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At the start of every season winning the title is the ultimate goal for most sides, but in this years Elvery’s Sports Super League avoiding the drop is a big a concern for a lot of teams. This year will see four sides dropping out of the top division before it becomes a more compact and competitive eight team league for the 2011 campaign. Last year only one team (Kilmore) dropped out of the top flight with Swinford replacing them this season, after Westport United B won the Premier Division title but were not allowed to come up. But this year if you finish between 10th and seventh place in the league and you are dropping through the trap door.

Sunday April 11

Sunday sees the Mayo league kick off the season with the Charity Shield meeting of Elvery’s Super League champions Ballina Town and Chadwick’s Cup winners Manulla in Milebush Park at 3pm. With the league ready to get back into the swing of things for the new season, Sunday will offer Ballina Town manager Brendan Kenny and the Manulla management duo of Sean Kavanagh and Damien Ansbro a chance to run the rule over their sides ahead of the league kick off. Ballina, who won the title last season after coming close a number of times in the previous seasons, will be looking to put back to back titles together to stamp their authority on the Super League, while Manulla rounded off a good 2009 after they claimed the Chadwicks Cup with a 1-0 over Swinford back in December. However they will be striving to improve on the fourth place in the Super League last year where they finished a full 12 points behind their opponents in the final standings.

Castlebar Celtic got their season off to a winning start in the EA Sports Cup with a 1-0 preliminary round win over Salthill Devon in Celtic Park on Tuesday night. Peter Dravins was the hero for Celtic scoring an 87th minute winner over the Galway side who were promoted from the Newstalk A league to division one of the Airtricity league last season, a feat Celtic will be hoping to emulate this season. The win puts Castlebar Celtic into the first round proper of the competition where they will take on Finn Harps at home. A win over the Donegal men will keep Celtic moving in the right direction ahead of their kick off in the Newstalk A league in May.

An outbreak of gorse fires blazed throughout Mayo over the past number of days which led to the county’s fire services tackling extensive fires in Castlebar, Westport, Foxford, Louisburgh, Kiltimagh, and Ballinrobe. However according to a Garda spokesperson the fires were not suspicious in nature.

There has been a decline in the number of people in Mayo on the live register last month, with a reduction of 189 from 13,346 signing on in January of this year to 13,157 in February.

Connacht Cup Round 5

The last chance of a Mayo side bringing national glory at junior level back to the county this season disappeared last Sunday when Ballina Town bowed out at the sixth round stage of the FAI Junior Cup. Shangan Athletic, who had seen off Straide and Foxford United in the previous round, came out victorious once again over Mayo opposition; this time they saw off Mayo’s top side. Despite going one up and being in control of the game early on Ballina conceded three first-half goals in quick succession and were never able to get back into the contest.

Ballina Town will be looking to pick themselves up from last weekends defeat at the hands of Ballinasloe Town in the Connacht Cup fourth round at home this Sunday where they have a place in the FAI Junior Cup seventh round at stake. Standing in their way in Beleek are Shangan Athletic from Dublin who overcame the challenge of Straide and Foxford United in the last round of the competition. Ballina came from three goals down before half time last weekend to pull the game back to 3-2 but were not able to find that third goal they needed to force the game level. Mick Duffy and Daniel O’Hara were on the scoreboard for Brendan Kenny’s men and Duffy in particular will be looked for to spearhead their attack on Sunday against the side from Ballymun. Ballina booked their place in this round of the competition thanks to a comprehensive win over Cashel Celtic in the fifth round with Brendan Lavelle scoring a hat trick, the aforementioned Duffy a brace, and Ross Kenny getting himself on the scoreboard before the end of their trouncing of Cashel Celtic. Shanagan Athletic used their home advantage to see of Straide and Foxford United in the last round by 3-1, they went one up before Straide and Foxford levelled through, Chris Downey on the half hour. But the Dublin outfit had enough class to see off the Mayo men to book their date with Ballina.

The Mayo Pink Ribbon appeal will hold a 100km Leisure Cycle on Saturday May 1 with Enda Kenny TD donning the pink jersey to lead a team of 100 plus cyclists in a special fundraising event in support of The National Breast Cancer Research Institute. Starting officials for the day will be Mayo’s own Roses of Tralee, Marita Staunton and Luzveminda O’Sullivan.