After two rounds of action in the Mayo GAA Junior Football Championship six teams have progressed to the quarter-final stages of the competition across three of the four groups, with just one group where the coveted quarter-final spots are left up for grabs.
With one round of group games left, all eyes will be on group one where all four sides are in with a shout of claiming a knock out spot. Achill lead the way with two wins from two so far leaving them on four points, behind them in second place at the moment is last year's junior B winners Kilmovee Shamrocks with two points, and in third spot also on two points are Ardagh, bottom of the table Ballycastle are not out of the hunt just yet despite having lost their two games to date.
In the final group games Kilmovee will take on Ballycastle — where a win would send them into the last eight, but a defeat there and an expected Achill win over Ardagh would really throw the cat among the pigeons. That confluence of results would see Ballycastle, Kilmovee, and Ardagh all locked together on two points each, with the quarter-final spot and relegation play-off slot being decided by scoring difference among the three teams. There will be plenty of fun in store in that group when the final round of games comes along.
In the other groups, in group two last year's beaten finalists Kilmaine booked their spot in the last eight alongside Killala before the sides face off in the final group game. Last weekend Kilmaine saw off Crossmolina B 2-21 to 1-7, while Killala were made work a lot harder by Ballintubber B before emerging 1-13 to 1-9 winners on the road. While the winners of the top two sides will decide who gets the seeded spot in the semifinal, the loser of the meeting of Ballintubber B and Crossmolina B will be facing into the relegation play-offs .
In group three is a similar situation with the top two sides already in the last eight and facing off in the final group game for top spot, those two sides are Cill Chomain and Kilmeena. The north Mayo men wrapped up their spot in the last eight with a comprehensive 2-10 to 0-6 win over Tourmakeady in west Mayo last weekend, while Kilmeena had seven points to spare over Ballycroy on the road in their outing last weekend.
Balla and Knockmore have booked their places out of the group stages in group four after their wins last weekend. The west Mayo men ran out 2-16 to 1-11 winners over Charlestown B to seal their place. Knockmore B saw off north Mayo rivals 2-13 to 1-9 to join Balla in the last eight - ahead of the last round of group games.
