Mortimer to captain Mayo

Mayo manager John O’Mahony has announced that Trevor Mortimer will be the Mayo captain for the 2009 championship.

The Shrule/Glencorrib man will take over from Ronan McGarrity, who captained Mayo last year.

Crossmolina’s Peadar Gardiner will be vice-captain for the second year running.

The 29-year-old follows in the footsteps of his older brother Kenneth who captained in 1999, where he had the honour of leading Mayo to a Connacht senior title.

Trevor Mortimer played minor football for Mayo in 1997 and 1998 and was a member of the Mayo Under 21 team that lost the 2001 All-Ireland final to Tyrone.

He also has a NFL Division 1 winner's medal from 2001.

He was one of Mayo’s star players en route to the 2004 All-Ireland final while injury restricted him to a place on the subs for Mayo’s 2006 All-Ireland final defeat.

Back to his best form this year, the Tuam based quarry manager has featured at centre-half forward for each of Mayo’s seven NFL Division 1 games in 2009, helping himself to 1-5 in that time.

Mortimer’s first game as captain will be on Sunday week when Mayo open the All-Ireland championship with a trip to New York.

His younger brother Conor will miss that game while he recovers from a broken hand.