Messages

[This year I think half the county panel are based in Dublin. It seems reasonable that a good number of these lads will settle down to work and live in the city so in the next few years, they will be lost to the county, probably forever. Odds are that their kids will play with a local club and grew up as Dub supporters.]

Mayo got a centre of excellence in the middle of a bog
Oh, sorry Connacht got the centre
And soon they'll have a giant bouncy castle

Mayo got huge funding for McHale park
AND a bailout when they blew the budget

A lot of money spent on those projects

Still paying back the bailout. Clubs are I mean. I do believe there's another centre of excellence in the pipeline although I'm not sure when.

Back to Loose Cannon's point, amalgamations are happening left, right and centre in Mayo at underage. We even had a situation 2 years ago having Ballyhaunis and Aghsmore joining up at minor. Terrible indictment on Ballyhaunis imo.

Population loss or just young lads no longer want to play?

IMO, a  bit of both to be honest but the former is the more serious one.
After all, every part of the country has problems with kids not bothering to play any sort of field game but if you don't have youngsters, you get them to play anything.
I went to a small rural school in near Swinford back in the 60s. The teachers in the parish organised an 11 a side  tournament back then. Today, there is only the town school open.
That's something Dubs can't understand and think life can go on as it has always with Dublin growing bigger and their country cousins just moaning and whining, as always.

This year I think half the county panel are based in Dublin. 
It seems reasonable that a good number of these lads will settle down to work and live in the city so in the next few years, they will be lost to the county, probably forever. Odds are that their kids will play with a local club and grew up as Dub supporters.
I can't blame Dub supporters for wanting to keep things the same as always and getting the lion's share of whatever money is available, the gap between Dublin and the rest will become unsustainable.

This is a huge issue, and something that also crossed my mind when starting the blog. You cannot measure the impact of this. As I recall one of the Dublin subs this year, his father played club football for Swinford until he headed east back in the 80's. I am sure there are hundreds if not thousands of such examples.

Back to the Airport, if the entire politics BS, play into its under developement, then shame on the elected officials involved. A no brainer would be to create an exclusive tax free zone around the airport or even extend it to twenty or twenty five mile radius around the airport as a tax free zone. As well as east and north Mayo, it would encompass parts of south Sligo, part of Roscommon, north Galway and parts of Leitrim. Areas prone to folks migrating to Dublin etc. If there were 25k or 50k jobs created over a decade or two, then the positive knock-on effect of this would be very significant.

I happened to be at a presentation back in November, discussing rural Ireland, two presenters, both decent, second one a tad boring TBH, my biggest take away was, north of Galway city to south of Sligo town, the electric grids do not have the capability of carrying enough power(wattage whatever it is) to service a major plant, ( The example given, was that if a guy in England or USA or where ever wanted to set up a major plant in Claremorris (was the example used), he or she would not be able to.

I took the train from Ballymote to Dublin a few weeks ago, there is one train track, comical. It means that only one train can pass at a time, and the schedule is dictated by where there are multiple lines. How difficult or expensive would it be to put another track alongside it. The west, north west, and tourism or the wild Atlantic way my backside.

Maybe the answer is to put aside the parochial politics, of FG, FF and SF, and form a west of Ireland party. Pie in the sky, but if the combined elected politicians controlled a majority, you may see a lot more resources heading out of Dublin.

Did the person making that presentation forget that the Coca Cola factory in Ballina is the worlds largest producer of Coca Cola drink concentrate ?

Where's a long winded Padraic Duffy "everything's great festival of football " interview when you need one!

[held the team back]

The question is rather what are you smoking, as you've either not read the article fully or because you've completely misunderstood the point he is, controversially, trying to make.

He's not questioning their commitment as footballers. He's referring to a mercenary element within the mayo panel who have knifed two management teams in the last few years. He may not be unbiased but he's not wrong about some of the power struggles that have gone on in mayo and how they have held the team back.

In what sense ?

Maurice Fitz free
Startled earwigs
Cluxton free

Fitting that we score 5 goals against Sligo in McHale Park this week given Mick Burke's passing last weekend. We scored 5 goals against them in 1985 at McHale Park when Mick managed the team to All Ireland victory

And ye wonder why your neighbours hope ye never win Sam. Disgusting arrogance.

The game shouldn't have been in McHale anyway. The whole thing is a disgrace.

Hope never kicked a ball over the bar sure !

Ross Tucker has a great podcast on the science of sport on running shoes .

Been getting back into the running with a few 10k then the dreaded hip flexor injury. Any advice? I'll admit to not being the best at stretching pre/post run.

