Another cracking weekend of club football Championship action lies ahead over the Bank Holiday weekend. There are knockout quarter-final ties in the Senior, Intermediate and Junior Championships and there are important relegation play-off ties down for decision as well.
Details of the full list of matches on this weekend are here.
If you’re planning on going to a game – and, sure, why wouldn’t you? – they’re all ticket-only fixtures. Details on purchasing tickets online are here.
Although I’m in Mayo at the minute myself, I’ll be back in the capital by the time the action starts at the weekend so, like many of you, I’ll be taking in the matches from afar. We’re all spoiled for choice in that regard.
RTÉ are broadcasting the two matches from the Connacht GAA Centre of Excellence on Saturday, with the Westport v Ballina Stephenites game throwing in at 3pm and the Knockmore/Ballintubber match getting underway at 5pm. Coverage from Bekan starts on RTÉ 2 at 2.45pm.
I’ll have to record the first game as I’m umpiring at a Dublin SFC match that afternoon. It’s on the right side of town, though, so I should make it home in time for throw-in in the Knockmore/Ballintubber game. I’m licking my chomps at the prospect of that one.
On Sunday, Mayo GAA TV are streaming two matches. The Belmullet/Breaffy game at Ballina throws in at 1pm and the Garrymore/Castlebar Mitchels match at Claremorris gets going at 4pm. Details on subscribing to the Mayo GAA TV service are here.
The latest episode of the Mayo News football podcast is the ideal way to get you into the mood for the feast of football action this weekend. Former Ballaghaderreen captain Stephen Drake is our special guest on this week’s episode and, having listened to it, I’d have to say I’m in agreement with the lads who have proclaimed that a new podcast star has been born. The episode is available to listen to on your platform of choice – here.
Impressive Willie Joe, umpiring a Dublin SFC match!
Thanks again for providing those links WJ. and be alert at the weekend, there’ll be no Hawkeye.
Some tasty games lined up, the top 4 teams in the county in my opinion all coming up against each other in knockmore/tubber and westport/ballina. Should be absolute crackers and too close to call. I tipped westport before the sfc so going to stick with them for now though they need a ‘coming of age’ performance soon
Unfortunately wont make any of the sunday games as i too have club commitments in Dublin
We have 3 podcasts this week
Everything covered.
Listened to the review one last night ah ref , brilliant stuff . Ye cover some amount of ground in fairness. Any outside bet for the weekend , Ballina to pull off the shock ?
Review*
Good man WJ. Get behind enemy lines and operate on the basis that a good umpire is always better than a poor corner forward! Is there any word on other streaming that might be available (Facebook, etc)? There are a few tasty encounters there that are not covered by RTE or MayoGAA TV
Louis – I think Mayo Gaels are streaming their game with Moy Davitts on Facebook. Ardnaree have streamed all their games so far on YouTube so I presume this weekend will be no different against Lahardane.
Thanks Wide Ball. Both of those would be worth a look. I hope a few more do that as well. I’d say Parke Keelogues/Ballyhaunis and Louisburgh/Hollymount Carramore could also be good ones but as I’m on the other side of the country, I can’t be at any of them. In fairness to MayoGAA TV and RTE we are well catered for as a county this weekend.
We’re voting against new championship proposal, odds against it now me thinks – https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/gaelic-games/gaelic-football/mayo-will-vote-against-proposal-b-at-special-congress-1.4707818
Yeah it looks like proposal B will just about get defeated, thats galway and mayo and all of of ulster coming out against it so it might not have enough.
