Ones to watch in Mayo in 2016

We predict who’s going to make the sporting headlines in Mayo over the next 12 months

GAELIC FOOTBALL
David Kenny
Aghamore
BACK in September 2013, this talented young defender was named man of the match on the day the Mayo minors won the All-Ireland. He was outstanding in the second half, breaking up attacks, sweeping upfield with the ball, and making life difficult for the Tyrone forwards. Ever since then we have been watching his progress with interest.
Kenny was one of the players recently called up to the Mayo senior panel by Stephen Rochford, and it will be interesting to see how he fares in both the FBD League and National League when given his chance.
An eye-catching full-back at club level, Kenny has pace and presence, and is very comfortable in possession.
He will be a key man in the Mayo under-21 back line over the coming months under new manager Michael Solan, but we feel he has what it takes to break into the senior set-up by the summer too.
Kenny also hurls with Tooreen and Mayo – indeed, he was a dual All-Ireland minor winner in 2013. But the big ball is likely to take up most of his time in 2016.
- Mike Finnerty

Soccer
Conor High
Manulla
NOT many teenagers get to captain their county at adult level, but Conor High was handed the skipper’s armband for the Oscar Traynor Trophy last year. He’s become a regular in Manulla’s first team, and excelled as one of five Mayo players to wear the Connacht colours at the FAI Youths Tournament in October.
A defender in his Castlebar Celtic days (who made our Team of the Week at right back as recently as last April), the Davitt College student has been refashioned as a midfielder at Manulla.
Skilful, two-footed, good on the ball and in possession of a great engine, he’s able to dictate games in his own age-group. But he’s sufficiently tough and strong not to look out of his depth at adult level. Not for nothing did Tom Kelly call the Mayo League ‘fantasy-free’ in the title of his book!
Level-headed off the field, the Knockaphunta, Castlebar resident has taken part in Academy coaching of younger players at Carramore, and picked up the Young Footballer of the Month award for October. Expect a young man whose surname is a headline writer’s dream to make his fair share of them in the years to come.
- Daniel Carey

Swimming
Niamh Kilgallen
Claremorris SC
A STUDENT at Mount St Michael, Claremorris, Niamh Kilgallen represented Ireland at the European Games in Baku, Azerbaijan last June … and is regarded as a contender for the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo.
The Claremorris Swimming Club member is on the Connacht and Irish senior squads, and she swam the 50m, 100m and 200m breaststroke in Baku as well as the 50m butterfly.
Coached by Sebastian Lochteau, she trains at the National Aquatic Centre in Dublin and at the Kingfisher pool in NUI, Galway. The training regime for top swimmers is a major undertaking, and the sport is virtually a year-round phenomenon.
The Mayo teenager competed at the Irish Short Course Championship in Lisburn last month, taking silver in the 50m freestyle. Last April, she was the first Irish swimmer home in the women’s 50m breaststroke final at the Irish Open Swimming Championships at the NAC in Dublin.
In between, she won gold medals at the Connacht Championships in Tuam in the 200m backstroke, 50m freestyle, 50m butterfly, 200 Individual Medley, 200m freestyle and 50m backstroke. Last year, she was part of a quartet which set an Irish junior record in the 400x100m medley relay, a mark that was broken in Baku last summer.
- Dc

Boxing
Shannon Sweeney
St Anne’s BC
WHEN we met Shannon Sweeney before she represented Ireland at the European Women’s Junior and Youth Championships in Hungary, the Westport boxer told us she wants to ‘become as big as Katie Taylor’.
The teenager became the first female member of the St Anne’s Boxing Club to wear the national singlet. But for a nose injury, she’d have been in the medals in Hungary. She came through four contests to win the national under-18 title, a crown she’ll be young enough to defend her crown this year.
St Anne’s Boxing Club President Peter Mullen is full of praise the southpaw’s left cross, while coach Martin Brennan described her as ‘one of the most natural talents’ to come into the sport.
The youngster from Westport’s Golf Course Road completed her Junior Certificate last year at Sacred Heart School, and her preparation includes training camps in Dublin, track sessions, bag pads and sparring.
“She showed class from the very start,” Martin Brennan told The Mayo News. “Her timing is unbelievable. At this level, it’s about scoring and not getting hit, and she’s a joy at that. She’s able to bob and weave, she feints a lot. She’s a huge talent for the future.”
- Dc

Hurling
SeΡn Regan
Tooreen
THE Ballina man turns 22 this year and the Mayo hurling fraternity are hoping that this dual player will make his mark on the small-ball game in 2016.
Injuries and football commitments (he’s had two years with the Mayo under-21 footballers) has limited his hurling involvement in recent times. But he has bags of potential in both GAA codes and is one of many Tooreen clubmen who could see county action this year. JP Coen’s Mayo senior side have their first competitive game on January 9 against NUI, Galway in the Connacht Senior League.
Mayo were relegated to the third tier last year but should be among the stronger teams in the Nicky Rackard Cup, particularly given the strength of their opposition in the National League.
A past pupil of St Muredach’s College, Regan has a strong hurling pedigree – he’s a nephew of former Antrim goalkeeper Niall Patterson. A student at NUI, Galway, the attacker has lots of skill. He’s a good man to get a goal too, having 1-2 in Mayo’s U-21 ‘B’ semi-final defeat to Meath last August, and 1-3 against Meath in the 2014 Christy Ring Cup semi-final.
- Dc