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The defending champions Ballintubber laid down a marker for the rest of the sides in the county that they will not be giving up their championship easy this year when they blitzed their way through what looked like a potentially tricky opening round encounter against local rivals Breaffy with a 1-14 to 0-3 win. Breaffy were always going to be up against it facing the defending champions on their own patch in the opening round, but having to go into the game without both Seamus and Aidan O'Shea it was going to need a huge effort from them if they were going to take anything from the game.

The make up of the the last eight in the Mayo senior football championships in Mayo started to take shape over the weekend. Castlebar, Crossmolina Deel Rovers, Ballintubber, Ballaghaderreen and Breaffy all registered their second win in the championships. While two wins normally would guarantee you a place in the last eight going on recent years, it may not be enough for Breaffy should they loose out to Knockmore in their final group game.

A weekend that promised a lot delivered very little for Mayo football followers, apart from more questions. On Saturday a very fancied u21 team went into battle against Roscommon in McHale Park in the preliminary round of the Connacht championship and were dumped out of the competition at the first hurdle. On paper Mayo had a team full of players who would have had designs on at least a Connacht title if not more. But when it came to the crunch, too many players did not show up and they were just passengers on they day when Roscommon won out by 0-11 to 0-9 in Castlebar.

Roscommon 0-11

It is a simple as can be tomorrow (Saturday, March 12) when this year's crop of Mayo u21s take to the field in the preliminary round of the Connacht u21 championship. Win and they are through to a semi-final against Leitrim the following week, lose and it is pack away the Mayo gear for another year, or maybe forever for a number of the players. Standing in the way of Ray Dempsey's men and progression in the championship are the near neighbours in primrose and blue, Roscommon. Dempsey took charge of the Mayo u21s last year for the first time after three very successful years as the manager of the minor team which saw him reach two All Ireland finals on the trot. But last year the wheels came unstuck in a ill tempered semi-final in Hyde Park on St Patrick’s Day, which Mayo lost by a single score following a helter skelter affair.

Saturday afternoon promises to be a battle in the west that is not to be missed. Ballintubber, who are going for three in a row, will face off against local rivals Castlebar Mitchels who are still smarting from last year’s final defeat. The two west Mayo clubs breezed through the competition up to the semi-final stage where both Claremorris and St Gerald’s put it up to them, setting up tomorrow’s mouth watering encounter.

While the post-mortem on Mayo’s inglorious exit from the Connacht championship went on over the week and will go into the future, it’s back to basics this weekend for the inter county football panel when they rejoin their club mates for the first round proper of action in the Royal Theatre senior and intermediate championships.

John O'Mahony named his squad for the championship on Monday, there were no major surprises in the 30 men named, with Belmullet's Billy Joe Padden the only man who wasn't involved in action so far this year coming back into contention. O'Mahony now has 33 days to get his team ready for Sligo in the Connacht championship opener.

Roscommon 2-9

Mayo 0-13