I must say i am in favour of it passing myself, it isnt perfect but it will lead to more games of interest, more bang for your buck with your season ticket and freshen things up again
County: Delegate number
Carlow 2
Dublin 5
Kildare 3
Kilkenny 2
Laois 3
Longford 2
Louth 2
Meath 3
Offaly 2
Westmeath 3
Wexford 3
Wicklow 2
Galway 4
Leitrim 2
Mayo 3
Roscommon 2
Sligo 2
Clare 3
Cork 5
Kerry 4
Limerick 4
Tipperary 4
Waterford 3
Antrim 3
Armagh 3
Cavan 2
Derry 2
Donegal 2
Down 3
Fermanagh 2
Monaghan 2
Tyrone 3
London 2
Hertfordshire 2
Warwickshire 2
Gloucestershire 2
Lancashire 2
Yorkshire 2
Scotland 2
Europe 4
New York 2
USGAA 5
Canada 2
Australasia 3
Asia 2
Middle East 2
Total County vote 124
Central Council 52
Iar Uachtarán 7
Total Vote 183
County delegates in Ireland have a big say alright but between overseas and central council they also have a massive contribution , its 93 votes combined i make it including past presidents .makes it harder to gauge
Under the current championship system Mayo have to win 2 or a maximum of 3 games to get to the quarter finals and only one of these games tend to be against division 1 teams (Galway or Ros). And if we lose one of these games we have a second chance in the back door where we end up playing mainly lower division teams to reach quarter final.
Under proposal B to get to the same quarter final we would be playing 7 championship games in probably 10 weeks against all division 1 teams and would need to win 5 out of the 7 to get to the quarter final. Why would Mayo vote for proposal B. Our job is to look after what’s best for ourselves – not what’s best for other counties.
@Sean Burke, thanks for that information,it’s always been a bit of the mystery to me, the democracy of the GAA.
Southwest exile. Much good it has done us in terms of winning the All Ireland, did we think that we were better than we actually were? Maybe we would be better prepared mentally coming through to a final via proposal B in future?
@southmayoexile thats true but its a bit of a copout no? Ending up in all ireland finals having only played 1 tough game is a double edged sword, the tough run to the final for tyrone last year done them no harm, in fact it battle hardened them and they got to learn what their best team was before the final
Southwest exile that is one narrow view point. Once my patch is ok to hell with the rest. Football is dying in the vast majority of counties, wake up, Mayo decision against proposal B is embarrassing.
Southmayo Exile – 5th place in the league will qualify for the quarter finals so we definitely wouldn’t need to win 5/7. 4 wins would guarantee a top 5 finish, even 3 wins and a strong score difference might be enough.
I don’t think we’ve anything to fear being honest. It won’t be like some of the recent league campaigns where we are handing out 10 debuts. All of that will be done during the provincial championships.
If we’re capable of reaching umpteen all Ireland finals, we’re capable of beating Kildare, Armagh, Monaghan and one other team.
@Southmayo Exile, I think you have your sums wrong there as there’s not a hope in hell a team will need to win 5 out of it’s 7 games in order come in the top 5 of an 8 team league.
Everyone will fancy their chances of beating Kildare so then you are looking to come in the top 5 of a (7) team league and if Mayo cannot manage that then we have no business thinking about winning any All-Ireland.
This will sort the men from the boys, no place for hiding.
Its a big mistake by Mayo voting against the proposal. I dont agree with the idea that the existing structure suits Mayo better. The connacht championship does not prepare Mayo for the All Ireland series, its a soft path to a quarter final that does us no favours. I think everyone agrees that Mayos best AI final performances came in 2016 and 2017 when we had long qualifying campaigns playing week in week out. Proposal B would actually suit Mayo, playing games regularly, getting battle hardened for the knockout phase. As for the amount of games we would need to win in div 1 to reach a quarter final, If we cant finish in the top 5 of any group then we have no business thinking about winning All Irelands.
All of the above logic needs to be couched with the fact we are so deep in debt. Mayo can’t miss two semi finals in a row financially. That’s the logic at play I’d imagine.
JP, dont think Mayo earns much if anything from AI semi finals, think revenue from Championship games goes straight to Croke Park. Counties make more from League games than championship as revenue from league games is shared between participating counties. If counties get to keep revenue from the league part of Proposal B (which they should considering its basically the national league) then there is more earning potential from this structure, this would be revenue from a guaranteed 7 games.
