Monday night's quarter-final and semi-final draws for the Mayo senior and intermediate championships have thrown up a number of mouth-watering encounters over the weekend of September 22 and 23.
In the senior championship - the big game looks to be the the meeting of Westport and Breaffy in a contest which will get the senior championship quarter-finals underway on Saturday at 6pm in MacHale Park.
The meeting pits James Horan's Westport side against their fellow west Mayo men, who in their management team have Shane Conway - who has guided many of Westport's young stars through their schools' football career in Rice College.
Westport topped their group with three wins from three after their victory over Claremorris last weekend, while Breaffy ended up in the runners-up spot in their group on scoring difference, after Ballintubber claimed top spot thanks to a very heavy win over Kiltane in MacHale Park on Saturday evening.
Waiting for the winners of that game in the semi-final, will be the victors from the meeting of Garrymore and Ballaghaderreen in MacHale Park on Sunday at 2.30pm. The south Mayo men have become well used to the knock-out stages of the competition over the past number of years and topped their group with three wins from three, completing that route with a 2-14 to 0-17 win over Knockmore last Sunday in the county grounds.
Ballaghaderreen had already secured their place in the last eight before their meeting with Castlebar Mitchels last weekend, they went down by nine points to Mitchels last Saturday in Charlestown, but they will still go into the knock-out stages confident of taking out their south Mayo opponents.
The aforementioned Mitchels men will take on Claremorris in their last eight encounter on Sunday at 1pm in MacHale Park, the defending champions still look the team to beat this year. Claremorris had already their spot in the quarter-finals sown up before last weekend's loss to Westport in their final group game and will be looking to pull another knock-out surprise in the last eight, like they did last year when knocking Breaffy out in the same round.
The winners of that game will take on whoever emerges from the meeting of Ballintubber and Moy Davitts, which goes to the tape on Saturday at 7.30pm in MacHale Park. As mentioned earlier, the Tubber' topped their group thanks to their big win over Kiltane last Saturday evening. Their opponents will be delighted to have made the last eight in their first year up with the big boys after claiming the intermediate title last year - and they served notice of their intentions of mixing it with the best with their big 1-20 to 1-6 win over Charlestown to seal their place in the elite eight.
At the other end of the spectrum is the battle to avoid the drop to the intermediate grade for next year and the draw for the relegation semi-finals has thrown up one humdinger of a game. The north Mayo giants of Crossmolina Deel Rovers versus Knockmore, was at one time a potential county final but times have changed. But when they face off in Ballina at 1pm on Sunday sparks should fly. The other relegation semi-final is the clash of Aghamore and Davitts in Ballyhaunis at 4pm on Saturday.
Senior Football Championship Draw
Quarter Finals
(1 ) Garrymore v Ballaghaderreen
(2 ) Castlebar Mitchels v Claremorris
(3 ) Westport v Breaffy
Semi Finals
(1 ) v (3 )
(2 ) v(4 )
(4 ) Ballintubber v Moy Davitts
Relegation Semi Finals
Aghamore v Davitts
Knockmore v Crossmolina Deel Rovers
