Party put on hold as Mayo reset their sights

Mayo footballers have bypassed any league celebrations and immediately refocused for the forthcoming championship.

It was expected that Sunday's victory over Galway at Croke Park - the county's first league title in 31 years - would be celebrated with a homecoming in Castlebar last night. Instead, a challenge game with Offaly next Sunday will have to satisfy those supporters who want the good times to continue to roll.

The county board, in consultation with manager Pat Holmes, decided that the championship looms too close for widespread celebrations. Presuming their opening game with London goes ahead, Mayo are back on the field in just under four weeks' time.

According to county PRO Aidan Brennan, a number of the under-21 players involved with the panel are also facing into exams at the moment. And the last time Mayo celebrated a league title, they lost in the first round of the championship.

A decision on whether their game with London will go ahead will be made by the Connacht Council on Thursday night.

The game, which is scheduled for May 27th in Ruislip, is still under threat because of the measures for foot-and-mouth prevention and the council will discuss the possibility of the fixture going ahead with the relevant farming bodies.

"Right now it is a question of playing in London or not at all," said Connacht secretary John Prenty. "We are waiting to get the relevant information but there is no possibility of the game being moved to Mayo."

Central Council decided at the weekend that the final decision would rest with the Connacht Council but London, despite not playing a competitive match in 10 weeks, are still hopeful of going ahead with the fixture. Either way, the winners go through to play Sligo on June 10th.

Crossmolina's Kieran McDonald, who missed Mayo's entire league campaign through a combination of injury and unavailability, is expected to rejoin the county panel this week. Holmes noted after Sunday's win that the championship panel had yet to be finalised and that McDonald was certainly part of his plans for the summer.

The prospect of a summer of football is definitely not on for Kerry's Liam Hassett. It was confirmed yesterday that he had an operation on Sunday night for the knee injury received in a match with his Dublin club St Anne's on Saturday. The problem was a ruptured tendon, and that will rule him out of action for something in the region of six months.

It was a cruel blow for Hassett, who captained Kerry in their successful 1997 campaign and who won an All Star for his role in their success last summer. Meanwhile, Roscommon football captain Fergal O'Donnell was finally presented with his Eircell GAA Player of the Month award for February. Originally meant to be presented in March, but delayed because of the foot-and-mouth restrictions, O'Donnell received his trophy in the Abbey Hotel in Roscommon yesterday from Deirdre McGreevy, Eircell's corporate relations manager for Connacht/Ulster.

TG4's successful relaying of the football and hurling leagues concludes on Sunday with live coverage of the hurling decider between Clare and Tipperary at the Gaelic Grounds in Limerick, starting 3.15 p.m.

The All-Ireland Vocational Schools inter-county hurling semifinal between Cork and Kerry has been fixed for this evening at Pairc Ui Rinn (7.0). The winners will met Galway in Sunday's final (1.45), played as a curtain-raiser to the league final in Limerick. The football final between Monaghan and Offaly will also be played on Sunday in Navan (1.45), as a curtain-raiser to the Leinster championship football meeting between Louth and Longford.

The All-Ireland senior colleges finals have also been set for Croke Park on Saturday, starting with the hurling final between St Colman's and Gort CS (3.30) and then the football between St Patrick's, Navan and St Jarlath's, Tuam (5.0).