Stats stack up in Westport’s favour
Westport manager Pat Holmes has previously won the Moclair Cup with Castlebar Mitchels both as joint-manager and as a player. Picture: Conor McKeown
This is one fixture that looked particularly unlikely when Breaffy were deadlocked with Belmullet in the fumes of second-half stoppage time in their final round group game. Robbie Fadden’s last gasp kick has changed the course of Breaffy’s season however, and how long their championship extension lasts is anyone’s guess at this stage. After all, Breaffy are this season’s Mayo SFL Division 1 title holders despite not even at their best when beating Crossmolina Deel Rovers after extra-time in the final, and given all the hype about Rovers potentially winning Mayo’s intermediate and senior championship crowns back-to-back, wouldn’t it be foolish to dismiss the Moclair Cup hopes of Sean Deane’s team too? So many times the nearly men, could Breaffy strike when least expected.
One thing’s for sure, they won’t fear the visit of Westport next Saturday. In fact, they’ll relish it. The West Mayo rivals have been familiar championship foes in recent years, and this match is an exact repeat of last year’s quarter-final where Breaffy made the most of home advantage to sneak by the Coveys 1-10 to 0-12, with Aidan O’Shea named Man of the Match.
If that doesn’t get Westport’s gander up though, nothing will, and with Matthew Ruane having to play on through injury of late, the potential for Westport to exploit that Breaffy impediment around the middle, where Lee Keegan, Eoghan McLaughlin and Rory Brickenden have looked in excellent form, could be pivotal.
Westport, under a new management this season which is spearheaded by the ultra-experienced Pat Holmes, have also scored an average of just over two points a game more than Breaffy and conceded three points a game less, despite being one of just two teams who failed to score a two-pointer from play during the opening three rounds of the senior championship (the other was Castlebar Mitchels who were denied a place in the quarter-finals by virtue of Breaffy’s late, late win against Belmullet).
Given that Breaffy are the lowest scorers of the eight quarter-finalists and that only Belmullet have conceded fewer scores than Westport thus far, the indicators are that the visitors, who already showed their mettle with a draw away to Knockmore, might just have enough to get through on this occasion.
Verdict: Westport
