The group stages of the junior championship panned out as expected - this is the first year for many, many years the competition was exclusively contested by junior clubs with no B teams involved in the competition.
Last year's beaten county finalists - Kilmaine - remain the favourites to lift the title; the south Mayo men have come close over the past few years, no more so than last year when Castlebar Mitchels' B team pipped them in the final, but they managed to shake that off and go on and claim a Connacht title.
David O'Loughlin's side will take on Ardagh on Sunday afternoon in Clogher in what is one of the most interesting games of the weekend, with two of Mayo's young stars, Oisin Mullin and James Carr, slated to go toe-to-toe in this clash. Kilmaine won three from three in the group stages, seeing off Achill, Tourmakeady and Kilfian with relative ease - but Tourmakeady did push them close last weekend, only losing by four points.
Ardagh came through group one in second place having lost last weekend to Eastern Gaels by four points, they didn't have Carr that day in action and that loss has given them possibly the toughest draw in the last eight they could have got, against Kilmaine.
Eastern Gaels have had a great year so far, they won the Junior B title last year and have backed that up with wins over Ardagh, Kilmovee Shamorcks and Moygownagh and they will take on an experienced Cill Chomain side on Sunday in Knockmore. Cill Chomain ended up second in the three team group after they lost 2-12 to 1-10 to Shrule Glencorrib at home last weekend, but they will fancy their chances of making the last four.
Shrule Glencorrib's prize for finishing top of the group is a clash with Killala in Kiltimagh on Saturday afternoon; they will go in full of confidence following their win over Cill Chomain last weekend where Kevin Ryan and Brendan Ryan bagged 1-2 each on the road. Killala hit 5-12 in their big win over Lacken last weekend but they will really have to up their game this weekend if they are going to stop the south Mayo men.
The final quarter-final is another tasty looking encounter when Kilmeena and Achill clash in Westport on Saturday afternoon. This all west Mayo clash is going to be a real intriguing encounter with Kilmeena winning three from three in their group games and Achill coming good at the end after losing to Kilmaine in round one, they then edged out Tourmakeady before running up a big score against Kilfian last weekend.
Mayo GAA Junior Football Championship Quarter Finals
Shrule-Glecorrib v Killala, Saturday, August 29 at 4pm in Kiltimagh
Kilmeena v Achill, Saturday, August 29 at 4pm in Westport
Eastern Gaels v Cill Chomain, Sunday, August 30 at 3pm in Knockmore
Kilmaine v Ardagh, Sunday, August 30 at 1pm in Clogher
