Wining the title would have been the most important thing for Westport United when the Elverys Sports Super League kicked off, but as the weeks went by and the wins kept piling up, the potential of their going all the way through the league with a 100 per cent record looked to be a real possibility. And in their 13th of 18 games in the league last weekend, right until deep injury time in the Sports Park they looked to be on course to make it 13 from 13. But Michael Guilfoyle had other ideas, the Straide and Foxford United striker nodded into the back of the net from close range four minutes into injury time to stop Westport United’s chase for perfection.
In all reality it is probably not going to have a bearing on the outcome of the title race, and Westport will be crowned champions sooner rather than later and still can go through the season unbeaten. Their final league game is scheduled to be against arch rivals Castlebar Celtic and the Hoops would love nothing more than taking Westport’s unbeaten record from them, even if United have the title well wrapped up at that stage.
Ballyheane are a team that do not often score that many goals, but they fairly found their shooting boots in Quigley Park last weekend when they hit Iorras Aontaithe for 10 in the Super League. Arek Tobisaz and Ashley Jensen both bagged hat-tricks, with Ian Naughton grabbing a brace and David Sheridan and Chris Maughan chipping in with a goal each in their 10-2 win over the men from Erris.
The Iorras Aontaithe men will not be getting much rest from the pressure this weekend when Westport United come calling to Carnenash to tomorrow evening. While Ballyheane will be looking to keep up their scoring form when they make the short hop to Moneen to take on Fahy Rovers also on Saturday evening.
Fahey were on the receiving end of the 4-0 beating by a rejuvenated Castlebar Celtic side last weekend with Paul Fitzpatrick grabbing a hat-trick and Daire Duffy chipping in with Celtic’s other goal. Celtic’s slow start to the season has cost them in the title chase, but after last weekend they still had two games in hand over Westport United (they played their first last night against Manulla ), but the 13 point gap to the leaders even if they win both of them, looks like it will be too much to haul in at this late stage.
Ballina Town saw off Manulla 3-1 with Stephen Moyles finding the back of the net twice and Dylan McKee grabbing the third as they got back on winning ways last weekend, while in the battle of the newly promoted sides Charlestown had a 1-0 win over Moy Villa.
The battle to beat the drop sees Fahy Rovers on the bottom of the table with six points and Iorras Aontaithe one point ahead of them. Moy Villa are six points clear of Iorras, but the Erris side do have a game in hand on them and when it comes to the crunch over the final round of games, you cannot discount the experience and fighting spirit of Iorras Aontaithe dragging them out of the relegation places in the home stretch.
The Premier A division has a weekend off with the Westaro Cup final down for decision (more on that inside in our preview ), but things remain squeaky tight at the top in that race with Westport United B leading the table on 29 points, with Ballyglass, Conn Rangers, and Swinford all locked in behind them on 28pts each with five games to go. With Westport United B not being able to gain promotion, it looks like a straight battle by three teams for promotion to the Super League next season.
