James Laffey

3 weeks ago | westernpeople.ie | James Laffey

Mayo’s defeat of Tyrone last Saturday was just another instalment in the most unpredictable All-Ireland Football Championship that most of us can recall. The fact that Kerry remain the only unbeaten county – and we are still only at the June Bank Holiday Weekend – reflects how evenly matched many of the teams are.

1 month ago | westernpeople.ie | James Laffey

Four-in-a-row doesn’t quite have the same ring as five-in-a-row but it is consequential nonetheless, especially in Connacht where just seven teams had accomplished it up to last Sunday. Galway only managed it twice – their great three-in-a-row All-Ireland-winning side in the mid-1960s and a decade earlier when the legendary Seán Purcell inspired the Tribesmen to a five-in-a-row.

1 month ago | westernpeople.ie | James Laffey

If Mayo’s senior footballers are going to defeat red-hot favourites Galway next Sunday they will have to do something they haven’t done in the Connacht championship to date: kick a two-pointer. Or, preferably, a few of them. It is somewhat astonishing to learn that of the seven teams who have contested the provincial championship in Connacht only Mayo have failed to score a two-pointer, either from a placed ball or open play.

2 months ago | westernpeople.ie | James Laffey

The clocks may have gone forward by an hour on Sunday morning but Kerry looked like the only team in summertime mode in the National League Division One Final at Croke Park later in the day. While the Kingdom’s performance was far from perfect, they had the appearance of a side with one eye on the championship whereas Mayo regressed to the worst of their winter form, and the two teams might as well have been in different time zones in the final quarter such was the gulf in class.

Mar 28, 2025 | westernpeople.ie | James Laffey

Mayo GAA fans are well used to rollercoaster rides but last Sunday’s topsy-turvy events in the National League were of the most extreme white-knuckle variety… even by Mayo standards. In the final ten minutes of a hitherto low-octane encounter against Donegal at MacHale Park, the fortunes of the home side swung wildly between relegation and a place in the Division One final, and ultimately the width of a crossbar decided Mayo’s fate.