This weekend sees the completion of the group games in the Senior, Intermediate and Junior club Championships with places in the knockout stages to be claimed and relegation spots to be avoided in what promises to be an all-action two days of football.
In this latest episode of the Mayo Football Podcast, specially extended for our club members, host Mike Finnerty is joined by Edwin McGreal of the Mayo News and ex-Mayo star John Casey, who was a two-times Moclair Cup winner with Charlestown. The lads take an in-depth look at the weekend’s games, focusing in particular on the big, make-or-break clashes.
This episode of the Mayo Football Podcast is now online and is available to listen to on iTunes, SoundCloud, Podomatic and Spotify. You can also listen to it directly on the Mayo News website as well as here on the blog using the SoundCloud player below.
The podcast is also available on Patreon, where club members get access to loads of exclusive content and more besides. In the clubhouse section for club members at the end of the pod, the lads discuss the players that Kevin McStay and his colleagues are likely to be watching closely this weekend, as well as Kenny Mortimer’s addition to Maurice Sheridan’s U20 backroom team.
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The Mayo Football Podcast is also on Twitter @MayoPodcast, so if you’re a Twitter user you should follow us there to make sure you get the latest podcast-related updates, including new episodes. podcast-related updates, including new episodes.
So who we thinking as the big casualties this weekend then?
Unless ROD starts against breaffy I think they could be the big name to go out in first round.
Knockmore not setting the world alight yet but when it gets to the knockout stages they are a different animal.
Have seen too many false dawns with westport and ballina after tearing it up in the group stages, both have star studded, deep talented squads but will only judge them on when/if they land the big one
Not even going to attempt to call any intermediate games, it’s an absolute bloodbath down there. No rhyme or reason in the formlines
Was there any formal update regarding Cillian’s knee injury he picked up against westport ? Ballintubber could struggle up front in the later part of championship without him, of course assuming they get through this weekend. They will likely missing 3 inter county players (Plunkett, Walsh and Cillian).
What weekend is the quarter finals on?
Seanie CH – Mike said on the podcast that Cillian’s injury isn’t a serious one. The fear was that it was the dreaded cruciate but happily it wasn’t. He’s still likely to be out for a while, though, so Ballintubber will most likely be planning for making do without him for now.
@Willie Joe – Great News thanks for that.
This is a massive weekend for just about all the teams involved. Mitchells in group 4 are the only guaranteed quarter finalists but they have been less than convincing in the first two rounds and would surely like a commanding performance against Garrymore which would give Charlestown an outside chance to progress if they can get a big win over Davitts. Davits fighting for their lives will try to scupper that one. Group 1 looks straight forward with wins for Westport and Ballintubber over Mayo Gaels and The Neale respectively. In group 3 I’m looking forward to the Breaffy/Belmullet game as I haven’t seen either so far and we may get a few minutes for ROD. Balla/Claremorris could be feisty and both have a chance to progress. In group 2 Knockmore should beat Ballagh to go through and Aghamore could surprise Ballina to join them. Sounds easy enough early on Saturday morning!
What’s the story with ROD? It seems a while since he played any football and little explanation as to the nature of the injury.
dreamy…..On the podcast they were thinking he might get some minutes against Breaffy. If that’s the case he would be a massive boost to Belmullet’s chance of avoiding relegation.
Any team news out yet
All team sheets available here: https://mayogaa.com/news-detail/10082270/
How many will start as listed is another days work ….
https://www.irishexaminer.com/sport/gaa/arid-40968008.html
Fitzgerald stadium to get government funding is this a joke or what? Alan Dillon would want to question this straight away? Why isnt Mayo to get funding the biggest stadium debt in the Country to a stand built 13 years ago.
1969 – I edited out the worst of that rather intemperate comment. Please note also that this isn’t a place to be expressing political views, there are plenty of more appropriate forums online for doing so.
Thanks, Gizmobobs – that was a job I was about to do but you beat me to it.
1969 has a very good point, seems to be a different rule for different Counties, sure why should the Mayo Board be paying any debt plus interest on McHale Park upgrade while Kerry Board will have everything paid courtesy of the Government.
Mayo88, nowhere in that article did it say the government is going to pay for everything, there is very little information other than Leo saying they are in line for funding (no figure mentioned, or confirmation that anything is approved). Are people aware Mayo got a 5 million grant from central council for our stand, mayo did not shoulder the full cost, whether we got value for the money we did spend is another story.
We’re not going to get a government grant to pay off a bank loan! You would hope everything is being done to secure funding when developing the training pitches behind MacHale Park.
Bellmullet out. Liam McHale will rue not starting Ryan, came in after about 11minutes play, and caused havoc straight away.
If fit enough to come in then, surely he would have been able to start.
FT Breaffy 0-13 to Bellmullet 1-8.
Wide ball,does the CB own that land.
