Time for an update on club fixtures coming up over this coming weekend and next.
Starting with this weekend, it’s county final time for the hurlers. The TJ Tyrell Cup decider will, once again, be contested by Tooreen and Ballyhaunis, with the latter hosting this year’s final, which throws in at 4pm on Saturday. Ballyhaunis will be seeking their first county title since 2020 while Tooreen will be aiming to complete a three-in-a-row of Tyrell Cup successes.
The SHC ‘B’ final between Castlebar Mitchels and St Ciarán’s also takes place this Saturday. Westport is the venue for this one, which gets underway at 3.30pm.
There’s football action on this weekend as well, including the first round of matches in the U21 Championship. There’s action at Junior and various underage levels too and full details on all these fixtures are here.
Next weekend is football county final weekend and these fixtures have now been confirmed, with the Senior, Intermediate and Junior deciders all taking place at Hastings Insurance MacHale Park, while the Junior B final has been fixed for Parke.
The first final down for decision is the Intermediate one, featuring Kilmeena against Ballinrobe. This is a standalone fixture at MacHale Park and throw-in is fixed for 4pm on Saturday.
On Sunday there’s a decider double-header at the Castlebar venue. The Junior final, between Shrule/Glencorrib and Lahardane MacHales, gets underway at 2.30pm while the Senior final, between Ballina Stephenites and Breaffy, throws in at 4pm.
The Junior B decider, between Ballycastle and Achill, is also down for decision on Sunday. That one throws in at Parke at midday.
Details of streaming and/or TV coverage for these title deciders haven’t been announced as yet but no doubt will be in due course.
Next weekend also sees the start of the LGFA Connacht club Championships, with Knockmore, MacHale Rovers and Claremorris all taking the field in provincial semi-final ties then.
Claremorris are on first and they take on CT Gaels of Sligo (away) in the Junior semi-final on Saturday week at 1pm. Lahardane MacHales are at home to Ballinamore Seán O’Heslins of Leitrim in the Intermediate semi-final on Sunday week at 1pm and on the Bank Holiday Monday Knockmore are away to Sligo’s St Nathy’s in the Senior semi-final, also at 1pm.
With how bad the club senior championship has been, hoping the u21 championship displays what we know it can.
Brilliant competition, with arguably more raw talent on display than in senior games, and they should be more open than anything we’ve seen so far.
Hoping for scores and seeing the most talented crop of forward players we’ve had coming through in a decade show their stuff.
The u21 championship will be very exciting because the style of football will be much more free flowing and less numbers behind the ball and the amount of talented players on show with senior County experience to.
I hope previous posters are correct regarding the U21s. Certainly plenty of talented young players around to put on a real show. The caveat remains the coaches. If they let the lads play it could be a fine championship but if the coaches opt for a style similar to the county U20s of the last few years it will be a bore fest.
What clubs have teams in u21 A?
Group 1
balla
Westport
Mitchels
Parke
Group 2
Moy Davitts
Ballina
Knockmore
Group 3
Claremorris
Ballinrobe
Davitts
I see Castlebar Mitchells have 2 teams in the U21 championship in A & B.
Credit to them.
Absolutely Micheal .. Credit to their underage structure and volunteers. People will say big population etc but they are enabling as many club players as possible to get as much football as possible. 2 u21 teams is brilliant for lads that age
Yes Castlebar seem to be quite well structured to their credit. Themselves, Knockmore and Westport only clubs fielding 3 adult teams currently also.
I see in papers yesterday Castlebar saw the largest total increase in population in Mayo from last census, rising by 894 people from 12,068 to 13,054. Castlebar Primary School also has the largest enrolment of any primary school in Mayo, with 787 boys and girls enrolled this academic year.
Ballina rose by approx 400 and Westport a further 674.
It’s great that we have a u21 competition this year
Shame it didn’t take place for a few years and still can’t figure out why..!
A problem with it being played this time of year is the state of the pitches after the rain and of course the generally deteriorating weather conditions
I live in Navan, with a population of over 30k
O’Mahoneys are intermediate with no signs of going to Senior
Simmnstown are just about hanging in at Senior
No player from the town on any Meath panel or on the school team last year
County board should be incouring football in big towns and at the same time having competitions for rural clubs on s population basis.
