Kiltimagh v Burrishoole
Saturday October 22 at 4pm
In James Stephens Park, Ballina
East meets west on Saturday when Kiltimagh and Burrishoole battle it out for a place in the Mayo Intermediate Championship final. The men from Gilmartin Park, saw off last year's beaten finalists, The Neale, by five points in Claremorris in their quarter-final win last weekend, thanks to an impressive second half performance. The sides went in level at the turn around, but Kilti' outscored their south Mayo opponents by 1-6 to 0-4 over the closing 30 minutes, with Thomas Keegan finding the back of the net to break the back of The Neale resistance. Ronan Malee hit four points from his corner forward position while seven players in total managed to get on the scoreboard to spread out the responsibility on that front.
In their opponents' win over local rivals Islandeady there was no such spreading of the scores, with Jason Doherty the main man for Burishoole. Doherty hit 1-9 of his sides 1-12 in their win, with all but two of the intercounty man's scores coming from play, some going for any player. But they'll need to spread out that scoring responsibility a bit come Saturday, because if Doherty gets tied up they could be in trouble. The McGovern Park men will be looking for the likes of Liam O'Malley and Padraic McManamon to lead from the back on Saturday and tie up the Kiltimagh attack. When the sides met in the league in August, Kiltimagh came out on top by a couple of points, but this is a very different animal of a contest on Saturday. But the east Mayo men may just have enough again this time around.
Verdict: Kiltimagh
Westport v Shrule-Glencorrib
Saturday October 22 at 4pm
In Flangan Park, Ballinrobe
Both sides met as recently as two weeks ago in the championship when Westport won 1-17 to 0-11 to book top spot in their group, but on Saturday there's much more to play for in Ballinrobe. Many suspected that when they were relegated from the senior last year, that Shrule-Glencorrib might struggle to get back up to the senior grade, but they made a right good fist of doing it at the first attempt this year. They managed to make it out of a tough group with their opponents Westport, last year's Junior champions Ardnaree and Castlebar Mitchels B seeing off the latter two to book their last eight spot. Last weekend Jarlath Jenning's men hit the back of the net three times to see off a good Belmullet side, with Mark Ronaldson and David Geraghty leading the line in attack and Stephen Mullin hitting 1-3 from play. They got a bit of luck in that game and showed the killer instinct to take it.
Westport ground it out last weekend against Moy Davitts in their quarter final meeting in Ballina, with Phil Keegan's goal the deciding score in the game. The Covies, welcomed back Lee Keegan to the fold after he missed their last group game and the return of the multiple All Star along with Kevin Keane in recent weeks is a big boost for them as they look to get back to the senior grade after a few years' absence from the top 16 in the county. There's plenty of quality in their ranks, with Louis Cawley showing his worth with three points last weekend, Shane Scott and Brian McDermott all good operators at this level, and it might be just enough to see them through on Saturday.
Verdict: Westport
