Those nice people at TG4 are bringing their cameras to McHale Park this coming Sunday for the senior county final between Ballintubber and Castlebar Mitchels (throw-in 3.30 pm).  From a personal perspective that’s grand and handy as I can’t make the trip west for the occasion but hopefully the presence of the TV cameras won’t have too much of a negative impact on the attendance at McHale Park on Sunday.

It’s a good showcase for the county final, what with both teams having high profile managers prowling the line, so you can see why TG4 decided to give the final live billing.  It also means, of course, that James Horan’s first appearance as a manager live on nationwide TV will come in his role as Ballintubber bainisteoir but soon enough he’ll be doing the same in his new role as manager of the senior county team.

The Mayo News has obviously plenty of stuff about Sunday’s decider.  Here’s Mike Finnerty’s preview, where he fittingly opens his piece by talking about the tragic backdrop to the game arising from the recent deaths of Ger Feeney and Donal McEllin. Sean Rice writes in the same vein in his preview and he reckons – as I think most of the rest of us would to – that it’s a very evenly matched contest.  (Just to confirm that hunch, I’ve checked the poll on the Mayo News site and the voting currently stands at 20 apiece).

The same paper also carries pre-match interviews by Mike Finnerty with both managers.  Here’s his one with Peter Forde and here’s the one with James Horan.

Finally, I’ve also been asked to tell you that the County Board will be raffling four O’Neill’s footballs and four €50 Elverys shopping vouchers at half-time on Sunday. The draw is open to all kids who are under 14 and who are at the game and to enter they need to fill out the invitation on the left (for a full size copy, just double-click the image and print it as normal).  Invitations are also being circulated to schools within the county so your progeny may come across it via that route as well.