Mayo senior champions set for stiff test in Sligo

The Stephenites face the pride of Sligo on Sunday next in Markievicz Park when they take on two-in-a-row champions Coolera Strandhill at 1.30pm. It promises to be a thriller with the prize of a provincial final against Roscommon champions Padraig Pearses or Leitrim standard-bearers Mohill awaiting the winners.

Ballina will be taking nothing for granted next weekend, and approach the contest in the exact same manner as they did last weekend's clash with North London Shamrocks. Team boss Niall Heffernan knows the strengths of the Sligo men who have the impressive Niall Murphy in attack, inspirational captain Peter Laffey at midfield, Ross O'Carroll at the heart of the defence and impressive goalkeeper Keelan Harte between the posts.

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Heffernan was already thinking ahead when he spoke to the media following last Saturday afternoon's win in London: “It wasn't the most convincing of performances and we have a lot to work on during the week, but we're very happy to have got the win today. It's always very difficult to come to Ruislip and we were out against a very good North London Shamrocks team. We're happy to have won and we'll be working hard to improve on a few aspects during the week because we're aware of the challenge waiting for us in Sligo.”

That message was repeated by Padraig O'Hora who played a starring role in Ruislip. “It's another step on the road. It was hard to build ourselves up again after the high of winning the county final. It was a solid enough performance today and we got the job done. It's always tricky coming over here and we didn't perform as well as we'd have liked but we did enough to win and we'll try to improve again for next weekend,” he added.

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