Can Pádraig Pearses and St. Dominic’s reverse earlier defeats?
Connell Kennelly and his St. Dominic's team-mates will hope to turn the tables on Athleague on Sunday next. Picture: Gerard O'Loughlin
A repeat of the opening round meeting between the sides — one which saw Oran prevail by three points, albeit Ronan Finn netted with the final puck of the game for the Woodmount-based side.
That brings us on to the main theme of Pádraig Pearses’ campaign to date. Scoring, or lack thereof, has been a recurring issue in recent times.
After an encouraging showing against Oran despite being without key personnel, they secured an emphatic win over Roscommon Gaels.
At that stage, Cathal Kelly’s charges appeared to be in decent nick. However, more recently, the continued absence of Seán Canning has been keenly felt. Pearses have struck more wides than scores across their past two games (24 wides as opposed to 0-23 scored) as they have suffered successive defeats.
Pearses were arguably the better team for 40 minutes against table toppers Tremane, but their lack of cutting edge meant their foes were always in a position to pounce when the opportunity arose.
Meanwhile, Oran enter this contest on the back of a defeat to Four Roads but there were positives to take from that encounter. Francie Quine’s charges were the better side in the opening half and now appear to have a greater collective threat with Seamus Hussey adapting seamlessly to senior hurling.
Oran were the joint highest scorers after the round robin phase, and they get the nod to beat a Pearses side who held the best defensive record.
If this is anything close to the entertainment levels of their final round group game, then people could do a lot worse than to venture down to St. Aidan’s GAA grounds this Sunday.
These two sides produced the game of the championship when they collided in Woodmount on Sunday week last. Athleague emerged with a 2-18 to 4-11 win on an afternoon when St. Dominic’s managed to bag four goals but were ultimately left to rue squandered goal chances and 16 wides — 12 of which came in a first half they dominated for large stages.
Athleague’s revival has been one of the stories of the championship so far. After losing their opening two games — with the first loss to Roscommon Gaels appearing near fatal — they have managed to eke out successive victories. The fact they have done so while only being able to bring Gary Fallon off the bench in both games should give them huge confidence.
Naos Connaughton missed out on that Athleague defeat. His availability, just like Fallon’s, will be a key factor in terms of which of these sides will progress to the final four.
St. Dominic’s confidence has taken a hit as, after defeating Four Roads in the opening round, they have now gone three games without a win.
But Thady Beirne’s charges have more room for improvement, and they get a very tentative nod to send Athleague packing for the third successive year.
