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By Colm Gannon

They may not be the current kings of the game, but the thought of getting one over Kerry is something that supporters from every other county still relishes. On Sunday in Elverys McHale Park, Mayo will start their Allianz National Football League campaign looking to give those there in support of the green and red that very same satisfaction come full time, and set themselves up nicely to retain their division one status at the very least.

Mayo 0-10

This year’s club action kicked off with a couple of big questions looking to be answered, could Ballintubber be the first team since the legendary Garrymore team to do three in a row in the senior championship. And would Charlestown be able to bounce straight back up from the intermediate championship after their shock fall from grace the previous year.

The last time a Mayo side claimed the Connacht Club Senior Football Championship it was Ballina Stephenites on a wet and wild day in James Stephens Park in 2007 and St Brigid’s were the opposition. In the past four years the Roscommon men have gone on to claim the last two titles and are looking to make it three in a row and their fourth over all, this Sunday in McHale Park, and in the process, draw Roscommon level on 13 titles each with Mayo in the overall roll of honour. However standing in their way are a Ballaghaderreen side who are looking to claim their first provincial title and Mayo’s 14th drawing them level with Galway on the number of titles won on the roll of honour.

On what will be a unique day for football as a club from the geographical county of Roscommon will be Connacht champions. This will be the first time that St Brigid’s from Roscommon and Ballaghaderreen from Mayo/Roscommon will contest a provincial final. This unique pairing has presented an opportunity for some people to debate the age old argument of whether the Mayo boys should in fact be playing in Roscommon. As we all know, the town is administered by Roscommon County Council and for all intents and purposes is a Roscommon town, but it has declared its football allegiance to Mayo for the past 124 years. Whatever your views are on the issue, all of Mayo will be staunchly supporting the Ballagh boys in McHale Park on Sunday. I am not so sure they have the armoury to beat the Roscommon champions who, incidentally, are managed and coached by Kevin McStay and Liam McHale. I was in the Hodson Bay hotel during the week (Brigid’s territory) and many I spoke to are confident that not alone will Brigid’s win a Connacht title, but they feel they are good enough to win an All-Ireland this year. I’m not so sure but Sunday will give us a fair indication of their true worth. Ballaghaderreen, on the other hand, have been quite patchy in their recent performances. In their semi-final victory over Curry they were fortunate to be behind by just two points at half time. Had it been Brigid’s they were playing on that occasion Ballagh would have been out of sight by then. It could have been seven or eight. They did not get motoring until after half time and in fairness they were brilliant when they eventually did, playing arguably their finest football of the year in that second half. But if they are to stand any chance of winning on Sunday they will definitely need to perform for the entire 60 minutes.

There was terrific entertainment at the Connacht club championship semi-final last Sunday. The opening 30 minutes was as good as I have seen at club level this year. The first half was a real quality contest, very exciting with fast flowing end to end action, some wonderful scores, and generally two teams having a right go at advancing to a Connacht final. It went a good way towards warming the blood on a chilly day in McHale Park.

This weekend will be a big weekend of action for both Charlestown and Ballaghaderreen. The near neighbours have been focusing their attention on provincial honours since winning the Mayo intermediate and senior championships respectively.

I was in the Neale last Sunday morning for an u15 semi-final and there, taking pride of place, was the Pete Mc Donnell junior cup sitting on top of the gated entrance to the field. There were many gravelly, tired sounding, voices in the small compact stand, which is very understandable considering this was their first and only adult title of their 110 year history and no doubt a long night of celebrations had taken place.

Mayo picked up four football All Stars in the team that was announced yesterday morning. Alan Dillon claimed his second All Star to go with the one he won in 2006 when he was named at centre half forward on the team. The half of the back six was made up by Mayo players with Ger Cafferkey getting the nod at full back following an outstanding year by the Ballina Stephenites man. Keith Higgins was picked outside him in the corner back slot after the Ballyhaunis man had another brilliant year in the green and red. Lee Keegan was the fourth Mayo man to pick up an All Star. It has been some two years for the Westport man who only made his championship debut last year, and only made himself a first team regular this year.