After finally fulfilling the promise of the past number of years and sequestering the Moclair Cup in east Mayo for the winter, Ballaghaderreen look to take their next step on the road to greater success this weekend. On Sunday at 2.30pm they will enter Markievicz Park to take on Sligo Champions Eastern Harps in the Connacht SFC semi-final in what promises to be a intriguing encounter between the two border clubs.
Ballaghaderreen, who have picked up a number of battle scars on the road to the Mayo championship, will have to decide who will fill the place of Pearce Hanley at centre half back for the rest of their campaign. The young Aussie Rules star lined out for Ballagh’ in the lynchpin defensive position when he was back home in the off season but has since returned to Australia after the Mayo final. A number of players will be vying for the number six jersey come Sunday. David Kilcullen will be a strong contender for the slot, but he hasn’t featured for the side since he was sent off in the final game in the group stages against Breaffy but would be a capable replacement for Hanley. Joe McCann is another player who could fill the void.
Keeping up good Mayo record
While Mayo sides have a very good record in the Connacht club championship in recent years with Ballina claiming the title last season to add to the couple they won along with wins by Crossmolina and Charlestown in the past decade, this Sunday: it will be no easy task for the Ballaghaderreen boys. Eastern Harps themselves made up for the pain of losing the 2007 final to Tourlestrane and won both the league and championship double in Sligo this season to mark out their intent. They have already had a run out in the Connacht Championship seeing off Glencarr-Manorhamilton in the opening round of the Connacht Championship. The Taylor brothers Tony and Paul will be their leading lights on Sunday, Paul, who lines out at full forward, was one of the leading lights of the Sligo senior inter-county side for a number of years has been in fine form this year for Eastern Harps and was the Sligo championship sharpshooter, finishing the competition as top scorer.
Despite the loss of Hanley Ballaghaderreen have enough quality players to strike fear in any side. The pairing of Andy Moran and Barry Regan in the full forward line will test most inter-county defenses never mind club sides. While David Kilcullen, Gary Conway and Stephen Drake are all players at the top of their game and won’t want to let their standards slip come Sunday. Ballaghaderreen will go in as slight favourites and this should be a great game of football.
Mayo finally get the home draw
After spending most of the past two national league campaigns on the road, Mayo finally got the luck of the home draw for the 2009 campaign. They open their account for the year against the same opponents as last year Derry but this time it willbe in McHale Park at 2.30pm on Sunday February 1. They follow it up a fortnight later in Donegal on Saturday February 14 at 7.30pm. It’s back to McHale Park for round three on Sunday March 8 where Westmeath will be the guests, before a long Saturday night trip to Kerry on March 14. The Dubs, who made their way back into division one last year, will come to town on March 22, while Pearse Stadium will host the local derby with Galway on March 29. The group stages of the league will be wrapped up on April 12 when All Ireland champions Tyrone visit Castlebar.
