MAYO STAR HEADING TO OZ????

[Shrewdness]

Heard today from a reliable source that rising Mayo Star, Pierce Hanley, has accepted a 2 year trial to play in Australia for Brisbane Lions.

Have any of the Mayo lads on here heard anything to verify or confirm this??

[Fishead_Sam]

It seems quite a few Mayo posters & a Roscommon one have said its true. Not very optimistic for the future of Mayo football (under any manager) after reading this.

[orangeman]

Does he play for the senior team ? Never heard of him ?

[Fishead_Sam]

Does he play for the senior team ? Never heard of him ?

He played against Cavan & Down & one of the few Mayo players to shine on both days, was on the under-21's also plays for Ballaghadeereen who are running riot in Mayo. He is what a very high percentage of Mayo fans (from what I cant tell) believe is our best & most natural forward in decades.

[Turlough O Carolan]

Will be a huge loss to Mayo. Put in a devastating performance at Castlebar in the Connacht U.21. However, he is a Roscommon man through and through and should never be playing with Mayo in the first place. Perhaps by the time he returns from Australia, Ballaghaderreen players, as well as having the option of playing with Mayo, will also have the option of playing with their own county. Time for the Rocommon County Board and Mayo County Board to come to some sort of agreement there.

[IolarCoisCuain]

The story is in the current edition of the Mayo News: http://www.mayonews.ie/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2074&Itemid=39

Bitterly disappointing from a Mayo perspective, of course, but it's very hard to blame the lad himself. Best of luck to him if he thinks that's the best thing for him. He has only the one life to live, he might as well make the most of it.

As for Mayo, thank God for the Rugby World Cup to take our minds off our woes...

[GalwayBayBoy]

Will be a huge loss to Mayo. Put in a devastating performance at Castlebar in the Connacht U.21. However, he is a Roscommon man through and through and should never be playing with Mayo in the first place. Perhaps by the time he returns from Australia, Ballaghaderreen players, as well as having the option of playing with Mayo, will also have the option of playing with their own county. Time for the Rocommon County Board and Mayo County Board to come to some sort of agreement there.

If it didn't work out for him in OZ could he come back and play for his boyhood heroes, the Rossies?

[IolarCoisCuain]

I sometimes wonder if Roscommon support in Ballaghaderreen is as strong as the Rosseroos would make out. Unless I'm greatly mistaken, a second club was founded in the town some years ago that took part in the Roscommon County Championship, but I think it only lasted a few years before folding. I'm open to correction on this.

[An Gaeilgoir]

Will be a huge loss to Mayo. Put in a devastating performance at Castlebar in the Connacht U.21. However, he is a Roscommon man through and through and should never be playing with Mayo in the first place. Perhaps by the time he returns from Australia, Ballaghaderreen players, as well as having the option of playing with Mayo, will also have the option of playing with their own county. Time for the Rocommon County Board and Mayo County Board to come to some sort of agreement there.

BOO HOO!!!

[magpie seanie]

Unless I'm greatly mistaken, a second club was founded in the town some years ago that took part in the Roscommon County Championship, but I think it only lasted a few years before folding. I'm open to correction on this.

I read here once that this it was attempted to set this club up but it was shot down when the proposal got to Connacht Council. Mayo, Galway and Leitrim voted against it with only Sligo and Roscommon in favour.

[Turlough O Carolan]

I sometimes wonder if Roscommon support in Ballaghaderreen is as strong as the Rosseroos would make out. Unless I'm greatly mistaken, a second club was founded in the town some years ago that took part in the Roscommon County Championship, but I think it only lasted a few years before folding. I'm open to correction on this.

As Magpie Seanie pointed out, the club - St. John's it was to be called - never got off the ground because Mayo, Galway and Leitrim voted against it at Connacht Council level. There's a strong Mayo support in the town no doubt - for historical reasons. But there's a strong Rocommon support too - as evidenced by the fact that Andy Moran and Pearse Hanley are both Roscommon men, as indeed was Noel Durkin before them. I'm not sure why a large county like Mayo would want to deny these players the right to play with their own county. Fair enough if Mayo is the first choice, but it obviously it isn't in many cases.

[Rossfan]

There's a club affiliated to Cork Co board which is half in Kerry and half in Cork.
The players from the Kerry part are deemed eligible for their own County.
I understand Creggs have an arrangement where people who feel Galway are allowed to play for them.
I believe some serious pressure was put on James McKeague to play for the chokers but he stuck with us.
Surely Ballagh can come up with a similar arrangement?

[spectator]

Good Luck to Pierse Hanley, a very exciting prospect and a huge loss to both club & county, if he joins BLs.

Regarding Ballagh, a further twist which came to light recently, is that Seanie McDermott, one of Ros' best defenders, is a Ballagh man.

Seems that he played with Western Gaels [the neighbouring Ros club] as he was determined not to be forced to play with Mayo.

By the time they noticed, Ballagh thought it imprudent to implement the parish rule, as he was by then an established under-age Ros player.

Any Ballagh \ Mayo challenge could potentially loosen the grip of Mayo on Ballagh Rossie players, if Ros counter challenged & won, which is likely.

That anomaly notwithstanding, it's strange that in this day & age, Mayo still deny the Ballagh Rossie players the choice of playing with their own county, if they so wish.

Still, with respected club figurehead Johnno now a man of the people & elected member of Dáil Eireann, free choice for all Ballagh players surely can't be too far off... can it???

[Fishead_Sam]

Good Luck to Pierse Hanley, a very exciting prospect and a huge loss to both club & county, if he joins BLs.

Regarding Ballagh, a further twist which came to light recently, is that Seanie McDermott, one of Ros' best defenders, is a Ballagh man.

Seems that he played with Western Gaels [the neighbouring Ros club] as he was determined not to be forced to play with Mayo.

By the time they noticed, Ballagh thought it imprudent to implement the parish rule, as he was by then an established under-age Ros player.

Any Ballagh \ Mayo challenge could potentially loosen the grip of Mayo on Ballagh Rossie players, if Ros counter challenged & won, which is likely.

That anomaly notwithstanding, it's strange that in this day & age, Mayo still deny the Ballagh Rossie players the choice of playing with their own county, if they so wish.

Still, with respected club figurehead Johnno now a man of the people & elected member of Dáil Eireann, free choice for all Ballagh players surely can't be too far off... can it???

I agree the choice should be open, its hardly a hard choice anyways, the Green & Red would still get the majority of the players, but the primrose & blue would get its own share. Its like the olympic the way some Norn Ironers declare for Britain, the Rossie colonial equivelant could play for Roscommon 

[blast05]

There is fair bit of wishful thinking going on here among some of the Rossies.
I can't comment on the current crop of Rossies on the county setup but in days gone by Kevin Cahill, Dermot Flanagan and Noel Durkin would have been the same as all true Mayo men, i.e.: the only time they would make use of a Rossie jerseys if they had one lieing around the house would be to wipe their arse with it if they ran out of bog roll