I never understand bringing on lads carrying an injury, surely you start them and if they don’t last the distance youve only used one sub not two…
Probably bit of a damned if you do damned if you don’t game for Breaffy.. when you’re already through its hard to be 100% psychologically tuned in, the same goes for Westport – who I still thought would win by much more
C’morris with two wins in a row for the first time in a long time.. nice momentum now coming into quarters but still will have their work cut out to advance much further.. hope they can make at least a semi though, and They’ll be delighted to qualify from a sticky grouh
Balla will be absolutely fine, Neale are so far out of their depth its frightening. Btubber missing 3 county players beat them absolutely out the gate
Breaffy v Belmullet was average quality at best. Both teams lacking quality up front.
The lack of forwards is likely to come against Breaffy when the chips are down later in the championship.
Didn’t see any new player that looks capable of coming into the Mayo panel
Ciaran – The neale are shipping some beatings. I do feel for them. I did some research and I noted 11 players from today did not start in their Intermediate win in 2019. That is a serious turnover for a small club. Even the first year senior they made a senior Q/F. Clearly the lads playing now are not to the standard of player or not putting in the same work that the neale side of the last decade, that were a fine side. Looks like the end is nigh for the south mayo side.
Ryan Fadden, 18 for Balla today and was absolutely outstanding. Standout player along with Conor Diskin, who will surely be a factor this year for Mayo.
Very disappointing championship for Belmullet and their new manager Liam. A proud club no doubt they will be very disappointed not to build on last year. Looks like one step forward 2 back. Very surprised to hear Ryan didn’t start, Belmullet had to win the game today so why not start him instead of bringing him on when your chasing the game? Strange call to say the least. Fair play to Claremorris and their new management team. Looks like it might be coming together slowly but surely for them. No surprise in group 1 though, Westport and Tubber were always going to come through that group. All ahead of us again tomorrow
Green&Red
Eoin o Donahoe was a big loss to Belmullet this year.Ryan injured, it was always going to be an uphill battle to qualify for the QF.
The loss at home to Claremorris was our undoing.
Will be back next year.
Good luck to Breaffy and Claremorris going forward.
A club like neale will always struggle, you need a big squad and conveyor belt to be consistent at senior, they have neither sadly
Even last year and the year before they took hidings by Westport and breaffy
They’d be far better off down in intermediate , its way easier to stay up in senior than to come up from intermediate.. I would love a 2 up 2 down system
Without Shane Nallen, Eoin O’Donoghue and for most of the group stage I think Belmullet achieved as much as could be expected of them. Another couple of RODs would be handy for them. When Ryan came on he was in the half back line, helping around midfield, play making and causing problems in the full forward line. Breaffy deserved the win but continuing problems were exposed here because their 3 best midfielders Aidan and Conor O’Shea along with Matty Ruane are also their 3 best attackers. Although Ruane deservedly got motm at centre forward ROD showed that he is the best kick passer and schemer in the county. If Mayo can get a scoring inside line with good movement and capable of finding space then Ryan must play at 11.
Good to see Hennelly back and kicking 3 brilliant points from placed balls.
I Would love to see Ryan at 11 for Mayo next year.
Would then have Tommy, Cillian and Towey as the finishers on the inside line.
Ryan at 11 immediately injects class to an area of the field we have struggled in for a while. Possibly our most talented player on the ball a lot in a key position of the field and influencing the game more than if he is in the inside forward line. Would just need a couple of good runners that are both defensive and can take a score when the opportunity arises, for either wing forward position, Diarmuid would likely be one and maybe Jack Carney could be the other.
Ciaran, The Neale have a bigger squad this year than tbey had in 2019 when they won intermediate. Their problem this year has been injuries, with a spate of key players gone for the crucial games. Paraic walsh and darragh moran were the midfield engine, neither played this weekend. Steven conroy and david morrin, their two best defenders, did not play. Up front seanie cosgrove, tommy conroy dylan keane, o sullivan all missing. Any team with this quality missing would struggle at intermediate level.
Re conveyor belt, anyone who is in cong any weekend will see the huge input into the under age . Numbers are good. The neale school alone has gone from a 4 teacher school a few years ago to a 6 teacher. Its been a bad year so far but they will be back.
Joe. G if ROD started yesterday they very likely could be in the QFs next weekend.
If he could play full challenge game last week and over 50minutes yesterday he should have started.
Just seen the format for the All Ireland series for the next 3 years
Good lord
So only 4 teams are eliminated from the “super 16s”
Then another round before quarter finals for 8 teams
And then the quarter finals
Mother of god
They should have just kept the super 8s at this rate
Two season tickets just got very expensive with all those extra championship games
All ireland final now bank holiday in august most years (not next year )
That won’t help the accommodation search ?
42.ie reporting Boyler has signed up as coach and selector for the Minors. Delighted to hear this.
