Category: News

The Sheila Joyce Cup
On the 29th of October at Griffin Community Park, Currane, a lot of interesting football took place.
At 2.30pm the final of the Sheila Joyce cup took place. This is an annual tournament, organised by Michael Joyce in memory of his late wife Sheila.
The boys and girls of Currane National School were split into teams. They competed against each other until the best two teams met in the final to decide the winner.
All credit to the children who played so well given the difficult weather conditions. A wet and windy Griffin Park attracted a lot of spectators, which shows that this annual contest is very popular among locals.
On the day Mairead Moran’s team won. In her speech she thanked everyone for coming to watch and her team for playing so well. She also thanked their opponents for giving them such a good match.

Over 30’s versus under 30’s.
After the Sheila Joyce Cup an unusual event took place. The match would not have been possible if it wasn’t for the efforts of Eamon Joyce and Sean Dever and everyone who helped them organise it in a matter of weeks. Originally the match was to be a clash between over 30’s and under 30’s but was changed to over 25’s v. under 25’s due to the uneven teams.
Michael T. Gallagher had the pleasure and honour of refereeing the match.
Just before throw in the weather took a turn for the worse, it began to rain heavily.and many spectators took refuge in their cars.
A large cheer went up from all corners of the field when Eamon Joyce ran onto the field. The over 25’s began the match with the wind in their favour and took advantage of it scoring a lot of points early on. The under 25’s battled to keep Eamon Joyce’s team in check but the over 25’s were just too strong in the first half and were winning by about 7 points at half time.
In the second half, the under 25’s started with a mini revival, coming to within 2 points of their elders. But a great goal at the very last minute by Andrew Patten sealed it for the over 25’s.
There were great performances by both teams, scores for the over 25’s came from; John Joe McNamera, Sean Gallagher, Noel Grealis, James McNamera, Andrew Patten, Eamon Joyce and Michael Cattigan. Other players who played well were; Paul McGinty, Andrew and Michael Dever, Tommy and Michael Madden and Kieran McGurk.
Scorers for the under 25’s were; Adrian Ryder, Peadar Cawley, Thomas Ruddy, Barry Dever, Declan O’Malley, Dennis Patten and John Dara O’Malley. There were great performances also from; Ronan O’Malley, Donnchadh O’Malley, Sean Dever, Thomas Joyce, Michael Joyce and John Ruddy.
The organisers and the players would like to thank all who came to support the teams, especially in such poor conditions, we hope you enjoyed yourselves. We hope for this to become an annual event, there is even talk of a trophy being introduced. Stay tuned for more information on this development. Please accept my apologies if I have omitted any names.

Achill GAA News – Ladies
In the semi-finals of the local ladies competition, Currane play Achill Sound and Kildownet/Sáile play Cashel/Bunnacurry on Sunday 5th November at Griffin Community Park, Currane. The first game starts at 12 noon.
When Currane and Achill Sound last met, Currane were run away winners . I believe whoever wins this one will win the overall competition as these are the two best teams. Achill Sound are very confident but they went into the last game against Currane very sure of themselves and were defeated.

My Prediction: Two very competitive games with Currane coming out as eventual winners once again.

GAA news – Mayo senior football
The Allianz National Football League 2000-2001 has started, although the Mayo Football team missed last week’s games due to the FBD Connaught League Final. Mayo travelled to Gaelic Park in Manhattan to play New York.
Mayo won 0-13 to New York’s 0-9. The Mayo team were to fly to Chicago on Tuesday (31st October) to play a local selection and are due to return home on the following Tuesday (7th November).
Mayo begin their National League campaign against Fermanagh. The fact that Fermanagh lost their opening match to Sligo and that they are being coached by former Mayo manager John Maughan is certain to add spice to the occasion. Mayo won’t want to lose this one!
Also in our group (Division 1B) are Derry, Fermanagh Laois, Meath, Clare, Sligo and Cavan. It is a tough division. The panel this year is an unfamiliar one compared to past seasons. There are a lot of new players in the squad including players who have been on the fringes and players coming through the youth teams.
Mayo will be aiming to survive in this group and hopefully challenge for the play-off’s. They are trying to rebuild their squad for the future and hope that the national league will bring some new talent into the picture.
This looks promising as in the last five years the Mayo Minors have dominated Connaught although our under 21 team has let us down (one provincial title in five years). The recently appointed Mayo U21 manager Paul McStay said recently “I attended a challenge match in Hawkfield on the outskirts of Newbridge town and the headquarters of Kildare senior, junior, U21, minor and U16 teams. They had three full lit pitches, two warm up pitches, dressing rooms as big as the local town halls complete with treatment tables and medicos on site”.
Mayo are at the moment trailing Kildare in facilities. We are a big county with a big population and most of us wish we were up amongst the best in Ireland, i.e. Meath, Derry, Cork and Galway. But we just have to wait and hope.
Stay tuned for more info on Mayo’s progression in the National league.

AIB Connaught Club Football Championship – semi-final
Crossmolina are Mayo’s representatives in this year’s Connaught Club Football Championship after retaining their county championship. This Sunday Crossmolina welcome Sligo champions Bunninadden to St Tiernan’s Park.
The Bookmakers have Crossmolina as favourites but Crossmolina have still to actually win the game. The Sligo side made history by winning their first Sligo county title last month. Crossmolina are not expected to make any changes from the team, which defeated Kilbride a fortnight ago. There are no injuries but Pat McAndrew who missed the last game due to a cold is back in contention for a starting place. Crossmolina will name their starting line up on the 1st of November.
Crossmolina are looking good, they have two very good midfielders and Kieran McDonald has been playing well lately, the inside forwards are also very impressive.
Bunninadden are going into the game after already reaching the pinnacle of the club’s history and a good performance from them will be expected, anything else is a bonus.

My prediction: Crossmolina are not lacking in preparation and should qualify for another provincial final.
Throw in at St Tiernan’s Park at 2.30pm on Sunday (5th November).

Senior Ladies Football Challenge
All Star selection 5-6
Mayo 1-2

The weather spoiled the game yet again on Sunday last (29th October) at Claremorris. The referee was considering calling off the match but, due to the large crowd that had already gathered, the players convinced the ref. to go ahead with it.
The referee decided to play a 20 minute aside match which resulted in a flattering win for the All Stars. Mayo had fielded a depleted side – Cora Staunton was missing due to a broken jaw picked up whilst playing for Athlone IT. Scores for the All Stars came from; A. Crotty (Waterford), A. McNally (Dublin), F. Blessington (Longford), M. Downey (Down), E. Gormley (Tyrone), O. Colreavy (Dublin) and for Mayo: M. Heffernan, C. Heffernan, M. Corcoran.