The divisional cups kick off in earnest this weekend in Mayo with action spread across six different competitions on Saturday and Sunday.
The eight sides in the top division will kick things off on Saturday evening in the FCS Cup with all the games getting under way at 6.30pm at the quarter final stage. The two sides promoted to the Super League last year, Ballinrobe Town and Claremorris, will go head to head in a south Mayo derby in Ballinrobe. The home side are going into the contest on the back of a 5-1 defeat at the hands of Westport United last weekend, while Claremorris have started the season positively and won last time out on a score of 4-1 against Swinford. Iorras Aontaithe will make the journey from Erris to Swinford on Saturday night looking and will go in as favourites to make it to the last four following their 1-0 win over Manulla in the league last weekend. As for Manulla they have the difficult task of trying to see off the challenge of Castlebar Celtic in the last eight. Declan Kilkelly’s men had a massive 5-0 win over defending league champions Ballina Town last weekend in the league to really mark out their intentions for the season ahead.
The final game in the competition is the meeting of Ballina Town and Westport United in north Mayo. Both sides have been going toe to toe in the league over the past two seasons with Ballina Town managing to hold the advantage on the last day in the previous two years. Ballina are sure to be smarting after the hammering they suffered last weekend against Celtic and will be looking to put it right as soon as possible. But Westport United will be as stern a test as they could face so soon after a defeat like that.
In the Westaro Cup, there are a number of exciting games on the cards. In a local derby Ballyheane will host Snugboro United in Quigley Park, while Conn Rangers will host Fahy Rovers in the second of the last eight ties. The other two games pits Clew Bay United at home against near neighbours Westport United B, while Straide and Foxford United will be looking to get the better of Killala. All games in the Westaro Cup kick off at 2.30pm on Sunday. There will also be action in the McDonnell, Tuohy, Tonra, and McHale Agri Stores cups over the weekend.