Majority of running injuries caused by training error...too much too soon and not enough of a gradual adaption to load.
Minimal weak if any evidence that stretching is protective against injury....evidence points to load adaption, sleep, nutrition etc higher up the hierarchical scale....stretching doesn't do any harm but shouldn't be a priority over the above.

I've picked up an injury playing tennis and I'm not sure if it's a groin injury (I have the typical symptoms i.e. struggling to sprint, pain down my groin) or a hernia of some sort (pain at the inside of my pelvic bone and sore when I cough/sneeze) or some combination of the two.

Anyway, who should I go to for a diagnosis? Doctor? Physio? Or a sports injury clinic?

No need for any of those, it's a Gilmores groin.

Trust me, I'm an engineer.   

Had a look online and that sounds like what I have alright. What's the best treatment for it?

MRI to confirm structural damage of abdominal wall/conjoint tendon...if large puncture , mesh surgically put in place + rehab x 10-12 weeks.. If no puncture, rehab x 10-12 weeks

[I see the Rhubarbs are doing their best to reduce the Ros support by having next week's game in fkn.Ballina!]

That's the glory of a round robin system that underage teams can learn and develop unlike the old one strike and you're out.
I see the Rhubarbs are doing their best to reduce the Ros support by having next week's game in fkn.Ballina!

Permanently cribbing about something 

Have you a Marathon coming up ballinaman? You're putting in some miles on Strava.

Manchester 7th April...doing a bit alright , looking forward to it.

Well done today, great running.

Cheers chief , walked a tightrope last 2 mile as to be expected but got the job done. !

[where teams are up to in terms of fitness]

A lot of hype surrounding Mayo since Sunday, everyone tipping them as the team to challenge the Dubs.

The league can be a difficult gauge sometimes as we don't know where teams are up to in terms of fitness, after Sunday its safe to assume Mayo are in the team in the best shape. Agree with seanie about AOS, looks like he's in the best shape of his life.

Speaking of that, what's Comer at these days? Must have done serious damage to miss the entire league with an ankle injury sustained at Christmas.

Have you a Marathon coming up ballinaman? You're putting in some miles on Strava.

Manchester 7th April...doing a bit alright , looking forward to it.

Yeah brutal day. Coming in by the beach at the end was cruel way to finish. Blinded by sand!! But was happy enough. First run and was about 1 hr 17. So was happy enough.
Was at physio at the start of the week and apparently my glute is really weak in the left side. So gave me exercises for that, that I've been working on. He advised to stay of the running for a week just in case, as I strengthen it up as it was still fairly tender. But said a week could make a good improvement and should be able to ease myself back into some running then. Frustrating now but chomping to get back running again so would rather take my time as I'm not rushing back for any run in particular now that I've missed the Omagh half.     

Ya, mental stuff. Prefer no wind than to have it against you and behind you....

I'd recommend doing a small bit or any type of aerobic acivity after a couple of days rest when things have settled down. Niggles are part of the game unfortunately, everything will be sound and you'll be stronger for it.

Am signed up but did the Bundoran 10 mile last weekend and having trouble with glute and lower back. Haven't been able to run since. Any one ever have problem with their Sacroiliac joints? From some light reading think this might be the issue. Need to get it looked at but struggling to get time.
Q

Nothing worse than niggling injuries that screw up your training block. I've really struggled over the past few months with a combination of things. The physio will see point you in the right direction but working on some fundamentals will do you no harm. I've been following these guys on Instagram for a while and they post some great stretches for hips, lower back etc. Getting as much flexibility in those areas as possible will help you a lot.

https://www.instagram.com/brian_movement101/?hl=en

This guy also does a lot of focused exercises that should help you.

https://www.instagram.com/dr.giardina.dpt/

This one being specific to your injury.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BuJuOpnh8jS/

Good luck!

Cheers for that. Have to try and get seen this week. Have only been running since Jan and never had a injury until the week before the Bundoran run, I had a slight twinge in the left calf. So rested it all week and rolled away. But felt it at about 8 miles in the run and think I was trying to carry it and now have screwed up my whole left side. From lower back, down into my glute and hamstring. Nightmare.

Have stayed off it since the run but the half is in 3 weeks so gutted that I can't do anything. If's it's not right by next week I may pull the plug for the half.

How's it now? How far can you go with tolerable level of discomfort...keep at that distance / pace and get it looked at by a professional.
Wild weather that day in bundoran , last mile was crazy.

Galway U-20s:
Darragh Silke- Corofin
John Daly-Mountbellew Moylough
Evan Murphy-Salthill (playing for Galway Utd at the minute so probably rules him out for a while anyway)

Murphy tore cruciate in October.