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The last Mayo League side standing the Connacht Junior Cup will be looking to take a big scalp when they head to Galway on Sunday afternoon. Iorras Aontaithe will take on Mervue United in the quarter-final stages of the competition and look to do what fellow Super League side Ballyheane were unable to do in the last round, knock out the Galway city outfit. Mervue are currently sitting in second place in the Premier Division in Galway, five points behind leaders Athenry, with one game left to go in the league and are one of five Galway sides to make the last eight of the Connacht Junior Cup.

Last weekend’s round of 32 in the Connacht Junior Cup was hit by a number of postponements due to the weather around the province, but two Mayo sides did manage to book their places in the next round of the competition.

“It’s a long way to Tipperary” the song goes and on Sunday, Iorras Aontaithe will find out just how long that trek is when they make their way to Celtic Park in Clonmel to take on Clonmel Town at 1pm. The Tipperary side booked their place in the fifth round of the competition thanks to a 4-0 win over north Tipperary outfit Borrisokane. Aidan McGrath scored their first and fourth goals that day, with David McGrath and Tony Scully both finding the net also. In the third round they saw off Two Mile Borris 5-0, with Rosgreen Rangers beaten 4-1 in the second round. Clonmel Town are currently seven games into their Tipperary Southern and District League Premier Division campaign and they have picked up four wins, two draws, and one defeat so far, scoring 24 goals in the process. Barry Ryan, Tony Scully, and Dwayne Burns have all been finding the back of the net with regularity for Clonmel Town this season.

While some of their local rivals were bowing out of the FAI Junior Cup at the fourth round stage, Westport United were booking their own spot in that round last weekend with a 4-1 win over Claremorris in Concannon Park. The all conquering treble champions did have their supporters sweating for a while though, after they fell behind early on when Paul Burke finished a rebound to the net from close range. Westport United did manage to pull the game level before the break when Pat Fitzgerald rolled the ball to the back of the net after being set up by the veteran Vinny O’Malley. United took the lead early on in the second half when Martin Geraghty found the back of the net before Vinny O’Malley and Dave Cameron rounded off the win and booked their side’s place in the fourth round and their fourth meeting with Ballinasloe Town in the last three seasons.

The Mayo League and clubs have been in the headlines of late over off the field issues, but on Sunday all eyes will be where they should on the park as the Mayo League kicks off for the 2012 season across five divisions. The Premier A and B along with division one and two will get proceedings underway on Saturday evening at 6pm, with the main attraction the Super League, kicking off on Sunday at noon with the meeting of Castlebar Celtic and Westport United in Celtic Park, with the action in the other games in the division getting underway at 2.30pm.

“It’s a cup competition in reality, you can’t afford to lose a game,” is how Mayo League manager Brendan Kenny sees Sunday’s game against the Roscommon side in the Oscar Traynor Trophy. Weather permitting, Kenny’s Mayo will host neighbours Roscommon on Sunday in Milebush Park at 2pm in their first game in this year’s Oscar Traynor Trophy. It will be the visitors’ second game in the competition this year after going down 3-1 to a Sligo/Leitrim side a few weeks ago, meaning it is do or die on Sunday for them.

The Premiership may be back on Saturday, but for the discerning Mayo soccer supporter there is only one place to be and that is in Belleek at 6.30pm. With three games to go and the title run-in on a knife edge, league leaders Westport United will be making the journey north to face the defending champions Ballina Town, who are breathing down their necks in the title run-in. Westport United stand two points ahead of Ballina after 15 games each; a win for the defending champions would put them back on top of the table ahead of their final two games.

Iorras Aontaithe were able to keep ahead of the back in the Elverys Sports Super League last weekend, but they can’t afford to slip up as the season enters it’s final third. Last time out they came to Celtic Park and went away with the points thanks to a 2-0 win. Brendan Nallen and Garrett O’Malley were the men to hit the back of the net for Iorras. This weekend there on the road again when they head to Swinford to take on a side that are sitting comfortably in mid table at the moment. Last weekend however didn’t go to plan for the east Mayo men with Westport United putting them to the sword in the sports park. The home side knocked four past the Swinford goal keeper Neil McNicholas. Mark McNally opened the scoring in the first half, with second half strikes from David Horkan, Danny Scahill and Vinny O’Malley rapping up the game for Barry Kilgallon’s men. Westport now sit in third place in the table two points behind Iorras but they have a game in hand on the north Mayo men and last year’s champions Ballina Town where are currently in second spot one point ahead of Westport.

Ballina Town safely made it through to the sixth round of the FAI Junior Cup last Sunday with a comprehensive 6-1 win over Cashel Celtic in Belleek. Hoping to join them in the next round is the only other Mayo side left in the competition, Iorras Aontaithe, who entertain Carrick United in Carnenash on Sunday at 12pm. The men from Erris went on an amazing cup run last year making it all the way to the semi-final stage of the competition before they were dumped out by the eventual winners, Ballymun United, in Milebush after a close fought battle. This weekend Carrick United from Waterford will make the long 400 mile plus round trip from their southern base to the Erris peninsula. Iorras made it into the open rounds of the competition thanks to a win away to Manulla in the final closed round of the competition in the middle of January, where they came from one down at the break to grab two goals through Brendan Nallen and Ivan Barrett in the closing 10 minutes to get the win.

Mayo Oscar Traynor team manager, Declan Kilkelly, announced his squad of players for the forthcoming group one games in the National Oscar Traynor Trophy competition. The panel includes four new players (Emmet Peyton, James Jennings, Paul Walsh and David Reilly) receiving their first call up along with another three players who have been added to last year’s squad (Ronan O’Boyle, Andy Neary and Gerry McLoughlin). Mayo will be competing in group one with the Inishowen League (away) and the Galway League (home).