The final pairing of this years Eagan Jewellers Mayo intermediate football championship should be known come sundown on Saturday evening after an exciting double header of action in Elverys MacHale Park. Belmullet were the last team to book their place in the final four last weekend when they finally saw off the challenge of Mayo Gaels following a replay in Ballina last Saturday evening. The north Mayo men had three points to spare over the Gaels in a 0-12 to 0-9 win, with Jonathan O'Donoghue's seven points playing a major role in their gallop towards the last four over the closing stages of the contest.
It will be the third championship game in as many weeks for Belmullet men when they take on Hollymount-Carramore in the day’s opening encounter at 4.30pm in Castlebar. While Noel Connelly's name is being mentioned for a bigger role in Mayo GAA circles at the minute, the former Mayo captain will have his full concentration on what's facing his home club on Saturday and he'll have them well prepared for the north Mayo men. Hollymount-Carramore booked their place in the semi-final with a comprehensive 1-16 to 2-6 win over Swinford a fortnight ago. The impressive nature of their win will have the south Mayo amalgamation going into the game as warm favourites against a Belmullet side who may feel the side effects of their third big game on the trot. In the quarter-final the Hollymount-Carramore full forward line of Darren Coen (0-5 ), Clifford Connolly (0-5 ) and Conor Keane (0-4 ) contributed 14 of their sides 16 points over the hour and the Belmullet rear guard will have to be on their toes, to keep this dangerous trio intact. Belmullet will hope that O'Donoghue can keep hitting the high notes in attack, having kicked 14 points over the two quarter-final games, while the likes of Chris Barrett and Paddy Barrett's experience will be relied upon to drive them on to a place in the final.
The second game of the day is the meeting of Ballyhaunis and The Neale at 6pm, with both sides going into the game fully confident of making the final. Ballyhaunis were very impressive in their 2-13 to 0-10 win over Kiltimagh in the last round, with the late addition of Fergal Kelly to the full forward line adding a big physical presence along with a good slice of experience. Kelly finished up with three points to his name that day. Ballyhaunis were able to spread the scoring threat right across their team against Kiltimagh with six different players getting on the score sheet, with wing forward Morgan Lyons top scoring with 1-2, while Niall Prenty chipped in with four points of his own and full-forward Kevin Byrne scored 1-1.
As for their opponents, the 2012 junior champions have been making very good progress since picking up that title, making the quarter-finals of the intermediate championship last year and now going at least one better this time around. While Ballyhaunis have lots of scoring threats, so do the south Mayo men with Sean Cosgrove, Steven Conroy, and Simon Ryan well able to rattle up the scoreboard. On the sideline the battle between The Neale's Paul Keane and Ballyhaunis' Tomás Morley will be an intriguing one as both men try to outwit each other for a place in the final.
Knockmore show what they are made of
In last weekend’s senior football championship quarter-finals, Knockmore pulled off a bit of a surprise when they saw off the challenge of last year’s finalists Breaffy on Sunday afternoon. While the north Mayo men were not fancied by many before the game, they were well deserving winners over a Breaffy side who failed to get going on the day. They were joined in the final four of the competition, by Castlebar Mitchels, Ballintubber, and Garrymore who emerged victorious in the other three quarter-finals. Last year’s champions Castlebar Mitchels did what they had to do last Saturday night in swatting away the challenge of Aghamore, and will know themselves that they have a few more gears to go through come semi-final time. Ballintubber came out on top of a ding-dong battle with Ballaghderreen to book their place in the final four, Peter Ford's side were led not by one of their superstar players in the scoring charts in their win, but by Alan Plunkett who scored 1-6 in a man-of-the-match showing. Garrymore were the last team to book their semi-final spot, when they ran out two point winners over a battling Charlestown side. The south Mayo men have been building up a head of steam this year and they will be chomping at the bit for the semi-final.
