Clann na nGael best placed to challenge St. Brigid’s

We’re six rounds into the local senior ladies’ football championship at this stage. As I said last week, Brigid’s remain in the box seat. They’ll be the only unbeaten side when it comes to the semi-final stages in a few weeks’ time.

They’ve been racking up big scores and look to be a solid team throughout. However, the unfortunate loss of Kate Nolan through injury though will hurt them. While they’ve proven well ahead of the posse in the group stage, I expect that gap to narrow considerably, and Clann are the most likely challengers.

Clann will meet Dominic’s or Éire Óg in a semi-final. My own club have done quite well and while I’ll be hoping they can pull off a big performance, I think the loss of a couple of key players for them is going to see them caught out eventually.

Éire Óg have done really well in their first year at senior level and will fancy their chances against Dominic’s in the group stages this weekend. They too will come up short against the big guns though when it comes down to it, I suspect.

Boyle have had a year to forget. With them down a number of players for most of the championship campaign, I think they’ll be happy just to avoid relegation and write this year off and hope to get a full squad back in action next year.

Their neighbours Shannon Gaels will be disappointed with how their campaign has gone, I’d imagine. They flattered to deceive, faltering after some very positive early performances.

For Kilbride, it has obviously been a difficult season, for many reasons. From what I’ve seen, they’ve shown great heart and togetherness throughout. They’ll know that when they get some of their injured stars back next year, they’ll be able to bounce back to winning ways.

So I’m expecting we’ll see a Brigids v Clann final at the end of September. With Jenny Higgins and Orla O’Neill returning from injury, Clann are perfectly positioned to time their run for a big tilt at the county’s form team. It’s been a decent championship so far and, hopefully, the knockout stages will see things step up another notch.

At intermediate level, St. Ciaran’s look the form team. They’ve been in this position before though and failed to capitalise, so that will leave them feeling nervous. St. Barry’s look the next best side in the competition.

For the junior championship, with two groups it’s hard to get a clear read on who’s performing best. Pádraig Pearses and St. Mary’s are the form teams so far, but I wouldn’t be surprised if St. Faithleach’s are in the mix at the end either.