KM79 it’s mad. On positive, we as good as start in quarter finals.
I usually zone out when championship format talk is going on but next year is going to be bizarre. So many games that are meaningless in the grand scheme of things.
Good to see ROD returning after long layoff and did enough to impress new mayo management team. A rest now will not do him any harm at all.
Agree with km, next years championship with league style qualifiers is a crazy amount of fixtures.
Colm Boyle a great addition to any coaching set up. All ready very good man magement skills, colm will fit perfectly into underage. Good to see the right people getting involved.
Conor Diskin very impressive yesterday evening for Claremorris against Balla kicking 4 points from play, deserves to be looked at in the FBD league , looks ready for Inter County football now in comparison to his first year with Horan back in 2019.Think he offers more than the likes Carr, Loftus and Darren Coen.could be a target man option in a full forward line with ROD, Conroy or Towey.
Gizmobobs…O’Donoghue certainly got through enough work yesterday to make you wonder why he didn’t start. McHale and co must have had their reasons but you’re right, it looks like they probably missed a trick.
Just over 20 gone in the Burrish/PKC game and Ronan Carolan for PKC and Jason Doc for Burrish look too good for this level. Very entertaining so far.
Charlestown with a red, a black, and an off the ball stamp missed by the linesman. They usually play right on the edge but it was disgraceful today. Towey with a stamp and threw his marker down off the ball for his “goal”.
Same story with them, were awful bad for off the ball stuff against Mitchel’s and Garrymore, worse than any ulster team.
Karma got them in the end with Garrymore and Mitchels going through.
Anyone having problems with the streaming?
Working ok for me @Oilean acla
Where can you see the quarter final draw online
Hi all. As uncle buck says. Anyone have any info on the q final draw? Thanks!
The story of the various GAA Cups now on TG4..I always wondered why the Ulster Cup was called the unusual name of the “Anglo Celt” Cup or why the Munster Cup wasn’t named after anyone, maybe I will find out right now on TG4
Draw should be up on Facebook live in next while I think
Just done there. Some tasty draws
What’s the draw like
Claremorris Ballina
Westport Garrymore
Mitchel’s Knockmore
Breaffy Ballintubber
Spicy
Ballina Claremorris
Breaffy Ballintubber
Castlebar knockmore
Westport Garrymore
Quarter finals are the best weekend of the year.
Any word on intermediate draw?
Midwest reporting U17 semi final abandoned this evening for an altercation between a played and an adult non player. Horrible to see this happen. Hope everyone is ok
Doesn’t sound good at all looking forward. Castlebar were 6 points up at the time.
Inter Q/F –
Ballinrobe V Kilmeena
Louisburgh V Moy Davitts
Holly/Carra V Crossmolina
Ballyhaunis V Parke KC
INTER Relegation SF:
Kiltane V Lahardane McHales
Ardnaree Sarsfields V Kilmaine
SENIOR Q/F:
Ballina V Claremorris
Breaffy V Ballintubber
Westport V Garrymore
Castlebar V Knockmore
SENIOR Relegation SF:
The Neale V Balla
Davitts V Ballaghaderreen
Bloody good quarter final draws. Can’t wait for the preview podcast trying to sort that lot out. I think the intermediate ties are tasty but the senior ties are terrific. Should be a good weekend of football. Hope the weather is favourable.
So this weekend I was in South Mayo for all games I watched. Was in the Saucer on Saturday evening. Claremorris made it to the quarter finals. Hadnt it all there own way. Good performance by Conor Diskin. The quarter final will probably be the end of the road for them. Niall Heffernan, there former manager and resident, will probably end their championship involvement with his home town club
Headed to Cong for first game today. Really enjoyable game,. The Garrymore goalie pulled of two super saves in the first 10 mins – Garrymore then got into the game and were the better team for long periods. Castlebar came back into it and a draw was a fair result. Garrymore did have the last chance of the game but missed the chance. Both teams took some super scores and it was a great exhibition of point taking Paddy Heneghan had some super scores for Mitchells. Darren Quinn took some great scores for Garrymore. Aaron Hughes was stand out player for me
Into Claremorris for the second game. Big traffic jam – both sets supporters coming from the same side as were anyone heading from Cong. Game didnt live up to expectations. Easy win in the end for Holly Carra. There were two Morris players playing for HC. One was very good.
Just seen the fistures for next weekend. Fair play to Mayo Gaa spreading them out – I can make the four senior QF’s plus an early game on Saturday. Really looking forward to next weekend already and hope to make 5 games
How did Dylan Prendergast get on for Louisburgh does anyone know?
Well done Looking forward. Another busy weekend coming up. You’re probably right for Claremorris against Ballina who are hitting form and getting players bavk. Mikey Murray finally got a run today after an awful run of injuries. I do think that this could be the most entertaining gameof the 4.