at the Azadi stadium in Tehran (kick-off 3.0 Irish time) this afternoon. But the Ireland boss insisted yesterday that today’s game between Iran and the United Arab Emirates as well as next week’s return leg in Abu Dhabi affords him an unprecedented opportunity to assess in advance the challenge his side will face.
“I know absolutely nothing about them,” he told RTÉ television as he prepared to fly to Iran yesterday, “but I’m getting something that I never get. I’m getting the opportunity to watch our opponents both home and away which never happens so I’m not complaining.” Neither, as it happens is the UAE’s Dutch coach Tini Ruijs who feels that his side may be in a position to capitalise on the disquiet in the Iranian camp following last weekend’s surprise defeat by Bahrain.
Since the 3-1 loss which cost Iran automatic qualification for next summer’s World Cup finals there have been rumours of match rigging, riots in the country’s three largest cities and questions asked about manager Miroslav Blazevic’s position. Despite having been reported to say that he would sack Blazevic if the Bahrain game ended badly, though, Irianian Football Federation president, Mohsen Safai Farahani, who is also a member of the Iranian cabinet, sidestepped questions about the manager this week and blamed Sunday’s defeat on a string of poor performances by the country’s players.
IFF offical Abass Toraian added that the players were “crying and ashamed”, after the game and we’re determined to make amends today but the home side’s chances of placating their supporters this afternoon are not helped by the fact that three of their regular starters are suspended in the wake of the stormy Bahrain encounter. Another couple of Blazevic’s original squad have been sent back to their club’s after apparently making clear their displeasure at finding themselves on the bench for recent games.
Likely to be missed most are Hertha Berlin’s Ali Daei and his strike partner Alireza Vahedi Nikbakht both of whom are amongst the players serving one match bans. “Our defence will be relieved of some of the danger, particularly from corners,” said Ruijs, who went on to claim that his less fancied side might just be in a position to pull off a shock.
Kevin Kilbane’s chances of playing in Ireland’s World Cup play-off games in the middle of next month were described as “hit and miss” by a senior Sunderland official last night.
He injured his ankle in the recent defeat by Manchester United and the problem has since turned out to be more serious than initially expected. Reports that he is currently in plaster have been denied and it is still hoped that if he can get back into training next week then he will be fit enough to join up with McCarthy’s squad for the build up to the November 10th game in Lansdowne Road.

All Ireland Under 21 Football Championship
Mayo 0-10 Tyrone 0-13
Tyrone were crowned All-Ireland U21 champions for the second year in succession, after a convincing 0-13 to 0-10 win over Mayo at Markievicz Park, Sligo, on Saturday.
Both sides struggled to deal with the wet conditions, as rain hampered their efforts to control the ball at times.
However, Tyrone’s attacking style proved to be the main difference as the Ulster champions moved into a substantial early lead and held onto it throughout.
Trevor Mortimer put the Mayo men in front in the seventh minute, but quickly Tyrone set about putting paid to the Connacht side’s efforts, and a purple patch threatened to end the game as a contest within the opening quarter.
Stephen O’Neill kicked two points in three minutes to give Tyrone a 0-2 to 0-1 lead in the 12th minute. Less than a minute later, Kevin Hughes scored the first point from play to extend their lead.
Enda McGinley was given a glorious opportunity to add a goal in the 14th minute but his effort, from a tight angle, just bobbled outside the post and wide.
Tyrone were controlling the game at this stage, with points from Ray Mellon and Eoin Mulligan (two frees) stretching their lead to five points before Conor Mortimer could add a second score to Mayo’s tally.
Mortimer and Brian Maloney added a point each before the half-time whistle, but so too had Tyrone and the gap stayed at four points at the break, 0-8 to 0-4.
The second half continued in much the same vein. Trevor Mortimer drew first blood with a point from a free before Mulligan returned the favour. However, three points between the 43rd and 48th minutes saw Tyrone edge into a six-point lead that Mayo never recovered from.
They sought a goal but had to make do with points from Brian Maloney, and Conor Mortimer.
Two more scores before the full-time whistle put a decent sheen on the scoreline, but Tyrone’s victory looked safe long before that.

