Mayo Junior Football Championship | |
---|---|
Irish | Craobh Soisear Peile Co. Muigheo |
Trophy | McDonnell Cup |
Title holders | Lahardane MacHales GAA |
Sponsors | TF Royal Hotel[1] |
The Mayo Junior Football Championship is an annual Gaelic football competition contested by lower-tier Mayo GAA clubs.
Lahardane are the current title holders (2023)
The trophy presented to the winners is the McDonnell Cup.[2][3]
The winners of the Mayo Junior Championship qualify to represent their county in the Connacht Junior Club Football Championship. They often do well there, with the likes of Kilmeena (January 2022, following 2021 Mayo JFC win), Kilmaine (2019), Louisburgh (2016) and Ardnaree Sarsfields (2015) among the clubs from Mayo to win at least one Connacht Championship after winning the Mayo Junior Football Championship.[4][5][6][7]
Former Mayo manager John Maughan was in charge of Lahardane when they won the 2017 Mayo JFC for the first time and then followed it up with a Connacht title, also in 2017.[8]
The winners can, in turn, go on to play in the All-Ireland Junior Club Football Championship. In 2022, Kilmeena became the first club from Mayo to win one All-Ireland Junior Football Championship after winning the Connacht and Mayo Junior Football Championships.[9] Previous finalists included Kiltimagh in 2010 and Ardnaree Sarsfields in 2016.[10]