Sunday sees the Mayo league kick off the season with the Charity Shield meeting of Elvery’s Super League champions Ballina Town and Chadwick’s Cup winners Manulla in Milebush Park at 3pm. With the league ready to get back into the swing of things for the new season, Sunday will offer Ballina Town manager Brendan Kenny and the Manulla management duo of Sean Kavanagh and Damien Ansbro a chance to run the rule over their sides ahead of the league kick off. Ballina, who won the title last season after coming close a number of times in the previous seasons, will be looking to put back to back titles together to stamp their authority on the Super League, while Manulla rounded off a good 2009 after they claimed the Chadwicks Cup with a 1-0 over Swinford back in December. However they will be striving to improve on the fourth place in the Super League last year where they finished a full 12 points behind their opponents in the final standings.
The Charity Shield is a new diversion for the Mayo League to kick off the season and they have named the trophy the Liam McEntee Shield in honour of the referee who passed away last year from cancer, after giving ten years’ service to the game in Mayo. The proceeds from the game will go to Rock Rose House Castlebar, a cancer support group who do a lot of work in the community. The Mayo League would encourage everybody to come along on Sunday to support this very worthwhile charity and enjoy what promises to be a very exciting game of football to kick off the new season. Admission to the game costs only €5.
