Junior Cup kick-off is delayed

NO RAGING FROM THE BULLS Westport’s Chris Ryan (centre) is pictured in action for the Bulls in a Connacht Junior League match. Pic: Conor McKeown

Oisín McGovern

NO start date has yet been confirmed for the Connacht Junior Cup which had been due to kick off earlier this month.
Connacht Rugby’s Club and Competition Support Executive, Richard Doyle, confirmed to The Mayo News that the competition had been put on hold.
The coming weeks will see the concluding rounds of the Junior Rugby League played instead.
“We will review at the end of January once we see what effect Covid has on league games over the next few weeks,” Doyle told The Mayo News via e-mail.
The opening rounds of the Connacht Junior Cup were to feature four Mayo teams: Castlebar v Ballinrobe, Westport (v Loughrea) and Ballina 2nds (v Tuam).
Westport manager Joe O’Malley told The Mayo News that he supports the decision to focus on league fixtures in the coming week.
“I think they’re right, really. I think with the uncertainty, a lot has changed in a week or two. I think it’s right to get the league boxed off,” he said.
“Once next weekend is played we’ll know who’s in the semi-finals in the league and then it’ll be straight into the cup in the middle of February.
“We don’t see any problem. I think it’s the best way to do it, rather than playing the league and having the cup in the middle of it and then playing another league match. It didn’t throw us off too much.
“We prefer the way it is at the moment. I certainly think it’s an awful lot more beneficial to teams,” he added.
“If you have a break, we saw it ourselves, of three or four weeks without a game, it’s very hard to get back up to the tempo that you need to be at.
“All in all, I think it’s a lot simpler and easier to run one competition and go straight into the next one.”
Castlebar captain Barry Walshe said that his side ‘weren’t too concerned’ about the deferral of the Connacht Junior Cup.
“We’re looking to beat Creggs this weekend and hopefully to get to the semi-final of the league. I suppose that’s probably enough to focus on,” Walsh told The Mayo News yesterday.
“It’s an extra few weeks to get the league done and focus on the cup, rather than juggling the two at the same time,” added the Ireland rugby league international.
Commenting on the recent easing of Covid-19 restrictions, Joe O’Malley hoped that there would be more certainty around the availability of players in the future.
Some recent fixtures had been cancelled with less than 24 hours’ notice when one team had confirmed Covid-19 cases within their squad, which led to games being re-fixed.
“You had to have all your players readily available at any time, so people had to plan if they’d a weekend off,” he explained.
“It’s looking a little more that we know what’s going on. There does seem to be as many close contact and people with Covid since Christmas.”
Earlier this month all adult junior rugby in the province had been postponed due to high levels of Covid-19 causing uncertainty around player availability.
Castlebar and Connemara are joint reigning Connacht Junior Cup champions as both clubs agreed to share the title last year after the final was cancelled due to Covid-19 restrictions.