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The eagerly anticipated AIB Connacht senior Football Club Championship final between Corofin and Mayo champions Ballintubber takes place this Sunday (2pm) at MacHale Park, Castlebar.

The eagerly anticipated AIB Connacht senior Football Club Championship final between Corofin and Mayo champions Ballintubber takes place this Sunday (2pm) at MacHale Park, Castlebar.

On Sunday in Elverys MacHale Park in the Connacht Junior Football Championship the Mayo team will be making a longer trek to the home of Mayo football than their opponents from Roscommon. According to the AA’s route planner, it is 46 miles from Achill Head on the far side of the island to MacHale Park, while their opponents on Sunday, Michael Glaveys from Ballinlough area of Roscommon, face a 34 mile journey to the game.

Looking from the stand at the two respective sets of players on Sunday in Tuam stadium before the county final, there was an obvious difference in physique and power between the sides.

World Cup fever is well and truly upon us with games coming thick and fast and most of us struggling to keep the lids open for the late starts every night. Mayo football and the World Cup is something I relate to from my memories as a Mayo footballer. I made my championship debut for Mayo all the way back in 1994, the World Cup was on in the USA the same year. It is hard to believe 20 years could go by so fast. Mayo football was taking a bit of a bashing then on the back of Mayo’s humiliating defeat to Cork in the All-Ireland semi final by all of 20 points in 1993. As a new kid on the block I did not care about the World Cup, and I was oblivious to the thrashing I am sure Mayo football was taking from the entire country, because I had achieved a goal I set myself as a 16-year-old who failed to make a Mayo u16 team for the Ted Webb Cup. When I arrived home from Mayo u16 training in 1990 to tell my parents I had been dropped from the panel because I simply was not good enough I swore to them that day I would play for the Mayo senior team before I was 20.

Last weekend I went to a few matches in the Galway senior football championship. The only consistency in the games that I observed, was the absolute inconsistency in the referring between games, the softness of some of the frees being given, and the poor standard of club football in the county. Anyone who has been watching inter-county football over the past decade or more will surely be aware of how the Tribesmen have drastically slipped back down the football rankings. From top of the pile in 2001, to not having won a senior provincial title since 2008, or even more shockingly, a provincial minor title since 2007. Watching the dire standard of referring at club level in the county last weekend convinced me that poor quality referring is also a factor in Galway’s, or any other county's demise.

It will only be the second week March next week, but for either Mayo manager Niall Heffernan or his opposite number from Roscommon, Nigel Dineen, by the time they go to bed next Wednesday night one of their inter-county seasons will be over already. The traditional once chance brutality of championship football still remains at the u21 grade and many months of work and planning for both sides will come down to what happens on the field in MacHale Park next Wednesday.

The senior season may have ended up in disappointment against Dublin, however, our minors had a truly remarkable year but it could have been so different. Back on June 22 we first set eyes on Stephen Coen, Tommy “Goals” Conroy, and co. They had an easy victory over Leitrim winning by 1-15 to 1-05 in McHale Park. The old saying that “no one game will make a season”, could not be further from the truth after Mayo’s clash with Galway on June 30 (the same day London shocked Leitrim). This was a remarkable game, Mayo were within inches of going out, (and remember there is no back door safety net for minors at semi-final stage) sheer persistence got them over the line in extra time on a final score 5-08 to 2-11. The Connacht final against Roscommon was a great spectacle. Brilliant goals, superb defending, and skill levels to match. Mayo sauntered into a big lead but Roscommon clawed their way back and came agonisingly close to snatching a draw in the dying seconds, it would have been robbery had Mayo not won it. A Connacht minor final is not to be sniffed at. Mayo then gave Westmeath a right tanking in the quarter final in Tullamore winning by 2-13 to 0-8 points, the rest of the country were beginning to take note. A real test awaited in the semi final against Monaghan, many bookmakers’ favourites for the title. This was no question the performance of the year from the minors. They blitzed their northern opponents, scoring a whopping three goals and 19 points in the process. Talking to Barney Rock during and after this game, he was very impressed. The only negative from this game was the unfortunate injury to Cian Hanley who would agonisingly miss the final. The final pitted Mayo against more Ulster opponents in Tyrone, who were very lucky to beat Roscommon in their semi-final. Mayo played some brilliant football, urged on by the huge Mayo support. The full forward line of Darragh Doherty, Liam Irwin, and Tommy Conroy scored 2-09 of the 2-13 total. We were given the scare of our lives when Tyrone pulled a goal back in the dying moments but the Tommy Markham Cup was won for the first time since 1985. The celebrations in Croke Park after the final whistle will be something I will never forget.

Finally getting over the 20-year-old itch and winning the Moclair Cup looks to have freed this Castlebar Mitchels team from the nagging doubts that many had about their ability to press on and mark themselves out as one of the truly great Mayo club sides. They have another opportunity to kick-on again this Sunday, when they go toe-to-toe with the current AIB All Ireland club champions, St Brigid's in Hyde Park. While bookmakers may have the Roscommon men as 4/7 favourites and Castlebar as 15/8 outsiders, those numbers will been have paid little heed around Páirc Josie Munnelly, as Pat Holmes along with his management team of Alan Nolan and Shane Conway put their players through their paces in preparation for Mitchels first provincial final since 1993. Last Sunday, the Mitchels wrapped up the Mayo double with a comprehensive 2-15 to 1-2 league win over the previous holders of the Moclair Cup, Ballaghaderreen. In 10 league and seven championship games they have gone into battle in this year, Mitchels have only been overturned once, on the opening day in the league, when the side they saw off in the county final (Breaffy) edged past them on a boggy and misty spring day.

our county champions Castlebar Mitchels take on the might of Corofin in the Connacht club semi-final. It really is a step into the unknown for Pat Holmes’ team who look set to have to plan without ace midfielder/attacker Danny Kirby who was red carded in the county u21 football final last Friday. There will be arguments all over as to whether Kirby’s suspension should follow through to the senior grade, but the fact that this was his last game as an u21 player meant he had to be suspended for something. He should not have put his team or manager in this predicament and I am sure ‘Holmesy’ was raging, as Kirby is a vital part of the Castlebar game plan. Corofin seem to have their eyes on bigger prizes this year and next, they will see Sunday as a means to an end. They also had the luxury of cantering home in their county final against a very disappointing Salthill/Knocknacarra on a score line of 2-13 to 0-7. Playing two weeks before the Mayo final also gave Crossmolina native and Corofin manager Stephen Rochford the ideal situation of being able to watch Castlebar in full tilt in the county final (as if he did not know enough already). I myself have been on the wrong end of a pasting from Corofin in the Connacht Club Championship. In 2009 they came to Charlestown and destroyed us on our own patch in the Connacht final. We were literally beaten all over the field. That game was due to go ahead a week previous but was postponed due to a water logged pitch after two weeks intensive rain, however what I ultimately remember from the whole experience is the day before the postponed game was to go ahead, Corofin had three officials in Charlestown for the pitch inspection, checking that matters were conducted correctly. They leave no stone unturned such is their professionalism. Gary Sice was their main man in the county final scoring 1-04, the Galway star seems to have found the form which his talent suggested, but they have match winners all over the field. Kieran Comer is a proven handful for whoever he has come up against and watch out for pocket rocket Joe Canney, (not to be confused with hurler Joe Canning) he destroyed us in that final in 2009. There is no doubt this will be the best team Castlebar have come up against in the last few years. They will need to be at full tilt to have any hope in this game, the Mitchell’s have some brilliant individuals who are capable of going toe to toe with anyone, but when big team performances are needed I cannot see past the well oiled machine that is Corofin.