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The mouth-watering taste of a possible all Mayo Connacht Junior Cup final is still there for the eating this weekend, when three Mayo sides go into action in the Connacht Junior Cup semi-finals.

There will be at least one Mayo side in the final of the Connacht Junior Cup this season, after Castlebar, Ballina, and Westport all booked their places in the final four of the competition last Sunday.

Westport United’s dream of FAI Junior Cup glory ended for another year in Fairview last Sunday, when Sheriff YC knocked them out of the FAI Junior Cup at the seventh round stage for the second year in a row.

After the second round of action in the Connacht Junior Cup last weekend there are four Mayo teams left standing as it reached the quarter-final stage. With one all Mayo tie coming up on Sunday, there is a very realistic chance that three Mayo teams will make the semi-final stage of Connacht’s premier junior rugby cup.

The first round proper of the Connacht Junior Cup kicks off this weekend and five Mayo junior rugby teams are in action. Ballinrobe were the first Mayo team into the competition last weekend when they travelled to Tuam in the preliminary round, and the south Mayo team came home with a hard fought four point win over the north Galway outfit. Seamus O’Toole’s team were trailing 11-0 early on but they managed to keep their opponents scoreless for the entire second half, and when Anthony Coleman crashed over the line just before the break the game turned in their favour. Oisín Gill cut the gap to just three points from a penalty early in the second half and when Peter Cosgrove touched down for Ballinrobe’s second try and Gill converted Ballinrobe had that winning taste in their mouths, and they held on to book their place in the first round proper this weekend.

There are eight Mayo sides left in the Connacht Junior Cup after last Sunday’s third round of action. The competition now moves forward to the last 16 with only three games between those remaining and a place in the final. The first of those fourth round games takes place this Sunday when Manulla host St Patrick’s in Carramore at 2pm. The Galway side currently are sitting second bottom of the Western Hygiene Supplies Premier Division with just one win from their 11 games so far this season. Manulla will be hoping they have the quality to breach a defence that has conceded 36 goals in league football already this season.

Sunday will see another large crowd of supporters descend on the Sports Park as Westport United look to book their place in the seventh round of the FAI Junior Cup. Standing in their way is Kilkenny side Freebooters, who will make the long trip to Westport for this clash. Westport United booked their place in this round of the competition thanks to a come from behind 5-2 win over New Ross Celtic a fortnight ago. The three goal victory is even more impressive when it is remembered that Westport United were trailing 2-1 with only 15 minutes left on the clock, but once Danny Scahill found the back of the net from the penalty spot to level the game up, United cut loose and ran through their opponents from the southeast, with Schaill adding another and David Hoban and Martin Geraghty one each to round off the scoring. Westport United got a break last weekend when they got a walk-over in the Connacht Junior Cup when Straide and Foxford did not field a team, so they should come into the game well rested.

Last weekend saw Castlebar secure one of their key objectives for the season when they booked their place in the promotion/relegation play-off for a place in the top tier of junior rugby for next season. While Castlebar would like to have gained automatic promotion and clinched the title, second place and chance over 80 minutes later in the spring to seal the deal will still do nicely.

It has been four weeks since the Mayo sides were in action in the Connacht Junior Leagues, this weekend sees the final leg of the league season kick off as the season hits crunch time and enters its final rounds.