Jp ,mayo are hard team to beat in championship football pre final . More i think about it the more I think it will suit us .
Part of the problem is that Dublin or Kerry are usually not tested within their provinces are effectively have a straight run to the Quarters under the current arrangement. In Connaght, there are 3 teams that could win potentially win out. Proposal B forces all teams in Div 1 with All Ireland aspirations to front up right from the start of the league. I would favour trying it for a 2 year period and seeing how it goes
Could there be a rule brought in at the Mayo Gaa Covention in December that any player involved with the Mayo Senior panel that doesn’t make the 26 the weekend of a County Game is released and let play with his Club in a Senior League or Divisional Cup game on the same weekend.Too many players training with Mayo getting very little game time, players who arent making the subs should be playing every game with there club.Some players looked way of there usual form when they got back with there clubs, While former players training with full time with there clubs now seem to be the best performers in championship Kevin Keane, Jason Gibbons and Caolan Crowe, Ciaran Treacy to name a few.
@TH away with your good ideas. In an ideal world your club would put forward a motion to the county convention where such a motion would be debated among the delegates and would in all likelihood pass as it makes perfect sense. In the real world the club would propose the motion, the senior team manager would tell the chairman he needs control over his players and the executive would then rule the motion out of order and prevent it from passing. I agree completely with you by the way, the worst place for any player is on the panel but outside the 26, your effectively cannon fodder for A vs B games.
Its embarrassing that Mayo are voting against Proposal B . Mayo would play more games under Proposal B AND IT WOULD BE BENEFICIAL TO ALL THE OTHER COUNTY TEAMS TO PLAY AGAINST THE DUBLIN MAYO KERRY TYRONE TEAMS.
ITS TIME FOR A CHANGE
It may be time for a change, James Fleming, but surely not this change. What in heaven’s name is the sense in excluding any teams in Div 1 from the championship? And including teams, even if they are winners, from Div 3 and 4. Teams who will be cannon fodder against the Div 1 winners/runners up? Why not play Div 4 v Div 3, winners v Div 2 getting down to 16 teams. Top 16 in race for Sam, bottom 16 in race for Taillteann Cup?
Over the years this has been a great site for Mayo people everywhere. There was optimism, pessimism, hope, dejection. But I don’t recall bitterness, much less criticism of individual contributors.
Somehow, this year the disappointment of losing seems to have unleashed bitterness that has led to direct criticism and sometimes ridiculing of contributors. It’s even led to a debate on who really is a genuine Mayo supporter.
Much of the debate is, disappointingly beginning to feel like the bilge on twitter. That’s a shame as it takes away from the fabulous work WJ does.
I hope we return to more normal arrangements
@AndyD, there are no teams excluded from the Championship. I think many people including the County Board seem to have a huge issue in actually grasping how this works at all.
Every team at the start of the league can win Sam Maguire, so therefore no team is excluded from the Championship.
It’s simple stuff to understand but too many people are just too lazy to actually read into how it works and they just can’t process the fact that day 1 of the league is also actually day 1 of the championship because every team is chasing for a place in the QF.
You mention cannon fodder which is a good point but then to suggest that the top 16 play for Sam as if there is no cannon fodder in Div 2, look at some of the beatings dished out to the likes of Cork and Down last year by Div 1 opposition.
Even within Div 1 I could see the likes of Kildare taking a few bad beatings.
@TH,
Westport brought that motion to the County Convention 2 years ago in Belmullett, and was passed unanimously.
Proposal B is deeply flawed and shouldn’t be passed just for the sake of change. Get it right and come back with a better proposal.
