Mayo sides leave their mark on Aviva Stadium

There was heartbreak yet pride in the achievements of two Mayo schools who got to grace the Aviva Stadium stage last week at the 2026 FAI Schools Primary 5s National Finals. Lankill National School from near Westport and Breaffy National School from outside Castlebar were both flying the flag for their county and province on Tuesday last (June 9).

Finishing as runners-up in the Girls ‘A’ Cup was bittersweet for Lankill as they beat the eventual winners Gaelscoil Cois Feabhail from Moville in the opening game – and were the only team to do so – but paid the price for dropping points in their next two games.

Áine Hughes netted twice for a brilliant 2-1 win for Lankill in their opener against the Donegal outfit and she was on target again in their next game against Cloneen NS from Tipperary, however, Áine O’Halloran struck an equaliser for the Munster champions and the game ended in stalemate at a goal apiece.

There was a hammer blow for Lankill in their third game when they were beaten 2-1 by Meath’s Kilbeg NS, as a brace by Abbie Jackson bettered Áine Hughes’ fourth goal of the day for the Mayo girls.

The result meant that in order to decide the silver medallists, Lankill would have to play-off with Cloneen NS after they had finished level on four points and also drew their previous fixture. The Connacht stars were calm, cool, and collected as they saw off the Tipp girls in a nervy end to their day’s activities.

It saw Lankill improve on last season’s third place finish, with back-to-back appearances in the national finals an incredible achievement for the small Mayo school.

The event saw 256 children from 29 schools involved in the final stages of the competition following four months of fun-filled nationwide activity, with Breaffy National School also making it to finals day in Dublin where they competed in the Girls ‘B’ Cup. Scoil Cholmáin Naofa, Mucklagh, Offaly were clear winners in this grouping with victories over Breaffy NS (1-0), Piltown NS (3-1) and Raphoe Central NS (3-1) to take the title.

Alice Cunningham’s solitary goal was the deciding factor in the Offaly side’s tense duel with Breaffy NS in what was the Mayo school’s opening game. Breaffy bounced back, however, with Lucy Murphy showing her magic by scoring all her side’s goals in a 3-2 win against Piltown of Waterford. Lucy was again on song for Breaffy in Round 3 but her only goal wasn’t enough to prevent a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Raphoe Central NS, as a crucial brace for Catherine Caldwell snatched them the valuable points late on.

The result left the two schools level on points in the group table but Raphoe took silver on the head-to-head rule with Breaffy having to settle for third place ahead of Piltown.