Ballina will make the trip to Monivea on Sunday looking to pick up their seventh win on the bounce in the Connacht Junior League as they look to reel in current leaders Connemara. The north Mayo men have two games in hand on the south Galway All Blacks, with the first of those this weekend and they sit just six points off the top of the table outfit.
Last weekend, Ballina made it six from six with a impressive 38-10 win over Sligo in Heffernan Park, running in six tries in that game with Alex Corduff, Kieran Lindsay, Daniel Molloy, and Fergal Tully all touching down once, and Conor Mason crossing the white-line twice. Their opponents on Sunday went down to their seventh loss of the season losing out 31-7 on the road to league leaders Connemara. When Ballina and Monivea met in round six of the league back in November, the north Mayo men ran out convincing 42-7 winners.
Westport will be hoping to jump into fourth place in the table when they host midlands outfit Buccaneers in Carrowholly on Sunday afternoon. The Bulls currently sit two points behind their visitors with eight games each played to date in the league. In the reverse fixture back in November it was the Athlone side who ran out 17-12 winners and Westport will be looking to reverse that on Sunday.
In division 1B, Castlebar will be in action at home under lights on Saturday evening at 7.30pm, when they look to take another step towards possible promotion back to the top division when they host Corrib. The visitors from the Mayo/Galway border currently sit in second last position in the table with two wins, one draw, and six losses to their name to date. But one of those wins was a surprise 9-8 victory against Castlebar back in November, a result that the Cloondeash based side will be looking to make amends for tomorrow night. They warmed up for this one with a hard fought 21-17 win over the students from NUIG last weekend. David Staunton, Jack Rowland, and Nigel Byrne were the men to get the tries for the county town men and Paul Coady chipped in with two penalties to see them over the line.
In the same division on Sunday, sixth placed Ballinrobe will be looking to pick up their fourth league win of the season when they travel to Galway to take on fifth placed Corinthians on Sunday afternoon. The south Mayo side were 23-7 winners at home in the reverse fixture late last year and a win on Sunday would see them close the seven point gap between the sides in the standings at present.
In the third tier of provincial junior rugby last weekend, Ballyhaunis had a big 41-17 win over Westport's second string at home. That was the east Mayo outfit's third league win this season and they go looking for win number four when they travel to Corinthians on Sunday afternoon. Also in action will be the seconds from Ballina and Westport who are hosting Carrick and Loughrea respectively. In the J2 League the Claremorris Colts went down 25-5 against Tuam on the road last weekend and the seventh placed Colts will entertain fourth placed Creggs this Sunday as they look to pick up their third league win of the season.