Not sure why such a big deal was made of Mayo voting no in the. Auto am media today. We only have 3 delegate votes. Galway and Donegal voting no too. Seems everything Mayo do is magnified and criticised
@Viper all bar 10 teams and not the best 10 teams I might add are excluded from the All Ireland series. While lots of group games to test yourself is great (we already have that with the NFL anyway) the true value of any team is seen in a knock out championship tie and 3 teams in Div 1, 5 in Div 2 will end their season without that knock out tie.
@yew tree yes the criticism is a bit ridiculous, Mayo Gaa have a strong reason for voting neither proposal. Sure even some of the lads that was involved in the fixture task force has talked about the flaws and how it’s probably better to come back with a new and improved proposal for the February Congress.
Mayomagic – in the normal format it’s never the best 8 teams that make the quarter finals. We were knocked out during the qualifiers in 2018 even though we were a mainstay of division 1. Of course some teams won’t get a genuine knockout game, but there will be winner take all games during the league format. Very like our game with Donegal in the 2019 super 8s.
So our county people have spoken and tomorrow it remains to be seen what will the collective decide. It would be useful to know what exactly are the deciding factors for any county to instruct its delegates to vote in a specific way. If change and evolution is the path to future survival (and perhaps all is fine as is??) then we need to know what are the rights and wrongs of these motions because by the sounds of it, motions 18 and 19 were given very careful consideration by a committee of people with the very best football interests at heart.
Assuming that motion 18 is defeated lets say on the basis that it sounds like something that should have been trialed 10 years ago and we move to motion 19 (proposal B), it appears that it might fall slightly short for two reasons: 1) For the love of maintaining the status quo of the provincial championships and 2) a certain unworthiness towards the 2 teams that will make up the last two places in the all-ireland quarter finals being two teams from either the division 2 2nd and 3rd place finishers or the division 3 and division 4 winners.
To me the the structure of the all-ireland league based championship needs no adjustment and is fine to go, we should have the bottle to face a competition head on and meet the challenges of that competition and treat it as every other sporting minded competitor would do.
However on the provincial championships conundrum, I wonder could and should an alternative be placed which would both bring about the change that is needed and yet preserve the provincial championship in a manner very similar to the old provincials.
We are all experts after the event I know, but my suggestion would be to run the provincial alongside the league based championship. First and foremost change the provincials back to their straight knock-out arrangement. Secondly commence the all-ireland league with the first round fixed for the first weekend in April, the second round fixed for the second weekend in April, third weekend is a rest weekend for all and on the fourth weekend in April we play the first round of the provincial championship. Then move to May and follow the very same structure and pretty similar in June also. This would deliver the provincial finals somewhere mid-June with the 7th game of the all-ireland leagues played by the first weekend in July. Yes it will shift the inter-county calendar a bit with the all-ireland final moving to the middle of August but so what, we have have uncovered a lot more solutions to a troublesome calender over the last 18 months so I don’t see that as a ball buster. If we could help the cohort unhappy with preserving the tradition of the provincial championships, then we could bring about change and at the same time perhaps maintain that extra piece of provincial inter-county tradition.
@Wide Ball, in fairness Kildare earned their spot in the last 8 in 2018 because they beat one of the best at the time. I can’t say a Div 3 or Div 4 have earned it in a similar way under proposal B.
Yes you’ll get the odd knock out game at the end of group but we’ll have the one thing we don’t want and that’s dead rubbers. Imagine missing out on 5th spot on scoring difference and the team ahead of you increased their scoring by hammering a team already relegated.
Surely the delegates that actually vote on the proposals should have been involved before now in sussing out the best structure to put in place.
The delegates could have been canvassing input and opinions from each of their counties, and all opinions and preferences could then have been examined and constructed so that a structure that might appeal to all, or a happy medium could have been put in place.
It’s asking to be defeated by pulling a rabbit out of the hat and expecting everyone to vote in favour of it.
You wouldn’t tell a builder to build a house, and tell him, no bother, we’ll knock a few walls and change a few doors after we move in, if it isn’t the style of house you wanted. You would make sure before a block is laid, what the finished article is going to look like.
