Teams’ fate hang in the balance as championship group stages reach a conclusion
St. Faithleach's centre-back Darren Nerney tries to prevent Western Gaels forward Tommy Gill from getting away possession during last Saturday evening's senior football championship encounter in Ballyleague. Picture: Gerard O'Loughlin
This is the perfect game for Castlerea St. Kevin’s to show that they’re right at home in the senior football championship.
Tactically, they were more astute than Tulsk in the second round, implementing the gameplan that served them so well last season.
Their defensive set-up will aim to starve Oran’s key forwards of the possession, and space, they usually thrive in.
With Aaron McDermott, and possibly his cousin Darren, back in the forward line, it might take the attention off Aaron’s younger brother Adam, who Castlerea rely on so much to do the bulk of their scoring.
Now that they’ll be contemplating a loss, but a Roscommon Gaels victory in the other game guarantees Castlerea’s progression on their head to head with Tulsk, so it’s something to fall back on.
Oran refined their gameplan for the challenge of Roscommon Gaels. Their greater emphasis on minding the house was justified in that they secured a merited draw.
So do they stick or twist on Friday evening, The answer probably lies somewhere in between. They certainly have the personnel to get the job done. Their greater experience at this level makes them slight favourites.
Tulsk were a huge disappointment against Castlerea St. Kevin’s.
For a team that should have been buzzing after their smash and grab victory against Oran in the opening round, they were surprisingly flat last time out, and paid a heavy price.
Realistically, they’ll be hoping for Castlerea to do them a favour against Oran to cement their progression to the preliminary quarter-finals.
Not that Roscommon Gaels were any great shakes against Oran. A disjointed performance followed a relatively bright opening, and manager Mark Dowd knows that huge improvement will be required if they’re going to be part of the conversation at the business end of the championship.
For a team that have players like Cian Connolly, Peter Gillooly and Ryan Conlon in their forward line, they need to be posting tallies higher than 1-6. In their defence, they were far more clinical against Castlerea in the opening round when they went direct, which Oran prevented them from doing, so they’re, perhaps, entitled to some leeway.
On Friday evening, they should return to winning ways and cement top spot in the group.
Probably Mission Impossible for Western Gaels who face the St. Brigid’s juggernaut that, even without Ben O’Carroll, are too good for everyone else in the group.
The problem for Western Gaels is that they have to go for it, which will leave them exposed to St. Brigid’s free-flowing football where the ball is moved quickly and usually ends up in the right player’s arms.
For St. Brigid’s, it’s all about trying out a few more players and building depth in their panel. Whether Friday evening comes too soon for Eddie Nolan remains to be seen, but it would be the ideal game to give the Roscommon midfielder some game time.
As always, Western Gaels will give it their best shot, but they’ve it all to do.
For Glaveys to push on and become an established senior team, beating a side like St. Faithleach’s has to become part of the staple diet.
They showed flashes of what they can do against Western Gaels, and yet, despite a lightning quick start, they only prevailed by a point.
But it was a victory for Iain Daly and his charges, nonetheless, so here’s the chance to cement second place in the group.
Faithleach’s made life difficult for St. Brigid’s in the second half of their opening round game before just about getting the better of Western Gaels last weekend.
If Diarmuid Murtagh plays closer to goal, they have plenty of ammunition. At the moment, Faithleach’s feel that they need his experience further out the field.
Still, Karl Nerney, Cian Glennon, Darren Nerney, David Rooney and Ciaráin Murtagh are proven performers and, despite Glaveys’ intercounty cohort, Faithleach’s might just be that bit better-balanced as a team.
Pretty much a dead rubber in Knockcroghery, which is a pity because there might have been skin and hair flying if there was something more tangible on the line.
With Dominic’s destined for the relegation play-offs and Clann probably heading towards top spot, unless Boyle can win big against Pearses, this is a game where both teams will be finetuning their squads for the more important challenges down the line.
Dominic’s have been competitive against Boyle and Pearses, and the return of Daire Keenan is a boost. But they have a lot of players that are still getting accustomed to life at senior level.
Clann will be buoyed by the manner of their victory against Boyle where David McManus was particularly impressive.
On their day, they’ll feel they can beat anyone, and that includes St. Brigid’s. But they need to be professional and get the job done here.
What’s more, the Clann faithful will demand it.
A repeat of last year’s semi-final, which Boyle won.
