Momentum is with Mitchels and Stephenites in Mayo senior final bid

A DOUBLE-HEADER to savour will be staged this Sunday (October 16) at Hastings Insurance MacHale Park, where the last four in the race for the Moclair Cup stake their claim for a place in the county senior football final.

The departure of defending champions, Knoockmore, who were going for the club’s first ever three-in-a-row of senior titles, has thrown a very large cat amongst the pigeons and, in truth, any of the remaining four are capable of winning the championship this year.

However, you have to get to the final first and next Sunday’s two semi-finals, which will form a double-header at Hastings Insurance MacHale Park in Castlebar, can go either way.

Of the remaining four, five-time champions Ballintubber bring that vast experience which has seen them win back-to-back titles in 2018-2019. They are pitted against a relatively young Ballina Stephenites team who have gained huge momentum since that group game win over Knockmore and are anxious to atone for losing by a point to Westport at the quarterfinal stage last year.

The other semi-final is very much youth versus experience, with Castlebar Mitchels fielding a team whose average age is around 21. There are just five on board the current starting team from that which won the club's last title in 2017 – Rory Byrne, Donie Newcombe, Paddy Durcan, Ger McDonagh and Neill Douglas. That year they completed three in a row. Now, the new management team have brought in an infusion of youth in a bid to re-energise the set-up.

They face a Westport team who have been on the shortlist of a lot of people to finally get their hands on their first ever Moclair Cup but a few wobbles from Martin Connolly’s side raise a question mark as to whether they can put those near misses in recent years – notably last year when they crashed to Belmullet – behind them.

Ballintubber v Ballina Stephenites (1 p.m.)

It could be an early handshake between county players Cillian O’Connor and Padraig O’Hora when these two collide in the first of a double-header.

Both have been hugely influential in getting their respective teams to this stage of the championship but, without doubt, Ballina’s journey is the one that has caught the attention of most.

For the Stephenites, who were gutted after losing to Westport last year by a single point at the quarterfinal stage, it has been largely an impressive championship, with the exception of their opening group game against Ballaghaderreen where they were lucky to share the spoils in the end. What an important point it turned out to be in what was a very tough group, however.

Niall Heffernan has clearly brought some fresh ideas to the Ballina set-up and you’d have to be impressed by the manner in which they defeated Knockmore and Aghamore to qualify for the quarterfinals.

In the last eight they also disposed of a very disappointing Claremorris team, and in total they have bagged a total of 11 goals in their four games.

This is the big test, however, as they are up against a team that has huge experience and knowhow to win games, with at least 10 of the current team involved when they last brought home the Moclair Cup in 2019, when they retained the title.

I expect Jason Gibbons will be at midfield as he was unfortunate to pick up a red card for what I felt was a yellow car offence in the quarterfinal.

Ballintubber’s vast experience kicked in when they were reduced to 14 men for all but 10 minutes of the second half against Breaffy last day out, and that experience could give them the edge again as they know how to close out games.

That said, Ballina will be hoping that they can dictate terms from the start – as they have done in most of their games, particularly up front.

They are mobile at midfield and are marshalled at the back by the unflinching O’Hora. The momentum is very much with them and confidence is high in the camp.

Verdict: Ballina Stephenites

Castlebar Mitchels v Westport (3 p.m.)

Winning the league title and making the semi-final of the senior championship is not a bad achievement at all by the new Mitchels management team of Barry Moran and Neil Lydon.

Moran himself was a member of the team which completed the three-in-a-row with Mitchels in 2017 but now has, with Lydon, taken over an ambitious group of players who obviously don’t agree with a widely held view that they may not be ready just yet to bring home a senior championship title.

I think it is fair to say they have proved their point and while they play a very strong defensive game which was crucial when they knocked out the champions Knockmore, they also bring attacking flair, with the younger players showing that they can cope with the physicality that comes with playing against more seasoned opposition.

Westport have been on the premises in recent years but have come up just short when it mattered most, crashing to Belmullet at the semi-final last year, a game many believe they left behind them.

Most of those players are back again this year and if anything Westport look stronger, are definitely better balanced, and can look to a bench that is likely to play a key role if they are to get to the final and within a step of winning their first senior title.

Hastings Insurance MacHale Park has served the Mitchels well and I have a feeling they will be relishing this challenge, as indeed will Westport, who also like to play a running game.

Verdict: Castlebar Mitchels