Search Results for 'Nigel Byrne'

The two Mayo sides in the top tier of the Connacht Junior League came face to face last Sunday in Heffernan Park, and it was the visiting side that went away with the spoils. Westport went home 10 point winners over their hosts Ballina and in the process leapfrogged them in the table moving up to fourth place. Having lost their two opening games to Connemara and Ballinasloe, Westport have now won two on the bounce with a nine point win over Monivea a fortnight earlier. This weekend Westport will be on the road again, this time on Saturday night when they are down to play Corinthians in Galway in what should be a tough encounter. The Galway side had won their first three games this season, before they went down by 10 points to Ballinasloe last Sunday. Westport will be hoping that Kevin Corcoran can keep up his scoring form from last week when he ran in two tries against Ballina, and Matt Dempsey has his shooting boots with him.

In round one of the Connacht Junior League 1A, Ballina got off to a winning start with a 22-21 win at home to Ballinasloe last Sunday. Ballina picked up the win thanks to a last minute converted try from Aidan McNulty with James Coppen kicking the extra points. This weekend Ballina will be on the road against Monivea who had an impressive 36-11 win over OLBC on the road last Sunday. The other Mayo side in the top division, Westport, went down to the Connemara All Blacks in Carrowholly on a score of 14-3, this weekend Westport will look to get things back up and running when they travel to face a Ballinasloe team who picked up a losing bonus point from their tight defeat to Ballina.

What a difference a few days make. In these pages last week this writer said that Castlebar needed to see some improvement against Monivea last weekend or it could be a long hard winter in Cloondeash. And that’s exactly what happened as Rory Casey’s side saw off Monivea by four points to hopefully give them a springboard for the winter.

With the Connacht Junior League taking a break this weekend after the first couple of rounds of games got the paddocks across the province muddied up for the rest of the season, it will give the Mayo sides involved a chance to regroup and get their game plans down for the remainder of the year. With five rounds of the league gone so far Westport are the best placed Mayo side and sit in sixth position in the league tables on 12 points with two wins from five. They sit a point ahead of Castlebar thanks to the four bonus points they have picked up. Castlebar, despite having won the same number of games and picking up a draw, trail their near neighbours because they have only managed to pick up a solitary bonus point in their five outings.

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.