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After the second round of action in the Connacht Junior Cup last weekend there are four Mayo teams left standing as it reached the quarter-final stage. With one all Mayo tie coming up on Sunday, there is a very realistic chance that three Mayo teams will make the semi-final stage of Connacht’s premier junior rugby cup.

The first round proper of the Connacht Junior Cup kicks off this weekend and five Mayo junior rugby teams are in action. Ballinrobe were the first Mayo team into the competition last weekend when they travelled to Tuam in the preliminary round, and the south Mayo team came home with a hard fought four point win over the north Galway outfit. Seamus O’Toole’s team were trailing 11-0 early on but they managed to keep their opponents scoreless for the entire second half, and when Anthony Coleman crashed over the line just before the break the game turned in their favour. Oisín Gill cut the gap to just three points from a penalty early in the second half and when Peter Cosgrove touched down for Ballinrobe’s second try and Gill converted Ballinrobe had that winning taste in their mouths, and they held on to book their place in the first round proper this weekend.

Last weekend saw Castlebar secure one of their key objectives for the season when they booked their place in the promotion/relegation play-off for a place in the top tier of junior rugby for next season. While Castlebar would like to have gained automatic promotion and clinched the title, second place and chance over 80 minutes later in the spring to seal the deal will still do nicely.

A confident Connacht have high hopes in this year’s Junior Interprovincial Rugby Championship which opens on Saturday when they host Ulster in Tuam RFC (2.30pm).

Portumna Golf Club has won the All-Ireland Junior Cup for the first time in the club’s history. Having They won Connacht in August at Castlebar GC, they returned to the same venue for the All-Ireland finals where they overcame Ulster champions Banbridge to advance to the final against Naas. Father and son John and Sean Cleary were the heroes on the first day, both coming from a deficit position to win their respective matches. And Pat Quinlan was the toast of the club the following day after the Clearys won their respective matches. Quinlan made sure of the trophy when he hit a tremendous four iron to 10ft at the difficult par three 16th to see off David Prendergast of Naas in the fifth and final match. The team was captained by Matt Donoghue.

It’s must win time for all three of the Mayo clubs in the Connacht Junior League this weekend. After the last few rounds have seen them all stumble out of contention for the title and left them scrapping around to stay in the race for All Ireland Junior Cup place for next season. And unless there is a draw one of the three Mayo sides’ losing run will continue into the next round of fixtures. This weekends round of games features a crunch all Mayo derby in north Mayo where Ballina will host Westport.

After last weekend’s adventures on the national stage it’s back to the basics of the Connacht Junior League for the Mayo sides in division 1A and 1B. Both Castlebar and Ballina bowed out of the All Ireland Junior Cup last weekend at the first round stage, with Westport the only Mayo side to progress to the next round of the competition. With four games to go for two of the Mayo sides in the league it’s do or die time as they try to finish in the top four of the exclusively junior sides to book their place in the All Ireland cup for next year.

Ballina Golf Club