Afterwards, manager Cian Smith said that it’s always a special day for Boyle when they manage to beat a team the far side of Tulsk but, in truth, they’ll have their work cut out to repeat the trick on Saturday evening.
Quite frankly, the exertions of reaching the last two county finals, and losing them, appear to have caught up with Boyle. Granted they are missing key players, but they don’t have the same energy and drive that defined the last two campaigns.
Not that Pearses’ energy levels have been off the charts but there were signs that things were beginning to knit together during that second-half performance against St. Dominic’s.
Conor Daly is back exerting his influence, and the return of Eoin Colleran and Paul Carey brings an added dimension to Frank Canning’s outfit.
It would be a surprise to see them slip up here.
Both sides have looked way off the pace in their two games to far, and yet one of them will be in the knockout stages on Sunday evening.
Kilbride have shipped a whopping 4-37, while Pearses have only managed to score 0-6 in two hours of championship football. So something has to give.
There are mitigating circumstances of course. Kilbride’s rate of player turnover has been unsustainable, while Pearses have lost too many key players from the side that came perilously close to reaching last year’s final.
The wiser money is on Pearses to pull a rabbit from the hat.
The sort of local derby that the good folk around Croghan, Drumlion and Cortober will relish, and, consequently, there should be a cracking atmosphere in Ballinameen on Sunday afternoon.
Apart from their surprise league final defeat against St. Dominic’s, Shannon Gaels have been excellent under new manager Ray Tubman. With Matthew Bourke and Cian Harmon leading the way, they’ve put themselves in with a chance of securing top spot in the group.
But Elphin are a different animal to Kilbride and Pearses. Whatever doubts existed about their forward line, following a strong defensive showing against Pearses, were banished when, led by Fintan Cregg, they hit 1-22 against Kilbride.
They won’t reach that tally next Sunday, but they should still top the group.
Two teams heading in vastly different directions, which represents a far cry from their semi-final meeting in 2022.
Éire Óg, who are set to top the group, have been professional in the way they’ve went about their business. Predictably, Conor Cox is doing the bulk of their scoring but it’s their defence, led by Denis Barron, that has caught the eye so far.
It’s hard to know what to make of Croan’s. They’ve too many good players to be involved in a relegation dogfight, but that’s what awaits them irrespective of what happens here.
They need to start veering away from the mindset that “we’re too good to go down”.
Probably the game of the weekend in the intermediate football championship, and, with derby bragging rights on the line, there will be plenty of bite to this clash.
Under Tom Óg O’Brien, Creggs have seen incremental improvement this season, and while they’ll be disappointed that they allowed Éire Óg too much of a headstart in Round Two, a gap of just three points at the end spoke volumes about their “never say die” attitude.
Ronan Dowd, Shane Dowd and Darren Gately will relish this challenge, while goalkeeper Seán O’Rourke has enjoyed a fine championship.
But Fuerty are coming to the boil nicely. Gearóid Ennis was superb against St. Croan’s, and with Mark Ward, Cormac Lavin and Niall Keenan leading the supporting the cast, they’re primed to take the most direct route to the knockout stages.
This should be a fairly straightforward assignment for Kilmore.
Aside from wanting to gain revenge for the loss when the sides met in the O’Gara Cup earlier this season at the same venue, their victory against St. Brigid’s in the opening round looks like being pivotal to their hopes of confirming their place in the quarter-finals.
Given St. Michael’s inferior scoring difference, a loss here only becomes consequential if St. Brigid’s beat Strokestown, which seems unlikely.
It has been a baptism of fire for Michael’s on their return to the intermediate ranks. While losing to Strokestown was expected, going down by 11 points to St. Brigid’s was hugely disappointing.
If Fiachra Henry is held, it’s hard to see where their scores are going to come from.
All known form suggests a Strokestown victory, although St. Brigid’s won’t make life easy for them.
While Diarmuid McGann, Mikey Kavanagh and Colin Compton have been to the fore in their first two games, it’s the sign of Colm Neary getting game time, after his long lay-off through injury, that will have given supporters of the Black and Amber the greatest source of satisfaction.
But Brigid’s will have taken plenty of positives from their dismissal of St. Michael’s, although they’ll be aware that Strokestown’s tackling will be far more intense.
Seán Trundle, Jimmy Curley, Cathal Dolan, Paddy Higgins and Gearóid Cunniffe will be the chief architects in springing a possible ambush, but it’s hard to see those plans coming to fruition.
