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The Mayo squad for the FBD league and the NFL will also see some new faces.

The four sides left in the Treanlaur Catering Senior Football Championship have lifted the Moclair Cup a grand total of 72 times. Ballina Stephenites (36) and Castlebar Mitchels (27) have more than the lion’s share between. But that does not mean that those two sides will make it through their semi-finals over the weekend to set up a traditional classic pairing in the final. In fact the favourites to the make the final in a lot of people’s eyes will probably be the younger pretenders Knockmore and Ballintubber with their eight and one title respectively. While Castlebar won their first title in 1888 and Ballina in 1889, Knockmore did not climb the mountain for the first time until 1973 and Ballintubber did for their only time so far last season.

It is a big weekend in the local championship with a series of mouthwatering matches in the offing. One could make a valid argument for any of the four teams left in the race to covet this year’s county senior title. If I was pressed to predict a winner, I would possibly give a nod towards Ballintubber on the basis that they are winning all of their league matches, so their form is reasonably good. They are the current county champions and will have come on a lot, particularly in terms of confidence, from last year’s success. However I just would not bet on them beating Ballina this weekend. Crossmolina beat Ballina last Sunday in the league, but I got the impression that they were holding a little in reserve for this Sunday. The Ballina boys would also have been anxious not to pick up any injuries so close to a big game. As it happens, Pat Harte did limp off during the game with some sort of an injury, so he might be a slight concern coming into Sunday’s game. I don’t think Ballina manager John Healy was too concerned at dropping two points as it leaves him a little room to kick ass this week as he gets his team focused for the semi-final. All in all I feel the Stephenites have more in them than I witnessed last Sunday, and therefore I think they have a right good chance of beating the county champions. It promises to be a fascinating contest.

The draws have been made for the senior club quarter-finals and they have thrown up some novel pairings. Neighbours Castlebar and Breaffy come together in what should be a very interesting local derby, that should generate plenty of banter. However Castlebar are a better team at the moment and, in my opinion, should prevail. Ballina and Ballintubber go head to head and the outcome is a tougher one to predict. Pat Harte picked up what looked like a serious knee injury last Saturday playing for his club against Castlebar in the Michael Walsh tournament final and l would be surprised if he is fit to play next week. His loss would be significant, and for that reason I will opt for Ballintubber. Charlestown are wily old campaigners and probably too experienced to be toppled by Shrule/Glencorrib. That leaves Crossmolina v Knockmore. Now this is a tough one for me to call. What I do know is that both teams will go at it hammer and tongs as there are plenty of young aspiring footballers on each side to ensure we have a cracking game of football. Personally, I would not mind if it was a poor one, if we were guaranteed a safe passage into the semi-finals!

The club scene in Mayo will take a backwards step this weekend with the Michael Walsh league rolling around for a round of fixtures. After a hectic few weeks of both inter county and club championship fixtures the Michael Walsh league will bring respite for a number of players and offer club managers a chance to run the rule over some of their fringe players.

Rumour has it that there will be a raft of changes for our match v Longford tomorrow in Pearse Park. I expect that management have examined every available option for this encounter. I would say it has been a tough couple of weeks for everyone involved since the championship defeat. Management will be fully aware of Mayo’s poor ‘back door ’record in years past. Both Westmeath and Fermanagh have shortened our summer on two occasions. In fact we have only managed to secure back to back victories when going through the back door on a single occasion, in 2002, when we saw off three teams in a row, beating Roscommon, Limerick, and Tipperary on that occasion.

Mayo will give a championship bow to four new players on Saturday evening against Sligo. Coming into the side for their first starts in championship action are Belmullet's Chris Barrett, Breaffy's Seamus O'Shea, Aghamore's Alan Freeman, and Garrymore's Enda Varley in a new look Mayo side. There are five changes from the team that lost to Cork in the National League final, with a fit again duo of Keith Higgins coming into corner back for Liam O'Malley and Ronan McGarrity replacing the injured Alan Dillion. Tom Cunniffe will replace Trevor Howley at the lynchpin centre half back position, with O'Shea moving to centre half forward.