All Ireland Ladies Senior Football Championship Final
Laois 2-14, Mayo 1-16
After 70 minutes of gripping action, the manner of the win could hardly have been more dramatic. With the sides deadlocked, Mayo goalkeeper, Denise Horan, sent her kick out to Cora Staunton who was standing within the parallelogram. The referee immediately awarded Laois a free directly in front of the Mayo posts, which Mary Kirwan dispatched over the bar with one second to play.
Kirwan opened and closed the scoring as she managed her first point in the first minute of the game, but Cora Staunton levelled with her first of five first half points in Mayo’s next attack.
In what was an entertaining opening period, the two sides traded scores for the first 17 minutes with a number of players on both sides registering successful efforts. However, Laois then enjoyed a purple patch, contradicting pre-match expectations, which earmarked them as rank outsiders. The veteran Sue Ramsbottom led the charge with a point before two Kirwan frees opened a three-point gap.
Diane O’Hora reduced the deficit when she shot over the bar, but Laois midfielder, Kathleen O’Reilly then scored a goal for the O’Moores, bursting through the Mayo cover before firing high into Denise Horan’s net.
That left the score 1-8 to 0-6, but it was as good as it got for the Leinster champions in the opening half as Mayo demonstrated their double championship credentials by dismantling Laois’ five-point cushion. It was little surprise that corner forward, Cora Staunton, led the fightback, as she has been central to the Connacht side’s last two All-Ireland successes, despite missing the 1999 final and she would finish this game with a ten-point total.
Staunton scored three points in quick succession from play and dead balls, and she was aided by two further efforts from Claire Egan and Christina Heffernan to leave the champions with an unlikely two-point lead at the interval with the scores at 1-10 to 1-8.
Laois’ challenge seemed to evaporate soon after the break as they fell four points behind when Diane O’Hora fired over. However, Sean Delaney’s side picked themselves back up, with Kirwan scoring two points plus a penalty, which she stitched high into the net.
That left the midlanders 2-11 to 1-13 ahead. Midfielder, Aideen O’Loughlin also chipped in with two efforts, although Mayo were not about to lie down, O’Hora and Cora Staunton managing three conversions between them to level the scores in the dying minutes, before Kirwan’s last gasp free sent the Laois team and supporters into delirious scenes of celebration.

Tribesmen triumph over Royals
Galway are 2001 All-Ireland champions after a stunning second-half display that stripped Meath of their favourites tag. They romped home to win by a nine-point margin, 0-17 to 0-8.
It was Meath who settled the quicker, going in front through a Ray Magee free in the second minute but Galway largely took control of the half, in terms of possession at least, once Michael Donnellan kicked over an equaliser three minutes later.
A snap shot along the ground from Fallon cleared the bar after five minutes, before McDermott lobbed a Meath point from a tight angle at the other end.
After ten minutes, the score was level at 0-3 to 0-3, with both sides tackling ferociously and closing down the space. Fallon’s point on eight minutes was the highlight.
Galway had taken an iron grip on the game, but failed to turn their possession into scores, with Donnellan, Savage, Fallon and Padraig Joyce kicking a succession of wides.
Paul Clancy, however, seemed to steady the Connacht side a little, on 24 minutes, with a lovely point from distance to even things out at 0-4 to 0-4, after Crawford had pointed in the 17th minute.
Galway continued to dominate and their high-tempo, industrious approach was rewarded with a score on the burst from Bergin, his second of the afternoon.
Joyce then tapped over a free but Meath, more economical all through the half, kicked over two more scores before the break, to leave the sides level at 0-6 to 0-6.
However, for accuracy, the second half belonged to Galway and Joyce. And accurate is truly the right word.
Despite a shaky opening half, and a glaring miss on goal upon the resumption, the Killererin man ultimately proved the difference between the sides. Somehow, he found his scoring touch again and, fed by a dominant defence and midfield, he shot an amazing 0-9 (0-5 from play).
Meath, shell-shocked and ragged, had no response, although the issue was still in doubt when John McDermott won a penalty on 58 minutes, with the Royals trailing by a mere five points.
The chance to close the gap, however, was scorned when Giles fluffed his shot and, with Nigel Nestor having been sent off for a second yellow on 50 minutes and Ollie Murphy off injured since shortly after half time, it was beginning to look like Galway’s day.
And so it proved. As the half wore on, Galway did to Meath what the Royals had done to Kerry. In fact, it was a mystery it took the Tribesmen so long to pull clear and finish the game off.
Joyce had missed a sitter immediately after the resumption, before Sullivan was forced to save from point-blank range ten minutes later.
Meath were in free-fall. They scored just twice in the half, Evan Kelly’s point on 38 minutes followed 20 minutes later by substitute, John Cullinane’s effort.
After Giles’ missed penalty, Galway cut loose once again and extended their lead with scores from Joyce (2), Paul Clancy and Declan Meehan. Meehan’s score showed just how comfortable Galway were. He opted to tap over a point when a goal was beckoning.
It was a deserving win for Galway and day to remember for Padraig Joyce. Meath however, will do well to forget it.