It’s unbelievable that a package is put together, gift wrapped, and fired up on the table to be voted on, and people are wondering why doesn’t everybody accept it.
If the process was carried out, using an ounce of intelligence, there would be a sound and agreeable proposal up for vote. The architects of the proposal would know within an inch, of what was the best proposal to bring forward.
Shoddy workmanship Ted. Shoddy workmanship.
Anybody bitching about counties voting “no” to proposals might be better off asking, ” why was the pig kept in the bag “.
Why were counties not asked to participate in coming up with the optimum solution.
If counties were not asked to participate in coming up with the best proposal available it’s a bit rich to turn around now and lambast them for not accepting the pig in the bag.
@Mayomagic, sure what do you mean excluded from the All-Ireland series, that’s just a different name for the knock out stages.
No team has a right to be in the knock out stages of any cup competition and lets face it the Sam Maguire is essentially a cup competition, that’s all it is.
There is absolutely no bar on any county in Ireland from reaching the knock out stages of the All-Ireland, the problem is we have too many people who don’t have the ability to get their heads around how it works.
Name me one county who are not given the opportunity to qualify for the quarter finals, you can’t because they don’t exist.
@viper
Excluded because a group of people has decided that only 10 out of 32 teams taking part in the uneven league groups can play in the All Ireland series.
I have studied the pro and cons of what Proposal B would bring in great detail. Out of interest do you include those involved in the fixture task force that put these proposals together as ones that don’t have the ability to get head around it either?
Its built on a long history and tradition and our original All-Ireland championship gave every team that knock out summer match then 2001 gave the majority of teams at least two knock out championship games. Under proposal B as I stated already 8 of the probably the best 16 teams will not get that knock out championship game under that format.
The common sense thing to do is to iron out such flaws before any new format is up and running but I will not be surprised if Proposal B with flaws and all voted in without any adjustments.
Back on on-field matters – but away from Mayo – there was a significant result in the Dublin SFC last night. My local club up here, St Vincents, lost by two points to Whitehall Colmcille in the SFC1 relegation play-off, which means they drop to SFC2 next year (there are two Senior tiers in Dublin). All-Ireland champions as recently as 2014 and back-to-back Leinster winners in that period – it was the great Corofin team that put a halt to their gallop in the All-Ireland semi-final early in 2015 – it’s been quite the fall since then.
I can’t understand why Mayo GAA objecting to the Proposal B. We need a change in the Championship .It’s time for a change too in Mayo
The advantage if option B is that teams will get 7 games to prove their worth rather than 2 knock out games. The reality for many counties is that players are not willing to make the commitment when the risk is that they get two games. This then becomes a cycle where players do not commit and teams do not improve.
This is a radical change with flaws. The reality is that change can only happen incrementally and the biggest barrier has been the hold of the provincial system. I think that the group that developed this proposal are thinking long term, and taking the concerns of all counties into account. Whatever change is ultimately agreed will have flaws and people will disagree with. Interesting to see if Dublin and Kerry will support, I think that they will have enough confidence in their ability to win Whatever format we play.
@Mayomagic, The All-Ireland winner is very likely to be one of the teams who finish in the top 4 of Division 1 with the possibility of the team in 5th winning it also.
If the teams in 6th, 7th and 8th that the traditionalists are crying about were good enough to win the All-Ireland then they have 7 games to prove it and I’m afraid if you can’t prove it in 7 games, you aren’t good enough to win an All-Ireland and it’s time to exit.
If these teams think they are good enough to beat the Kerry’s and Dublin’s of this world then go ahead and do it when you play them and stop whingeing about it afterwards.
Maybe have a bit of ambition and try and knock the Dublin’s and Kerry’s into the bottom 3 of the league and out of the Championship. How about that.
