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April showers and summer soccer have been familiar friends over the past two decades in Mayo since the Mayo League introduced summer soccer for the junior sides in the league. This weekend will see the 20th instalment of summer football kicking off across the now five divisions from Super League down to League Two. The top division features the names you would expect with Westport United once again leading the pack as defending champions, with Castlebar Celtic, Ballina Town, Iorras Aontaithe, Manulla, and Claremorris all chasing after them like last season. Making the step up from the Premier A from last year are champions Ballyheane and runners up Snugboro United. Both sides have had plenty of experience in the top division over recent years, but will be severely put to the pin of their collars this season to remain in the top division. But with two other sides in the division which can be considered local derbies, there are plenty of games where form can be put aside for a while.

Mayo will have plenty of involvement in the Connacht Cup and Shield this Sunday with five Mayo teams in action across the quarter-finals and semi-finals of both competitions.

The only Mayo side to have been afforded the luxury of a draw in this weekend’s fourth round of the Connacht Cup is Iorras Aontaithe who will entertain Galway League side St Brendan’s on Sunday in the Barony of Erris. The other half- a-dozen Mayo sides left in the competition will all be packing up and heading all over the province as they look for a place in the fifth round of the competition. Castlebar Celtic will be hoping they will have a happy trip north when they take on Sligo League outfit Aclare Celtic. Last year’s Connacht Shield winners and Mayo League Premier A champions Ballyheane have been riding a wave of success this past 12 months and they hope it will continue on Sunday when they face West United from the Galway Premier League. While Ballyheane face the men from West United, the defending champions Westport United will also face Galway opposition in the shape of East United. Manulla will also be heading to Galway city to take on Mervue United in what looks to be a very tricky away tie for the men from Carramore. Also on the road on Sunday are Charlestown Athletic who will be looking to keep up their surprise run to this stage when they take on Loughrea in the fifth round. The action in the cup for Mayo sides actually gets under way on Saturday night when Fahy Rovers take on Shiven Rovers from the Roscommon and District League at 7.30pm.

February sees the return of Pawel Rybinski, a truly talented stylist, to The Hair Company, Mullingar. Pawel started his career in Warsaw’s premier Salon Fryzjerski (Figaro) in 1997 under the watchful eye of Tomasz Pyza. In 2007 Pawel relocated to Dublin, where he worked in Peter Mark’s Main Street Dundrum salon, before joining Richard O’Keeffe at The Hair Company in 2008.

When they look back on 2012 in Westport, it’ll be one of the great years to remember for them. They conquered all before and after them, league champions, cup winners and Connacht Cup winners. They took them all on and saw them all off. And there is still the little matter of the FAI Junior Cup come the new year, which they will be targeting to bring home for the second time if they can. There will be plenty of memories for the men in red and black stripes, but Gary Cunningham’s two saves in the penalty shoot-out against Athenry in the Connacht Cup final to set up their win will undoubtedly be the highlight.

It is a case of six of the best for Westport United in the Mayo Advertiser sponsored Mayo League Super League team of the year. The run-away Super League champions have half a dozen players picked in the 4-3-3 formation team of the season. Gary Cunningham gets the nod in goal with Martin Geraghty and Shaun Tagg the centre back pairing. In the middle of the park David Cameron is one of three midfielders with both JP O’Gorman and David Hoban making up two thirds of the strike force. Both Claremorris and Ballina Town have received two nods, with full back pairing of James Stretton and Andrew Shally claiming the awards for the south Mayo men. Michael Duffy earned a spot in the midfield three with Brendan Lavelle picking up his award in the front line. The last spot on the team went to Castlebar Celtic’s Ger O’Boyle whose good form saw him called up to the Irish junior side, before cruelly picking up an injury just before the game.

The Mayo League this week have revealed the winners of their various monthly awards for August and September this week. The club of the month award for August went to Urlar United with the September award going to Partry Athletics. The manager of the month awards went to Michael Moran (Castlebar Celtic B) for August, and Michael Carroll (Urlar United) for September.

The cream of Irish folk performers including Sean Keane, Johnny Duhan, Charlie McGettigan and many more will perform at the Royal Theatre, Castlebar on Wednesday next, October 24 with all the proceeds going to St Joseph’s Secondary School, Castlebar. The night called Festival Folk promises to be an evening of ‘Ceol agus Craic’ for all.

The last of the trophies will be handed out by the Mayo League on Sunday afternoon when the Connacht Gold Cup and Shield finals take place in Milebush. With the league season coming to an end last weekend (with the exception of the three-way play off in the Welcome Inn League 2 for second place and relegation matters in Premier A) all eyes will be on Milebush on Sunday. For Westport United it could be a weekend of double celebration as their A side are going for the Mayo League treble when they take on Castlebar Celtic B in the final of the Connacht Gold Cup and their B team take on Iorras Aontaithe in the shield final.

The identity of the two sides which will be making the jump to the Super League next season should be known around 2pm this Sunday. As the Premier A League heads for its final round of games this Sunday, Conn Rangers, Ballyheane, and Snugboro United are all still in with a shout of making the step up.