Mayo Community Games will host the 2nd round of the Connaught Community Games outdoor teams finals on Saturday 22nd July 2023.
The programme of events will involve semi finals and finals played over one day. Davitt College Castlebar will be the Headquarters and Hub centre for results coordinators and officials to gather.
A Total of 20 matches will be played involving Rounders, Hurling, Mini and Tag Rugby, Gaelic football and Soccer.
Mayo Community Games will have 8 teams in action throughout the day in Gaelic ,Soccer and Rounders.
Davitt College Castlebar will host the Rounders competition.
Manulla FC will host the boys U-12 Soccer including the Girls U-15 Soccer. Castlebar Town will entertain the Girls 7 A Side Soccer.
Breaffy GAA Club will be the venue for the Mixed U10 Gaelic Football. Ballyvary will be the focus of attention when they hold the U-10 Hurling final. Castlebar Rugby club are all set to host the U-11 Mini Rugby and the U-11 / U-14 Tag Rugby.
Ballintubber GAA Club will take control of the Girls U-12 and U-14 Gaelic Football. Games will begin at 10am and will follow an agreed schedule of games throughout the morning and afternoon.
Presentation of medals will take place on the field of play in every venue over the day .
Competitors are reminded to wear the proper gear such as helmets ,gumshields, shin guards etc before taking to the field. Respect for all officials at every venue must be observed at all times by players, managers and supporters of all the teams travelling to all the sporting grounds.
The Mayo Community Games teams in action are the Breaffy Rounders Boys U-13 who entertain Elphin from Roscommon in a straight fina.l Breaffy will cherish home advantage but will need to be at their best to outwit the Roscommon champions. On paper Breaffy could shade this one and continue onto the National Final in Carlow. The tradition of rounders in Breaffy is strong and with more young coaches on board the future looks promising.
The Breaffy Rounders U-15 girls will await the winners from a semi final pairing between Athenry and Killtullagh before they meet the winners.
This final will have everything regardless of who is in it. Athenry have been in great form over the past few years and must be the favourites to win the semi final and possibly the final. You can never rule out a Breaffy team who will battle to the end to continue their roll of honour in rounders. They will not fear any opposition in their quest to become Connaught champions and travel to the national finals in September 2023.tyty
Turlough Towers boys U-12 boys soccer team will entertain the winners from a preliminary match between the Galway and Roscommon champions in their semi final match.
The young Turlough Boys had a good solid win over Claremorris in the County Final. If they can bring that form into this Connaught competition they surely have an opportunity of capturing the Boys U-12 soccer title .
Balla will represent Mayo in the Girls U-12 7 A Side soccer and they will meet St Marys from Sligo in the semi final. If the Balla girls can produce a good team performance they stand every chance of reaching the final and possibly winning it. In the Girls U -15 soccer encounter Balla will meet the winners from the Semi Final pairing between Ballymote and Ballaghadreen . This is a wonderful opportunity for the Balla girls to get their hands on some Community Games silverware. If they get their game plan going they can control many areas of the pitch and score the decisive goals on the day.
The Mixed U10 Gaelic football always brings the best of underage football into focus because anything can happen in this age group. It's sure to keep the managers and spectators alike on their toes as the action goes from end to end. This year Charlestown Carracastle are the Mayo champions and are showing very well in their matches to date. They have a lovely balanced team with skill in abundance. Winning the county title was a classic result and will give their players great confidence going into the Connaught semi final against Ballinamore who may be the bookies favourites going on past results at this age group. Charlestown Carracastle last tasted success in the year 2012, so now could be the time to look at the bigger prize that awaits them.
In the girls U-12 gaelic football the Mayo team are Carra who will take on Moycullen in the semi final decider. This Carra team has a great mix of strength stretching from the goalkeeper up to the forward line. This team knows how to score when the opportunity arrives as they proved in the county final against Cong.
Football in Charlestown Carracastle is beginning to yield the rewards of coaching and time spent learning the basic skills required, and we can see this when you look at the girls U-14 gaelic team who take on Carrick On Shannon in the Connaught community games semi final. Winning the county title against Bohola was impressive and we can expect a good game of football at the Ballintubber pitch when they meet the Galway kingpins. We certainly can expect an action packed day of sport from all teams involved from U-11 up to U-15 at the various venues selected for the games. Those young boys and girls are the stars of tomorrow in all grades of sport in their own area and county. They will go on to represent themselves at all levels and pick up the relevant awards that go with playing sport. We live in a digital world where it's all too easy to look at a screen and forget about playing the game or practising the cultural event.
