EDITORIAL: All to play for on big county-final weekend

ALL roads lead to Castlebar this weekend. The biggest matches in the club GAA calendar are set to take place, with the Junior, Intermediate and Senior football finals going ahead in the county town.
Hastings Insurance MacHale Park has been used sparingly this year due to concerns over the surface, but one hopes it will be in top condition this weekend for the three eagerly awaited clashes.
First up on Saturday is the much anticipated clash in the Intermediate final between Kilmeena and Ballinrobe. These are great days to be a Kilmeena GAA fan, with supporters of the black and white getting ready for their fourth county final in a row. Of course, during that time John Reilly’s men also captured the All-Ireland Junior title in Croke Park, and this group of ambitious young players now want to take the next step in their development by joining the senior ranks.
Standing in their way is another group of hungry young players in the shape of Ballinrobe. Kilmeena beat Ballinrobe in last year’s quarter final, but Peter Forde’s team have been very impressive this season, and they too now feel the time is right to rejoin the senior ranks.
It promises to be a cracking encounter, with both sides known for their attacking brand of football.
Then there is the double header at headquarters on Sunday. The curtain raiser is the Junior Final between Lahardane and Shrule/Glencorrib, with both sides desperate to take their chance and rejoin the Intermediate ranks.
Shrule/Glencorrib are going through a rebuild of the club, who were once a strong force at senior level, reaching the county final back in 2005 when they lost out by just one point to Crossmolina Deel Rovers.
Lahardane probably go into the game as slight favourites on the back of some impressive victories so far this season, and they are looking to win their first Junior crown since 2017, when they also went on to win the Connacht title.

Senior final
THE big game of the weekend is of course the Senior final, which has been fixed for 4.15pm on Sunday afternoon.
Ballina Stephenites will be delighted to be back in the final, having failed to really turn up at this stage last year when they lost by three points to first-time winners Westport. Ballina have won the Mayo Senior Football Championship on a record 36 occasions, but they have now been waiting some 16 years to capture their 37th. Niall Heffernan and his team will be feeling the time has come for them to take another county title.
Breaffy, meanwhile, are celebrating their 70th anniversary as a club this year, and it is now a decade since they reached this first ever senior county final back in 2013. Agonisingly, they have lost another three finals since then – in 2015, 2018 and 2021 – and indeed, some of their more senior players, like Aidan O’Shea, will be hoping it will be ‘fifth time lucky’ when they line-up on Sunday afternoon.
O’Shea has probably been the player of the championship so far, but he will definitely need other players to step up to the mark on Sunday, as Ballina probably look a better balanced outfit with inter-county players on almost every line of their side.
It promised to be a very exciting weekend of action, and here in The Mayo News we look forward to covering the big games both online over the weekend and in next week’s print edition. Best of luck to all the teams involved.