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Last years beaten finalists Breaffy made it to their third Mayo senior semi-finals in four years on Saturday afternoon after a hard fought win over Crossmolina Deel Rovers in MacHale Park. Peter Ford and Shane Conway’s side were pushed right to the wire by a battling brave Deel Rovers side, with the displays by the likes of Fionan Duffy, Conor Loftus and Cathal Carolan pointing towards a very bright future for the north Mayo men. There were also very good showings for the beaten side by goalkeeper Patrick Loftus and veteran Peader Gardiner who almost caused a major surprise against a much fancied Breaffy side.

Seven days on from claiming the Nicky Rackard Cup in Croke Park, the Mayo senior hurlers completed the job by booking their place in the Christy Ring Cup next season with a 1-21 to 1-14 over Derry in Ballinamore.

There is so much going on in the sporting world it's hard to keep up. The football championship is in full swing, the Euros are around the corner, the passing of Muhammad Ali has grabbed all the front and back pages and then there is the not so small matter of the Mayo hurling team's fantastic win in the Nicky Rackard Cup last Saturday evening in Croke Park. Things look very rosy in the Mayo GAA world and we are still only in the second week in June and yet we have two national titles in the bag.

After the historic high of climbing the steps of the Hogan Stand last Saturday afternoon and lifting the Nicky Rackard Cup, it's back to even more serious business tomorrow for the Mayo senior hurlers. Unlike the Christy Ring Cup, winning the competition does not guarantee you promotion to the next level of the senior hurling championship, so it's back on the road again for Mayo and a date with Derry in Ballinamore in Leitrim for the right to have a place in the draw for the Christy Ring Cup next season.

He was standing arms folded looking up as his team each took their turn lifting the Nicky Rackard Cup high into the sun kissed Croke Park sky on Saturday, but there as a grin from ear to ear on Mayo hurling manager JP Coen. The man known in hurling parts as “the Rock” had just overseen the first senior hurling championship success for a Mayo side in Croke Park.

Mayo started and finished with a bang in Croke Park on Saturday night as the claimed the Nicky Rackard Cup at the first time of asking. At times it looked like it was going away from them in the early stages of the second half, but JP Coen’s men gutted it out and ran out deserved four point winners.

Just as were finishing up chatting with Mayo's free-taker Kenny Feeney about the Nicky Rackard Cup final, we ask him one last question. With time almost up tomorrow and Mayo a point down, and they get a penalty, would he go for a goal to win it or tap it over to get the draw? Feeney responds "I'll have to ask 'Deno' [Brian Hunt, the Mayo captain]. The Tooreen man then roars the question across the roam at his captain, to be told he will be putting it over the bar. "That's the answer so, but I might go for goal still, ah I'm joking," he tells us.

After getting relegated from the Christy Ring Cup for the first time, getting Mayo back up to that competition as soon as possible was the number one objective for the management team. In looking to achieve that goal, JP Coen and his management team looked south of the border and asked former Galway hurling captain Liam Donoghue to get on board as a coach and the Clarinbridge man duly accepted their invitation.

The Mayo senior hurlers are going back to Croke Park for the first time since 2004, when they lost an All Ireland senior B championship final to Kildare in GAA HQ. This time they will be taking on Armagh in the Nicky Rackard Cup final after a hard fought victory over Donegal in Letterkenny on Saturday afternoon.

Getting relegated out of the second tier of the senior inter-county hurling championship would never have been part of the plan for Mayo, but that was what happened last year when a disappointing season ended with them dropping down into the third tier competition for the first time since the new championship gradings were introduced back in 2005. Up until this demotion Mayo had operated in the Christy Ring Cup and held their own for the most part with the sides in that competition.