Junior
An Ceathrú Rua had a successful weekend in their Connacht club football semi-final after their win over Salthill-Knocknacarra gave Maghnus Breathnach side an immediate return to intermediate football.
After successive relegations from senior down to junior, the Gaeltacht side have already achieved their goal of returning back up the ladder of Galway club football. A winning Connacht campaign is just a bonus and they have made as good a start to it as they could have wished.
Playing in Tuam Stadium on Saturday afternoon against Cill Chomáin of Mayo, a tight game that always seemed to be edging towards a win for the Galway side was sealed with a late goal from Éanna Mac Cormaic to give Breathnach’s side a seven-point victory.
They will now face Sligo’s Ballymote Round Towers after they got the better of Roscommon’s St. Barry’s in a one-sided win, 2-16 to 0-9.
The Connacht junior final will be played in Tuam Stadium on the weekend of November 30/December 1.
Intermediate
St. Michael’s lengthy campaign caught up with them them last Saturday when Crossmolina ended up running out comfortable winners in the intermediate Connacht semi-final in Castlebar.
After two gruelling intermediate finals against Caltra, Mike Hughes and his team struggled with the pace of the game against a side that had an extra weeks break leading up to the game.
The Mayo side got off to the better start with two early goals and led by seven points after 12 minutes. However, St. Michael’s rallied and scored 1-5 on the trot. Ronán Mac Giolla Rí followed up his goal in last weekend's final with another here.
A controversial red card for Gary Higgins for an off-the-ball incident just before the break turned the game on its head. St. Michael’s failed to score from the 28th minute on and an early Fionán Duffy point in the second-half set the tone. The Mayo champions scored a further nine without reply to win 2-13 to 1-7.
St. Michael’s ran out of legs with this game being their fourth weekend in a row playing knockout football. Suffering badly from injuries and exhaustion, it would have been an amazing result if they were to win just a week after going to extra time.
It may be a disappointing end, but it's been a successful year. Despite not progressing to the Connacht final, the Galway city side made an immediate return to senior football for 2025. That was their main aim for this campaign.
Crossmolina now progress to the Connacht final where they play Elphin of Roscommon this weekend.
