Can ‘Top Guns’ avoid being shot down?

Entering this year’s Ward Bros. Intermediate Football Championship, there are two sides that are currently perceived to be ahead of the pack.

With many already expecting Tulsk and Strokestown to progress to the decider, the duo will know they both have an excellent shot at a return to the senior ranks. But Tulsk only need to look across the N5 to their neighbours to deduce that an immediate return to the top table is far from a foregone conclusion.

Strokestown and Tulsk are undoubtedly the top guns. Just like Tom Cruise in his role as Lieutenant Pete "Maverick" Mitchell in the ‘Top Gun’ series of films, Tulsk and Strokestown are currently the high flyers who will need to be capable of performing at a high altitude and avoid being shot down.

In saying that, there are sides capable of clipping their wings. Éire Óg will always have a chance, especially if Conor Cox can catch fire. Cox and Brian Greene were both absent from their league final defeat to Tulsk but, in football’s new world, the pair can cause damage closer to goal and from deep.

In mentioning football’s new rules, the early stages of the championship may see higher scoring contests. As the competition develops, a combination of worsening weather conditions and the tension associated with high-flying sides meeting in the latter stages of a campaign may lead to defences being on top.

Fuerty are capable of producing the goods in a once-off knockout game. They only trailed Strokestown by a point after three-quarters of last year’s semi-final but an inspirational late cameo by the Black and Amber left Fuerty dealing with the wreckage of a semi-final defeat.

Can Fuerty improve enough in a year to overturn an 11-point defeat to Strokestown in that last four clash?

Creggs possess players who would be more than capable of mixing it in the senior ranks but have they sufficient strength-in-depth to maintain a challenge for top honours over the course of the championship? The border club have struggled to jump the quarter-final hurdle in recent times, but an excellent O’Gara Cup campaign should leave them chomping at the bit to take down a heavy hitter.

Shannon Gaels possess dangerous marksmen in attack. Having lost out at the quarter-final stages for the past two seasons, however, can their lively attack make use of the new rules while keeping their defence locked down?

Meanwhile, St. Brigid’s B and Pádraig Pearses B are capable of landing in the knockout stages should they not be adversely affected by their first teams’ campaigns.

Recent history has shown that the top teams in the intermediate championship are operating at a high altitude. All one needs to do is look at Castlerea and St. Faithleach’s recent successes, or even Elphin’s one-point defeat to eventual All-Ireland champions Crossmolina as evidence.

Tulsk and Strokestown appear to be flying highest but there are plenty of others who can parachute themselves to the front of the pack.

The charge for the Jamesie Murray Cup is about to get underway.