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Another chapter in the glorious rivalry that exists between current Super League champions Ballina Town and pretenders to the crown Westport Utd will be crafted on Sunday in Milebush Park. The FCS Cup presents Ballina Town with an opportunity to resurrect their campaign that has been patchy of late. However they will have their work cut out against the Covies, but they have the necessary tools to get the job done.

This weekend 42 of the 43 teams taking part in the Mayo Football league will kick off their campaign for the new season. The odd team out being Ballyvary Blue Bombers who are part of the seven team League One this season. The big change this year in the league format is the return to 10 team divisions in the top three levels this season after a couple of years with eight team divisions.

Castlebar Celtic pair Aileen Gilroy and Emma Hansberry are currently on international duty with Sue Ronan’s Ireland women’s squad in Cyprus. The pair are part of a 23 strong team for the tournament that saw them play Cyprus on Wednesday, before they take on South Korea today (Friday), and Switzerland on Monday, with a positional play-off taking place next Wednesday, March 12.

Sunday morning will see a mass exodus of football supporters from Westport, but rather than heading south to Galway they’ll be pointing their wagons east, in the direction of the small Roscommon village of Lecarrow about 17km west of Athlone to the home of the Roscommon and District Football League. It’s there that Westport United will be looking to put together a historic back-to-back pair of Connacht Junior Cup victories. Last years rain-sodden penalty shootout victory over Athenry in Terryland Park will go down in history as one of the great days in the famous junior club’s history, but if they manage on Sunday to bring the trophy home for the second time in as many years, they’ll be telling tales of this side for many, many years to come around the town.

The monthly winners of the Mayo League awards for May were announced this week. And unsurprisingly, Westport United were the big winners of three awards, including club of the month. The Covies picked up their first Connacht Junior Cup in 25 years during May with a historic win over Athenry 4-2 on penalties. They have also had a 100 per cent start in the Elverys Sports Super League this year and have 18 points from their first six games and are currently well out in front of the pack.

Sligo Rovers are expected to bring a strong squad with them to Westport on Saturday evening when they play Westport United in a special challenge match to mark Westport United’s recent victory in the Connacht Cup. Both teams are currently in the middle of a mid-season break, to accommodate the 2012 European Championships, and this game is being viewed in both camps as ideal preparation for the second half of the season.

On Sunday in Terryland Park, Westport United will go looking to make it lucky number seven when they take on Athenry FC in the Connacht Junior Cup final. Standing in Westport United's way will be the defending champions who are going for their third Connacht Junior Cup win on the trot. Picking up the title would be quite a coup for the relatively inexperienced management duo of Kieran Mulchrone and James Fahy who have taken over in the United hot seat this season. While the management duo may be inexperienced at this level, there is plenty of experience to draw on with the likes of Kevin Joyce, Martin Geraghty, Danny Schaill, Gerry McLoughlin, Dave Cameron, Dave Hoban and Pat Fitzgerald all with plenty of big game experience under their belts over the years.

The Mayo League and clubs have been in the headlines of late over off the field issues, but on Sunday all eyes will be where they should on the park as the Mayo League kicks off for the 2012 season across five divisions. The Premier A and B along with division one and two will get proceedings underway on Saturday evening at 6pm, with the main attraction the Super League, kicking off on Sunday at noon with the meeting of Castlebar Celtic and Westport United in Celtic Park, with the action in the other games in the division getting underway at 2.30pm.

The Mayo league announced last week that it has put back the start date of this year’s Mayo League due to “circumstances beyond our control”. A statement issued by the league last weekend said: “Due to circumstances beyond our control the Mayo Football League have decided to delay the start of the 2012 season by one week, therefore the opening match of our 2012 season will take place on Saturday, April 7, in Milebush Park with the Charity Shield.

The majority of the divisions in the Mayo League will reach the midway point this weekend with the seventh round of games taking place across all divisions over Saturday and Sunday. Castlebar Celtic are still top of the table in the Super League, but their rampage through Mayo football this year was knocked off kilter last weekend when Westport United knocked them out of the FCS Cup at the semi-final stage with a 2-0 win in Westport.