John O’Mahony will be hoping that all his players manage to come through this weekend’s full round of club senior league fixtures fit and ready for action in next week’s National League final against Cork in Croke Park. Mayo booked their place in the final, last Sunday in the sunshine on Leeside in Páirc Ui Chaoimh, thanks to a 0-16 to 0-11 win over the Rebels, but the league final will be a completely different animal of a game.
The game which is scheduled to throw in at 4pm on Sunday April 25 in GAA headquarters will be preceded by the division two final between Ulster neighbours Down and Armagh. Mayo will be hopeful of having the services of Ronan McGarrity, Enda Varley, and Aidan Kilcoyne back in situ for the final. Seamus O’Shea picked up a knock in during the second half of last weekend’s game in Cork which is the only additional concern for Mayo ahead of the game at present.
However things could change by Sunday evening with a number of big games in the senior league. In division 1A Ballintubber will host Ballina in Clogher on Sunday afternoon. John Healy guided Ballina to a win over Charlestown in his first game as manager, while James Horan’s side could only draw with Westport. Ballinrobe who pulled off a bit of a shock by seeing off Ballaghaderreen by a point on the opening day, will face another daunting challenge when they take on last year’s double winners Charlestown. It’ll be all guns blazing in north Mayo where Crossmolina will host Knockmore, while Moy Davitts will be making a journey to south Mayo to face off with Claremorris. All those games throw in at 2pm, with Ballaghaderreen and Shrule Glencorrib facing off with each other at 12.30pm in Shrule.
In division 1B, Islandeady will be up against it when they host Belmullet. The home side did see off Tourmakeady in the previous round, while Belmullet drew with Burrishoole. The men from McGovern Park will host Kiltaine themselves this weekend, in what promises to be a tough encounter. Colm McManamon has taken over at Burrishoole this season and will have his side well keyed up. Kiltaine saw off Breaffy in Bangor in the first round and the west Mayo men will be hoping to get things moving for the season when they host Davitts at home on Sunday. Last year’s junior champions Kiltimagh will be squaring up with Peter Ford’s Castlebar, a side of whom big things will be expected this year, and they will be looking to get their league campaign up and running with a bang. The final game in the division is a clash of the Mores with Aghamore hosting Garrymore, in what should be a very keenly contested encounter between two sides who have a lot to prove this year. For a full list of Mayo GAA fixtures for this weekend see www.advertiser.ie/mayo
