Ballyvary hope to keep League 2 stay brief, Charlestown return to league

Similar to last season, only two ‘A’ teams are in McDonnell Construction League Two and both will be the favourites to go up in what is expected to be a keenly contested season.

Charlestown Athletic return to the Mayo League after a decade without a junior team. With strong numbers at training, the east Mayo club will be confident they can make an impact while Ballyvary Blue Bombers will hope for a swift return after a late goal by Ronan Weir saw Conn Rangers B stay in League One at Ballyvary’s expense.

While they have decided not a field a ‘B’ team for the upcoming season, numbers are strong nonetheless and there is a belief that not only can they get promoted but win a title also.

“It was heartbreaking at the end, to be honest,” said head coach James Golden on relegation. “The lads are looking to bounce back. They felt the pain of it. Now they want the feeling of going back up again and fighting where we belong.” 

There will be competition from the some of the Super League’s second team. Manulla ‘B’, who will be managed by Robert Fletcher, will hope to improve on a seventh-place finish last year and turn some of their narrow defeats into points on the board and compete for silverware, with several of their Eleanor Quigley U18 Shield winners set to be given their first experience in junior football.

“Last season, we came back after a break away from the league,” said captain Jason Cunningham. “Back to basics. We were competitive in nearly every game. I can’t think of many games we were rolled over but at the end of the season, it was very much mid-table.

One thing we need to pick up this year is putting the ball in the back of the net when it matters.

We’ve got more of a pathway this year. Last year, we had no under-18s or under-21s to feed through. Now we have two teams of young lads who’ve won silverware.

“We’ve seen last year that there isn’t much between the teams. It’s just getting a front foot and getting points on the board nice and early.” 

Out of all the ‘B’ teams last year, no one came closer to competing with eventual champions Achill Rovers and second placed Castlebar Town than Ballinrobe ‘B’. Finishing third last season, four points off Town, the goal is now to go one better and get promotion.

“There were a few games we could have done better. Lost a few games by a goal late on. That’s where we want to improve this year,” said head coach Greg Keleghan.

Only two clubs in the county can boast of having a ‘C’ team in Mayo junior football and they are Conn Rangers and Westport United.

Westport ‘C’, which is seen as a development team within the club and half of them were from the club’s under-18 ‘B’ team, got off to a great start to last season, winning five of their first seven league games, but the year petered out badly as they won only one of their remaining nine after many of their players, who were in Leaving Cert, were no longer available.

“It was an opportunity missed,” conceded manager Sean Morrin. “We actually played our last few games with nine players, instead of the eleven. If we won one of two of those games, we’d be up a division. From that point of view, we were disappointed, so we hope to put that right this year.

“We’re not just out there to play, we’re out there to compete.”