Who will pick up the coveted Mayo League Player of the Year Award, we will find out tomorrow night when the annual Mayo League Awards take place in the Welcome Inn Hotel in Castlebar. The three players shortlisted for the award are Westport United’s David Cameron, Bangor Hibs’ Brian McHale, and Conn Rangers’ man Owen McNamara.
The Young Footballer of the Year has a six-way shortlist, with Levi Barrett (Glenhest Rovers ), Patrick Moran (Westport United ), Jason Hunt (Castlebar Celtic ), Keelan Horkan (Charlestown Athletic ), Ben Freyne (Manulla ), and Michael Guilfoyle (Straide and Foxford United ) all up for the gong.
There are three nominees for the player of the year in each of the five divisions and in the Masters League also battling it out for awards. Events will get under way at 9pm sharp, with Westport native, Peter Collins from RTÉ, the guest of honour on the night.
Mayo League lose out to Clare
The Mayo League’s hopes of making it out of the group stages of the Oscar Traynor Trophy took a major blow when they were beaten by the Clare League 3-2 at home last Sunday. The Mayo League side, under the guidance of Kieran Mulchrone and James Fahy, had seen their side draw 1-1 with the Roscommon League in the opening round and hoped that a win last Sunday would have set them up to progress after their final group game against the Galway League.
Brendan Lavelle put the Mayo League in front nine minutes in, with Gary Higgins levelling the game five minutes later. Five minutes before the break Stevie Ryan could do nothing to stop a rebound from a shot saved by Gary Cunningham bounce back off him and into the net to send Clare in leading 2-1 at the break.
Unfortunately things did not get better for Ryan as turned the ball into his own net for a second time, two minutes into the second half as he tried to clear a cross. Mayo kept plugging away and two minutes from time a Lavelle effort was put into the net thanks to a deflection from a Clare defender for the third own-goal of the game but that was as close as it got for them.
Next weekend the Galway League and Roscommon League will meet in Eamonn Deacy Park, each side has one point from their opening games. Mayo have one point from their draw with the Roscommon League, while the Clare League are now on top of the group with four points. Mayo will travel to Deacy Park to take on the Galway League over the weekend of December 20/21.
Cup games switched around
The third round of the Connacht Junior Cup which was scheduled to take place over the weekend of December 13/14 will now take place on the weekend of January 17/18. The fixtures have been called off due to games taking place in the Oscar Traynor Trophy between now and Christmas.
On Sunday week, December 7, Iorras Aontaithe will make the journey to Clonmel Town, while Ballyhaunis Town will travel to Pike Rovers in the fifth round of FAI. However Westport United will not be in action until the following Sunday, December 14, when they entertain New Ross Celtic at home.
Westport United get €200,000
Minister of State Michael Ring last week announced that Westport United would receive €200,000 to facilitate it in the development of Phase 2 of its recently purchased grounds in the town. The funding was part of an overall €1.2 million package that Minister Ring announced to fund football projects all over the country.
