Search Results for 'Connacht Junior Cup'

With the league more or less wound down for the year, with Corinthians claiming the title and Ballina finishing as the top placed Mayo side in the league and booking their place in the All-Ireland Junior Cup for next season, attention now turns to the Connacht Junior Cup. The competition is now at the quarter-final stage with four Mayo sides still left in the competition, Ballina, Westport, Castlebar and Ballinrobe. With each side avoiding each other in the last eight the possibility of two all Mayo semi-finals exists, but it will be a difficult task.

Connacht kick-start their Junior Interprovincial Championship with an opening fixture against Ulster at Ballyhaunis on Saturday (2.30pm).

There may be concerns voiced form players and managers about the length of their season in Mayo soccer circles, but the progress of Mayo sides in national and provincial competitions to the latter stages continues, even though they should be in off season. This weekend Westport United are looking to round off their season, or if you look at it another way, kick start it with victory in the Connacht Senior Cup on Saturday. With the Super League only a couple of weeks away United will take on Athenry in Milebush Park on Saturday evening in the final of the eight strong competition for the best of the best in the province.

With the summer over it’s time to get back to the cut and thrust of the action on the rugby paddocks across the province as the Connacht Junior League crashes back into action. With four Mayo based clubs and Corrib crossing into south Mayo, there will be plenty of interest around the county as the season progressed. While the defending champions Corinthians and Monivea will be the favourites to pick up the title at the end of the season, that won’t deter the Mayo sides launching a bid for the title, while getting a place inside the top four exclusive junior clubs will be the initial aim for most of the Mayo sides with that place in the All Ireland Junior Cup up for grabs.

Connacht Rugby has received a huge boost with the province’s Youths claiming this year’s interprovincial title.

The four Mayo clubs in the Connacht Junior League 1A all had a bad weekend last time out with Castlebar, Westport, Ballina, and Ballinrobe all going down in round two of the league. Bottom of the table Ballinrobe shipped a 39 point defeat at the hands of table toppers Sligo to leave them rooted to the floor of the table, with Oísin Gill the only man to get a score for Ballinrobe in a 42-3 loss. It was always going to be tough for Ballinrobe this year to make the step up to the top flight. They did manage to get a bonus point in their first game away to OLBC, but last weekend’s hammering at the hands of Sligo could put a serious dent in their title credentials. They do have a shot at redemption this weekend when they make the short trip to Carrowholly where they face the Bulls of Westport. But it will be another tough ask and a losing bonus point is all that they really could hope for.

Ballina currently lead the way for the Mayo clubs in the Connacht Junior League following three rounds of Division 1A. The north Mayo men picked up their second win of the season last weekend thanks to a bonus point win over Tuam at home. It was just what Ballina were looking for after going down in the previous round to second place Monivea. The Creggs Road side crossed the line with tries from Robert Forbes, Conor Forde, Paul Neary, and David Newman to wrap up a 29-3 win. This weekend the Ballina men will make the short trip to Cloondeash to take on a winless Castlebar side in round four of the competition. Last weekend the county town side went down to a 22-7 defeat at the hands of Corinthians, and despite leading by 7-5 at the break, thanks to a David Staunton try which was converted by Ronan Conway, they weren’t able to hold on to the lead and were steamrolled in the second half, with Corinthians hitting two tries. Castlebar haven’t had a good start to the season and will be looking for a much improved performance on Sunday against Ballina.

Ballina kept their place at the top of the Mayo clubs in the Connacht Junior League with another win at the weekend. The Creggs Road club picked up their third win from three games this season with a hard fought win over Castlebar. The 12-5 win over Castlebar was played in Cloondeash. Castlebar, who are currently winless this season, would have hoped they could have seen off the side whom they beat in the Cawley Cup final last year, but they came up short. The homeside did get the first try of the game through Fintan Casey in the first half, but the north Mayo men got their own touch down just before the break when Michael Clarke touched down. There was little separating the sides until Stephen McCarron got in for a try that was converted by Andy Moynihan. That scored condemned Castlebar to their fourth loss on the bounce, but the county town side have managed to pick up three losing bonus points so far this season, so a win should be on the horizon for them in the near future. This weekend they will get their chance to pick up a win again, but this one looks like a long shot for them. They have to make the trek to second in the table Monivea, who have four out of four wins so far this season and only trail leaders Sligo by one bonus point. Last weekend the Monivea boys saw off bottom of the table Tuam by 34-0 away from home. Ballina will look to pick up their fourth win of the campaign when they entertain Galwegians at home, Wegians come into the game with one win from three and weren’t in action last weekend, so Ballina should feel confident of taking the points on Sunday, but will probably come up short of getting a bonus point win.

The New Year has come and with it the Connacht junior league enters its final furlong as the chase for a top four place and avoiding relegation intensifies. With the competition in hibernation since the middle of December, there will be a warm welcoming return to the fold for the Mayo sides in the competition this weekend in Division 1A with two Mayo derbies topping the billing for Mayo attention.

So the snow and ice seems to have finally left us and depending on the weather over the weekend, the three remaining Mayo clubs left in the competition will go looking to make it past the first round proper. Ballinrobe, Ballyhaunis, and Westport all bowed out of the cup at the preliminary stage before Christmas. So Ballina, Castlebar, and border club Corrib are all left in the competition with a shout.