Mayo venue to host FAI Schools Primary 5s Connaught finals day
The road to the Aviva continues this week with the FAI Schools Primary 5s Connaught finals, which are taking place at Umbro Park, Milebush, Castlebar.
The Mayo venue is set to host the prestigious events over two days, with the girls section on Wednesday (May 15) and the boys category on Thursday (May 16).
A total of 224 players from 28 teams in 24 schools have qualified from their county finals to reach the provincial stages as six titles are up for grabs across the boys' and girls' categories.
The standard of football in the qualifying rounds was excellent, with the finals day expected to exceed this with some extremely good groupings up for decision.
St. Joseph’s NS, Ballinrobe, have two teams in the mix as the boys and girls compete in the C Cup for large schools. Likewise, Scoil Mhuire, Carrick-on-Shannon, have teams in both C finals.
Another Mayo school – Scoil Phádraig, Westport – have two teams in the mix, with their boys and girls qualified in the B Cup for medium schools, while Glanduff NS, Roscommon, will feature two teams in the A Cup for boys or mixed teams in the small schools division and in the girls' B Cup for medium size schools (as they have different enrolment numbers for boys and girls between fourth, fifth and sixth classes).
The A Cup for boys or mixed teams in small schools (0-25 boys) will see Ballintubber NS (Mayo), Knockminna NS (Sligo), Windfield NS (Galway), Glanduff NS (Roscommon) and Fenagh NS (Leitrim) all in contention for the Connacht title.
The girls' A Cup will see Belcarra NS (Mayo), Moylough NS (Sligo), Tierneevin NS (Galway), Ballyforan NS (Roscommon) and Diffreen NS (Leitrim) all in the mix.
Another eye catching division is the B Cup, which will see Scoil Phádraig (Mayo), Ransboro NS (Sligo), Gaelscoil Dara (Galway), Cloonfad NS (Roscommon) and Scoil Chlann Naofa (Leitrim) all gunning for glory. The girls' B Cup for medium schools (26-80 girls) features an array of talent, with Scoil Phádraig (Mayo), Gaelscoil Chroc na Re (Sligo), Scoil Fhursa (Galway), Glanduff NS (Roscommon) and St. Patrick’s NS (Leitrim) all looking to impress.
The large schools category (81+ boys), the C Cup, will have some competition, with St. Joseph’s NS, Ballinrobe, Our Lady of Mercy NS (Sligo), Scoil Iosaef Naofa (Galway) and Scoil Mhuire, Carrick-on-Shannon (Leitrim) all lining out for top spot.
Likewise, the girls' C Cup will serve up a delight, with St. Joseph’s NS, Ballinrobe, Scoil Ursula (Sligo), Scoil Mhuire, Moycullen (Galway) and Scoil Mhuire, Carrick-on-Shannon (Leitrim) all relishing the chance to progress to the national stage.
The provincial winners will go on to represent Connaught in the FAI Schools Primary 5s national finals, which is scheduled for Wednesday, May 29, at Aviva Stadium, Dublin.