You’ve had your chance to show you are good enough to win the All-Ireland and you have failed because if you were good enough to win the All-Ireland you would be in the top 5 and not the bottom 3.
Now the teams from the lower divisions who will face off against the top 4 in the QF won’t win the All-Ireland either but so what, neither are the 6th, 7th and 8th placed teams so it doesn’t matter how long you keep these teams in the competition they still wont win it.
At the end of it 31 teams will have one thing in common, not good enough to win the All-Ireland so it matters not what the gap is between them.
If Mayo, Kildare and Monaghan come in the bottom 3 then fair enough they have shown that they are not good enough to win an All-Ireland, simple as that.
Mayo should relish this format but the mental weakness is already showing before a vote has been cast at all.
When they talk of it being unfair to teams at the bottom of Division 1, what they are actually talking about is themselves, terrified they wont make the top 5, do you really think Mayo care about the likes of Kildare?
I think Proposal B will get over 50% but I doubt it will reach the required 60% to pass unless there are few late twists.
It’s a secret ballot so unless the mandate has been made public by the county we wont know how they voted . It’s easy enough figure out some of the interests are not going to be for the greater good of the championship structure . I’m not sure I’d be an advocate of how gaa politics is governed . It seems there will be a lot of self interest , people will say that’s how democracy works but at the same time parish pump politics is never for the greater good of the country and imho it destroys elections. But shur nothing is perfect as they say
The qualifier system is rubbish , proposal B offers so much more for everyone. Of course there will be flaws but they could be ironed out over time , trial and error .
@ Viper.
Quit telling people who are not in agreement with proposal B, why they are not in agreement with it.
I am not in favour of it passing, but it hasn’t a damn thing to do with the tripe you are listing out in your post.
You are entitled to favour whatever proposal you prefer.
You are not entitled to expound on false narratives as why the likes of myself might not be in favour of it.
I have no fear of finishing in the bottom three in Division one.
We have done that on several occasions recently and will do so in the coming years. I have no doubt about that.
We can then sit back after getting knocked out and watch some lower division teams getting the shite knocked out of them. Was that not one of the main reasons a new structure was been sought to try and avoid one sided hammerings.
Is a competition not supposed to improve the deeper you get in to it ?
There will be alot of poor games in all divisions of this new format. Teams that have nothing to play for after the first couple of rounds in this new format and realise they are not in the hunt.
Willie Joe, am I right in saying there’s no route to winning the senior 1 county title from Senior 2 in Dublin? (i know in other counties there is, for example Galway hurling)
So Vincents down to the out and out 2nd tier, and would have to win that in 2022 to have a chance of winning the senior 1 county title in 2023?
but at the same time, its the intermediate winner (tier 3) that actually goes on to represent Dublin in the intermediate all ireland series?
Can everyone please stop having a pop at each other in the comments? Louisburgh Exile had a valid point last night about the level of rancour and bitterness that’s developed among contributors here of late, this is certainly a depressing trend I’ve seen myself too. Overly preachy and over-long comments by some who seem determined to have the last word on everything isn’t helping this. Everyone should have room to make whatever reasonable points they want to make without getting hectored into submission. I’d be grateful if everyone could please reflect on this – give everyone else a chance to breathe.
@wj yeah that’s huge re St Vincent’s, as big a team as you will find at club level in the country, some history. Up there with Corofin, nemo, Crossmaglen etc
Shocking but not really surprising, they made the mistake a lot of great teams make, they let the team grow old together. That brilliant group led by diarmuid connolly all grew into their thirties at the same time with very little refreshments to the first team for a good few years.
Do they have much coming through?
Just goes to show the arse doesn’t be long falling out of it for any team once things start to slip
G’wan the Black and Amber. Down by 2 at half time but a strong second half performance was enough to see us over the line at Hollymount Carrowmore by 2 in the end
Viper,
You did not answer in your 9.08 am posting addressed to me my question as to why Div 4 should not play Div 3, with the winners playing Div 2 before splitting into the race for Sam or the Taillteann Cup. Why not? it is the system which leaves least questions about fairness and promises the most competitive games with least hammerings.
