What would be your opinion of a Connacht Junior League? The province is now entering its 66th season without a finalist in the FAI Junior Cup, and something needs to be done to create a competitive league for these clubs to have a chance of winning the blue riband of junior soccer. Other factors include successful Mayo clubs playing all year round, thus the players suffer more from injuries and burnout, lopsided standards in the leagues, eg Team A 5-0 Team B, increase Connacht's chances of Oscar Traynor Cup success and allow the top players that wish to play junior football to play at a higher standard. My proposals would be a ten team league with eighteen rounds of fixtures which would have three Galway sides (Mervue United, Salthill Devon, Galway Hibs), three Mayo sides (Castlebar Celtic, Erris United, Westport United), two Sligo sides (Abbey United and Strand Celtic) and two Roscommon sides (Castlerea Celtic and Ballinasloe Town). The winners would win a trophy and a financial reward and the runners up would be financially rewarded. The bottom two sides would be relegated and the promoted sides would be the league champions/runners up of the league(s) involving the relegated sides. The facilities criteria would based on the criteria laid down by the Mayo League for the Super League clubs in the county. All the clubs would be seeded in the Connacht Cup draw when they enter at the bye stages with all the top flight clubs in the competition (4th round). There should be a league cup competition involved as well. The season would run from August to May with a break at Christmas with games on Sunday afternoons at 3:00 (2:00 during the winter months). Referees for this would be grade one standard. This would be an ideal substitute for the now defunct Connacht Senior League. Feel free to offer ideas, suggestions or to dismiss the idea.
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