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Newly-crowned Galway junior champions Valeo are just 60 minutes from Connacht glory after an emphatic 1-15 to 0-1 victory over Erricson in the Connacht semi-final.

It was a mixed day yesterday for Mayo sides in the AIB Connacht Club Football Championship, with Parke claiming the junior title and Ballintubber losing out to Galway champions Killererin in the senior semi final.

It is a busy weekend of action for both the Mayo senior and junior champions, with Ballintubber fresh from winning their first senior county title looking to book their place in the Connacht final on Sunday against Galway champions Killererin in Tuam Stadium at 2.30pm. When James Horan’s men are getting ready for throw in on Sunday, Frank McHale’s Parke side will be just coming up to half time in their Connacht Junior Final against Leitrim side Eslin in McHale Park, hoping that they are on their way to booking a spot in the All Ireland series.

Anybody who has heard of last year’s quarter final clash between Parke and Islandeady or was unlucky enough to have been at it, may well think of staying clear of this Sunday’s county junior final between the same sides. That clash in Breaffy was as far from a classic as you could find, in fact the game looked to be heading towards a very unusual stalemate at half time with neither side looking like it was going to score until Peter Collins managed to put the ball over the bar two minutes into injury time to give Islandeady a 0-1 to 0-0 lead at the break. The second half of that clash was a little bit better, but once again one side failed to score in 30 minutes of football, this time it was Islandeady who could not hit the target, and Parke ran out 1-5 to 0-1 winners in the end. But that game, while an interesting footnote ahead of Sunday’s clash, should be put well to the back of the mind, as the game coming up between both sides has the potential to be a real top drawer clash. When the junior championship draw was made at the start of the year both clubs were identified as potential title and winners, and while they have been made work to get this far they are thoroughly deserving of their status as finalists.

John O'Mahony named his squad for the championship on Monday, there were no major surprises in the 30 men named, with Belmullet's Billy Joe Padden the only man who wasn't involved in action so far this year coming back into contention. O'Mahony now has 33 days to get his team ready for Sligo in the Connacht championship opener.

Thirteen years after St Gerald’s College, Castlebar, made their only appearance in a Hogan Cup final, this weekend the Castlebar school go in search their second appearance in the showpiece occasion of colleges’ football. Joe McCabe’s side easily saw off the challenge of Sligo’s Summerhill in the Connacht final where they had the game wrapped up by half time and survived the mistake of entering a sixth sub into the fray with time almost up to book this weekend’s clash. Standing in their way is the formidable challenge of St Colman’s, Newry, who beat Omagh CBS in the MacRory Cup final this year by 1-14 to 1-8 bridging a 12 year gap between their last Ulster titles.