Bonkers end in Bekan!
Why was the penalty given? Some finish alright. Two bad goals given away by tubber proved the difference.
No idea, Mayomagic. There didn’t seem to be anything to warrant it but it sure made for a grandstand finish.
Ballymun have played poorly right through the Championship, Mayo88, and I think Evan Comerford was out with a shoulder injury. It was only last year, though, despite all their Dublin players, that they really punched their weight at club level in recent years. They underachieved badly right through the six-in-a-row years.
I imagine the penalty was given cause knockmore players were too close to the free when they ran out from the goal line
That seems to be the reason Sean Burke
A very soft peno. Knockmore should have won by a lot more. Tubber collapsed after the first half. Strange match.
Peter Naughton was once again the star performer on show. If we have 15 better forwards in the county, then we are in a fantastic place.
DB was giving DOC credit on the commentary, I thought he was poor by his standards. Looks wrecked
Thought he had a decent second half East Cork, but he’s certainly not the player he was. I think particularly for Mayo he slows the play down and looks out of ideas. His sideline save against the Dubs being the obvious exception. But overall, that’s not enough. Orme, for instance, is a good bit ahead of him right now and poses a far greater scoring threat.
Orme was targeted big time by Tubber today. He was flattened 3 or 4 times. He’s top class, a different level to most Mayo footballers right now, including those in the current Mayo squad.
I agree on DO”C. A good rest is what that lad badly needs. Hard to judge lads in those conditions today but Colm Moran impressed me,& not for the first time.
I was disappointed overall by Evan Regan today. A real lack of ball-security, even when under moderate pressure from opposition. Not a good thing, even at club level. And at times dubious decision making. It’s a pity, as he has excellent attributes, and you’d think the above problems could be coached out of him. I don’t think it’s a lack of physicality. It’s frustrating to see it, to say the least.
Tracey, Colm Moran and young McStay all superb today.
I hope your gig as umpire went well today WJ. I share that ‘distinction’ with you in Dublin SFC, but my 510 km round trip to Islandeady today was worth it to see Louisburgh beat Hollymount/Carramore in the rain.
It did, Umpire, unlike the west the rain held off for us at Inisfails this afternoon. I’ve another white coat outing tomorrow as well. That was a great win by Louisburgh, they’re rightly in the mix for the title now.
Belmullet 2-5 Breaffy 0-8 FT. In a low-scoring, foul-ridden game where the quality of play was for large stretches shockingly low, the genius of Ryan O’Donoghue was the difference between the teams. He chipped Robbie Hennelly for a goal to put Belmullet three in front late on after Breaffy had battled back to level it up and he followed it up with a free just after. No way back for Breaffy from there.
Ryan’s goal was absolutely amazing, the last few years have been fantastic for Belmullet!
Famous result for Belmullet and definitely a significant upset
Breaffy and Knockmore both on Belmullet’s list of scalps this year. Dare to dream?
Breaffy’s eternal wait for a county title goes on. The O’Sheas ain’t getting any younger, think 2020 will turn out to have been their last big chance for quite a while
Garrymore 1-8 Castlebar Mitchels 0-7 HT. Enda Hession has got 1-2 from play but was on the ground with knocks twice in the last ten minutes of the half. Garry moving nicely, looking the better team at this stage.
Garrymore 1-14 Castlebar Mitchels 0-13 FT. Well deserved win by Garrymore, they were the better team throughout. Gary Golden very impressive in the middle of the field for them. Enda Hession went off at half-time, following those two knocks he got late in the first half. Enda Varley had a good cameo off the bench in the second half.
Impressive stuff from Garrymore. Enda Hession was different class in the first half. They’re capable of going all the way if those injuries clear up