PREVIEW: Mayo football's nearly women to clash in junior decider

They're no strangers to one another and have been locking horns at this level for a number of seasons. Next Friday night, Aghamore and St Brigid’s will meet again, before one of them goes home with the cup.

Predicting a winner isn’t easy. Brigid’s were in last year’s final – Aghamore were in the previous one. Winning eluded both. That will change for one of them this weekend.

Brigid’s have a huge turnover from last year’s campaign, with a dozen of that panel no longer available, but make no mistake, Shane Breslin will arrive in Castlebar with a young, talented team brimming with confidence.

With star forward Ava McDonnell at the helm, they’ve been scoring big. They’ve been winning and one more big performance will get them over the line and send them north with the title.

Their opponents, Aghamore, are a very interesting proposition. With Mayo seniors Saoirse Delaney and Niamh Mooney in their ranks, Aghamore are the ‘nearly women’ of Mayo junior football.

They posted huge scores to dismiss Westport B (1-24) and The Neale (2-20) in this year’s group stages but fell three short to who else but St Brigid’s.

The girls from the north country - as Bob Dylan might call them - enjoyed a stellar 2024 before collapsing against eventual future Connacht champions Claremorris in last year’s county final.

That same Claremorris team needed extra time to get past Aghamore in the semi-final. Don’t rule out something similar happening on Friday.

VERDICT: Aghamore

READ: Aghamore girls dreaming of junior glory