We need to rethink everything, times have changed, there is no turning back.
Not sure what type of team will Ballina and Kilmeena will put out in the U21’s this Sunday with their senior and intermediate finals coming up.
Ballina has Liam Golden, Ciaran Boland, Frank Irwin, Dylan Thornton, Niall and Luke Feeney all starting on the senior team and several others like Brendan Collins part of the playing panel, likewise Kilmeena has the following players who played apart last Sunday in Jack Mulchrone, Chris McGlynn, Ciaran Kilcoyne, Colin Hastings, Liam Moore and Darragh Slattery. Also 5 of those kilmeena players played in a under 18A final last year against Moy Davitts with another two players who were part of the 2022 All Ireland U17 Mayo panel in Conor Kelly and Rian Kilcoyne so the future looks bright for Kilmeena if they can hold on to all of them and should go along way in the U21B competition.
Not sure if Mayogaa TV is covering any of these games but there looks like some very good games in store.
JR, Navan and other Meath towns have quite a different issue in fighting decline than the likes of Mayo towns.
Owing to its proximity to Dublin, Meath is the least indigenous county in Ireland, with just 67,798 usual residents (34.9%) recorded as being born within the county. Approximately half of all Meath residents (49.9%) were born elsewhere in Ireland, and the remaining 15.4% were born abroad. So while a lot of people are up there, the figures do not transpose to identifying as being part of the community and getting involved in local clubs and the like.
@MayoMessi, if U21 final was streamed would likely be the height of it I would imagine. Cost to stream could be circa €1500-1800 so doubtful be cost effective for demand there would be for it.
After next weekend the next likely streamed game will be the Club stars v Mayo seniors around Christmas time.
We’ve another new pod up on Patreon – our fifth one inside the last seven days – and this one features Declan Varley, who talks about his new book “Mayo – a Biography in Nine Lives”. As well as chatting with Declan, Mike catches up at the book’s launch with John Casey, Tommy O’Malley, Alan Dillon and Martin Carney, all of whom feature in the book.
@gizmobobs, I agree to an extent, most Meath people were born in Drogheda or Dublin as there is no Maternity hospital in Meath.
Meath football is in dire straits.
As a matter of Interest I wonder of many Clare senior hurlers were born in Limerick?…. Most of the hurling done in East Clare.
I’d guess none of them were born in Clare. Clare has no hospital. Does it really matter? No Leitrim or Roscommon players born within their county either. Many in south mayo are born in UHG.
Huge population increases are not always a good thing. In 1996 when Mayo played Meath, we had a larger population. Now Meath surpasses ours by a considerable amount. They seem to have lost their identity though.
This is it Yew tree. I forget the figure for what % of people in Meath identify as being Meath people, but a massive amount identify as elsewhere.
That’s the problem with being a commuter belt county.
Hi Gizmobobs,
Do you mind me asking where did you pull those CO Meath stats from? Is that level of detail to be garnered from Census info? Thanks
@Richardmgd, spot on. It is an amazing database in fairness to the CSO, more will be added to the 2022 database in time but already a lot can be gleamed from it. Mayo high level overview here: https://www.cso.ie/en/csolatestnews/pressreleases/2023pressreleases/pressstatementcensus2022resultsprofile1-populationdistributionandmovementsmayo/
But the level of detail you can get into on the interactive map already is fantastic, if select an area (or multi-area) and click on explore all themes, you can get everything from number of people in the area in specific Job sectors they work in, number of individuals who are active volunteers, Social Class and Socio-Economic Group, Principal status, time of commute etc.
Interactive map is here: https://visual.cso.ie/?body=entity/ima/cop/2022&boundary=C04172V04943&guid=4c07d11e-0ba7-851d-e053-ca3ca8c0ca7f
Probably need to get CSO to add questions on if child can kick/solo of both feet etc. for future census 🙂
Mayomessi – sam callanan is also u20.
