Derby drama in store as Northern neighbours are drawn together
Burrishoole played Kilmeena in last year's intermediate championship but while Kilmeena will feature in the 2026 Mayo senior championship, Burrishoole are now in the junior. Picture: Conor McKeown
Group 1: Northern Gaels, Ballycroy, Killala, Achill, Ardagh.
Achill could be forgiven if feeling almost like an imposter as they are the only one of the five teams in this group not from North Mayo. The fact that the Northern Gaels unification of Kilfian and Lacken have been drawn alongside two of their nearest neighbours in Killala and Ardagh adds a huge amount of intrigue and will guarantee plenty of barroom chatter and some bumper attendances when the time for action comes around.
Throw into that mix Ballycroy, who reached their first junior quarter-final in a generation last season, and picking the three teams to qualify from the group seems an impossible task.
Ardagh surrendered an excellent position when beaten by eventual champions Kiltimagh in last year’s junior semi-final while Killala enter 2026 as current holders of the junior ‘B’ title.
Moygownagh didn’t field a team in last season’s junior ‘A’ championship so their return is to be welcomed but to say they have drawn the short end of the stick here is something of an understatement. All three of their group opponents will fancy themselves as serious championship contenders and the Burrishoole team that visits Fr Michael Gilroy Memorial Park for the opening round game will be aiming to make their stay in the third tier the shortest one possible.
The West Mayo side endured an annus horribilis in 2025 and it’s still hard to believe that Burrishoole, who contested the county intermediate final as recently as 2018, are now a junior club.
Shrule-Glencorrib, the only club in South Mayo to play in the junior championship, can tell them all about just how difficult it is to get out of there once you go down, likewise Bonniconlon who were relegated to junior in 2023 and who have reached a final and semi-final in the intervening two years without managing to get over the line.
The second of the five-team groups contains teams from west, east and north of the county – but for whom will things go all south?
Eastern Gaels never performed to their optimum when making the rarest of county junior final appearances last season and they enter 2026 under new management, so another strong push is likely from the Brickens-based outfit. Their opening round clash away to Tourmakeady should be a humdinger, with the Gaeltacht outfit making some steady progress in recent seasons.
Kilmovee Shamrocks reached last year’s county junior ‘B’ final by virtue of a home win against Swinford, who they host again in the first round of junior ‘A’ this year, while Ballycastle don’t enter the fray until Round 2 when they travel to Eastern Gaels.
With five rounds of games and each team having one bye, Swinford and Ballycastle are the two sides who will play four consecutive rounds without a break – Swinford rounds one to four and Ballycastle rounds two to five.
