Ballina Town are the last Mayo side involved in the FAI Junior Cup and they will fly the flag for the county on Sunday when they host Roscommon outfit Boyle Celtic in the sixth round of the national competition at 2pm in Pete Murray Park in Belleek.
The visitors overcame Mayo opposition in the last round having accounted for Iorras Aontaithe on a score of 3-1 to book their spot in this stage of the competition. Ballina Town will come into the game a bit cold having not had a competitive fixture for well over a month owing to the Mayo League's summer soccer schedule, while Boyle Celtic are in the middle of their league campaign and last weekend the current Sligo-Leitrim District League Champions had a 6-2 win at home to Ballymote Celtic. Shane Battles hit the net twice for Celtic with Aarom Murren, Gerard McDermott, Tom Lavin, and Niall Brennan also finding the net in the win,
Ballina booked their spot in the last 32 in this competition last year with a 6-2 win over Deen Celtic, with Jamie Calwey hitting three for Michael McNichola's side and the other goals coming from a double from Aidan O'Hora and one more from Dylan McKee. Town, who finished as runners up in the Mayo Super League to Westport United, have been one of the best sides in Mayo consistently over the past 12 months but have no trophy to show for it, and while it's a big ask to go all the way in this competition, Westport being the only Mayo side to do it, if they can get over the challenge put up by Boyle Celtic on Sunday, once they get into the last 16 of the competition they will more than fancy their chances of taking on all comers.
Super League Team of the year
The Mayo League Super League team of the year was announced last week and it contains four players from champions Westport United, two from Manulla and runners up Ballina Town, along with one each from Claremorris, Castlebar Celtic, and Ballyglass. Niall Gallagher from Ballyglass was picked in goal, with Manulla duo Sean Morrissey and Cillian McGlade making up half the back four with the Westport pair Martin Geraghty and Joe Lawless completing the defence. In the middle of the park, Westport United's Dave Cameron and Danny Scahill were joined by Castlebar Celtic's Anthony Johnston and Jamie Cawley while the striking berths were filled by Claremorris' Dean Roddy and Ballina Town's Dylan McKee. The nominees for the player of the year in the division were also announced with Ballina Town's Jamie Cawley, Manulla's Cillian McGlade, and Westport United's Martin Geraghty all up for the gong.
Mayo League bow out of Oscar Traynor
The Mayo League's representative side's season came to an end last weekend when they were beaten 5-0 by the Galway League in the third round of the Oscar Traynor Trophy in Eamon Deacy Park. That was Mayo's third loss in this year's competition and an understrength side without any players from Ballina Town or Westport United were put to the sword by a goal happy Tribesmen, who led 2-0 at the break before they added three more goals down the home stretch.