@done deal
Yes he is, Callinan played for Mayo U20s this year, As it is a 3 team group maybe they should have rearranged this weekends game for Moy davitts v Knockmore instead of Ballina v Moy Daviits. I like the group structure games should be competitive, local derbies thrown in.
Castlebar should be strong favorites having 7 players in last years County U20 panel also having won this age group at U18 and U19 but Alot can change in two years, players 17-19 probably didn’t play in those teams back them. Seeing Castlebar having teams in both A&B shows they aren’t short of players and is a great achievement in itself. Between playing senior and intermediate Castlebar would have kept there players involved all summer.
Looking at the A teams ballinrobe looks out of place believe they have a good U18-19 team but didn’t think that they have much more older players except for the goalkeeper Luke Jennings, They had a great young corner back in Eoin Gilraine who played county minor and a couple of years with the U20s where he got injured. Wasn’t part of Ballinrobe intermediate panel the past 2 years so not sure if this is down to injury. Davitts will have Fenton Kelly Cathal Corless and Jack Melvin and Dylan Gallagher’s all county level underage players so I can see them giving Claremorris a run for their money
Do Ballaghadereen not have a team in the u21 A championship??
Mayonaze: Yes Ballaghaderren do in the U21 C Championship they are down to play Eastern Gaels.
Ballaghadereen are playing U21c with Swinford, Charlestown, Eastern Gaels, Erris St Pats, Bonniconlon, Cill Chomain, Tourmakeady, Achill and Shrule. Not sure what the rules are for clubs who arent participating if there players are allowed to play or neighboring clubs. Don’t see Hollymount or Ballyhaunis involvement, Hollymount would have Jack Keane, Dylan and Matthew Morris who would stand out in U21 could these players play with Carras, and Ballyhaunis with Eastern Gaels they do play as St Jarlaths as a underage amalgamation. Not sure if its the decline of East Mayo but 2 senior clubs like Charlestown and Ballaghadereen playing C football and Ardmoy Mchale (Lahardane/Moygownagh/Ardagh) and Naomh Padraig (Killala/Kilfian/Ballycastle/Lacken) can play Division B. This is not to put these sides down as Ardmoy Mchales have a very good U19 side who appeared and won County U17 and U18 titles, Kyran Jordan starting midfieder for Lahardane and Barry Gaughan midfielder for Moygownagh the past 2 seasons and appeared in the Junior B final last year.
Eoin Gilraine has not played since July 2021, he injured his cruciate playing for the Mayo under 20 team v Galway in Tuam. Has missed club and county football since. A huge loss for Mayo and Ballinrobe.
So many players pick up injuries,that is why I don’t criticise players or management any more,because we don’t know what is happening within either club or county,we have outstanding management teams and players,so give them the respect they deserve,hopefully next year is ours
If players are injured there’s nothing management can do about that. But they owe a duty of care to lads who get injured in game.
This is often neglected in club and county management set ups. Player safety has to be first priority.
How are Ballagh playing C!? Surely a club that size should be A, or B worst case scenario. Am I missing something??
What about Swinford?
All posters try and get out to see your local gaa club in the Under 21 championship this weekend.Youth and a good club scene is the key if we are to get back on par with Dublin and Kerry in next 2 or 3 years.
@Sam og we aren’t that far off Dublin we beat kerry twice this year and fixtures and that played a huge part v the Dubs and also mistakes were made etc . I still have faith that we will come good next year and also still think kerry are average when Clifford is not on top form haha.
Our under 21 players we have lots of talent coming up the likes of niall hurley ,Ronan Clarke plenty of others to etc the future isn’t that grim for mayo ….
Looking forward to the club final come ballina hasn’t been a great club championship but the county guys stood out a mile in every game they played ..
The Kerry club semi final – Dingle v midKerry- is on network 2 this evening at 5.30. It will be interesting to see the style of football compared to here in Mayo. Three things I will be looking out for are 1. The speed with which defenders try to move the ball forward. 2. The movement of forwards off the ball to create space and chances. 3. The ability of players to kick scores form 25-30 meters out.
