Two weeks on from their historic All-Ireland final triumph over Kerry and the partying that followed, there was a return to normality for the Mayo players this weekend with the start of the county’s club championships.

There has already been some big results in the senior grade, with three in-a-row winners Ballina Stephenites suffering a shock defeat to Garrymore in their championship opener. 2025 semi-finalists Crossmolina would manage to overcome Ballintubber, while All-Ireland hero Ryan O’Donoghue would lead Belmullet to a dramatic comeback win over Knockmore.

The action continued on Sunday afternoon, with Breaffy taking on Ballaghaderreen. The former would emerge victorious, helped to the win by some incredible exploits from a couple of Mayo stars.

Mayo stars lead Breaffy to championship win

Breaffy would comfortably win this championship clash, having ten points to spare as they beat Ballaghaderreen on a scoreline of 0-22 to 0-12.

All-Ireland winners Jack Livingstone, Aidan O’Shea, and Matthew Ruane all started the game for Breaffy, with the former pair coming up with a couple of moments of genius.

Having made some wonderful saves for Mayo throughout this year’s championship, goalkeeper Livingstone would show his quality at the other end of the pitch in this game with a wonderful long range score.

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He would soon be outdone by his teammate.

Aidan O’Shea capped off the win for Breaffy with an incredible two-pointer with the outside of the boot in injury time.

A ridiculous piece of skill.

Can Breaffy make deep Mayo championship run?

The defeat for Ballina Stephenites in their opener will raise hopes of a more open championship in 2026, with that club having won the last three editions of the competition.

There is no shortage of talent in Mayo at the moment, with much of that spread across a number of clubs. As a result, there will be quite a few teams that fancy their chances of making deep runs over the coming months.

Breaffy will be hoping that came into the mix during the latter this season, having reached the quarter-finals in 2025. They lost by three points to Westport on that occasion, who went on to lose the county final after a replay.

Contributions such as these from their key players will certainly do their chances no harm.

Breaffy will face Belmullet in their next game, with 2025 semi-finalists Knockmore also part of this group. The top two will advance to the quarter-finals, with the losers from the opening weekend already under a bit of pressure when it comes to securing their place in the knockout rounds.