These are three big issues we have with the Mayo senior team at present and from what I’ve seen all senior clubs are playing that same style of football and gave the same problems.
Details of the provisional list of the 2024 National League fixtures have begun to leak out inside the last 24 hours. Here’s what’s on the provisional list for us: Round 1: Galway (A); Round 2: Derry (H); Round 3: Kerry (A); Round 4: Tyrone (A); Round 5: Roscommon (H); Round 6: Dublin (H); Round 7: Monaghan (A). Gaelic Statsman has the details (here). All these fixtures have yet to be confirmed but the provisional list tends to be the same as the final confirmed fixtures list.
By the way, the draw for the 2024 provincial Championships takes place on RTÉ Radio One at 2.45pm today.
Away games in Salthill, Tralee, Omagh and Clones and 2 homes games to Dublin and Derry that is as hard of a League campaign as you will get.We must be favourites with Ross and Monaghan to go down.Just avoiding relegation with 3 wins and blooding new players is all we need out of this coming League campaign.
NFL Division 1 medals are of no real significance any more to Mayo its all about championship performance and how we perform against Dublin , Kerry and Derry in the knockout games in July.
The draw was meant to be on at 2.45pm but they’ve just now said that it won’t be starting until 3.15pm so I guess it’ll be closer to 3.30pm by the time they get around to the Connacht bit of it.
Agree Sam Óg, but it’s how we perform against any team in knock out championship and any games with specific significance in groups albeit if we learned anything from the 2023 season it’s to have our best form when it matters…and that isn’t Feb—‘April.
I really hope we dont see Aidan, Diarmuid , Cillian and Paddy Durcan for first half of the League.What are we going to learn and they need rest , they have huge mileage over the last few seasons.Its time for the younger lads to lead and new players to be looked at.
Hope we see a few of list below brought in who I thought impressed over championship games I watched.
Stephen O’Malley Ballintubber
Frank Irwin Ballina
Evan Regan Ballina
Jack Livingstone Breaffy
Conor Diskin Claremorris
Darran Quinn Garrymore
Brian Reape Moy Davitts
Cian McHale Moy Davitts
Caolach Halligan Kilmeena
Oisin McLaughlin Westport
Kevin Quinn Ballinrobe
Jack Fallon Mayo Gaels
Caolan Crowe Garrymore
Jeez, this draw is tedious. Ads, sports round-ups and a good ten minutes of shite talking between each draw, with Leinster still to come before they finally get to our one.
Its worst than the Uefa cup draws, and now we’ve commentary on a horse race to get through beforehand, jesus.
Is there a trend emerging of div 3/4 teams getting to finals….
Christ!-it’ll be tomorrow before this draw is done!??
Provincials dont matter anymore its all about topping the Groups or Super 16.Cant afford to come 2nd or 3rd as Galway and Mayo showed us this year with 1 week break for the Dublin game.Which is really poor form the Gaa.
Mayo treated very poorly by Gaa this year , the League Final and Roscommon game and the Cork , Galway and Dublin games played 3 weekends in a row. The County Board not saying anything or doing anything about it.We suck up it up as usual.
RTE showing little respect to the GAA community.
Ah I don’t don’t we would be favourites to go down to division 2 hard enough league but championship is where it matters anyway .
But then again if we did end up going down to division 2 so be be it did no harm for the Dubs. We peaked to soon this year and ran out of gas for when it matteree most .
For me the ones who are likely to go down to division 2 are either the Rossies or Tyrone/monaghan .
Galway were not great either this year so If were favourites to go down to division 2 so should they be .
I want most of our first teamers doing skills and SnC work towards topping the group in championship.
I’ve no heed on fbd, league or the Connaught championship.
I come back to a Munster SnC view point where they stated you can’t effectively develop size and power whilst also playing games.
We need guys who are 6’3″ 84kg to be 86kg and x% more explosive. Yes, that’s modem, harsh and scientific, but it’s frankly what I think Dublin and Kerry have been doing.
Dublin and Kerry look at the players legs, also look at how they have a big lift in performance between league and later championship.
Look at lads like Davey Byrne and Colm Basquel, their physique has been carefully honed since minor.