Grange and Ellistown look the pick of the Junior Football Championship
Pictured at the launch of the Tom Cross Junior Football Championship - Niall Kane (Robertstown), Pat Martin (Ellistown), Conor Harris (Rathcoffey), Kevin O'Shaughnessy (Rheban), Owen Whelan (Ballykelly), Tom Cross (Sponsor), Tomás Cullen (Grangenolvin), Jack Lee Parnell (Athgarvan), Paul Kirwan (Kill), Emmet Hyland (Castlemitchell), David Lovely (Cappagh), Joe Aherne (Ardclough)
LAUNCHING the competition the weekend of the All Ireland Final perhaps isn’t ideal, but there’s plenty to interest the staunch Kildare football fan in this year’s Tom Cross Transport Junior Football Championship which throws in on Thursday night with the Group A clash of Castlemitchell and Kill.
Friday night sees the Group B meetings of Ballykelly v Robertstown and Rheban v Ardclough while Saturday’s Group A games pit Cappagh against Rathcoffey and Athgarvan against Grangenolvin.
All the opening fixtures are in Manguard Park. Ellistown, newly relegated from Intermediate, sit out the first weekend and will operate in a five-team Group B.
Much of the focus will be on the upwardly mobile Grangenolvin. The Carlow border side under the management of Steven Cushe were impressive in winning Division 3 of the Hanlon Concrete Senior Football League, finishing level on points with last year’s Junior Champions Milltown before impressively bringing that club’s run of success to and end in a thrilling final (2-15 to 2-11).
It was sweet revenge for their one-point defeat to the same opponents in last year’s Junior semi-final and back-boned by the Bergin brothers, they will enter this year’s campaign as many people’s favourites.
Grange haven’t won the Junior title since 2005 when they overcame Robertstown and haven’t been back in a final since then.
It would be wise not to forget about Ellistown though. Having fallen through the trapdoor last year, they have been rebuilding a bright young team under Gavin Holligan and just missed out on promotion to Division 2 by a single point.
They drew with Grangenolvin too and will take comfort from the fact that the last three teams relegated from Intermediate (Kilcullen, Straffan and Milltown) have all bounced back at the first attempt.
If League form is our barometer, Kill should enter the campaign in confident mood as well. Under Alan Jordan’s tutelage they finished just behind Ellistown in Division 3 having drawn with Ellistown and Milltown and ran Grange to within a point. They shouldn’t be far away from the honours either.
Robertstown surprised some in reaching last year’s final. They were comprehensively outgunned by Milltown on the day, however, and this season has been one of struggle as they made the drop from Division 3 along with Ballymore Eustace.
Similar to Grange, Athgarvan are a club who have come on in leaps and bounds. Having struggled to field teams at senior level a few short years ago, they reached the Junior semi-final last year before losing out to Robertstown, but they’ve followed that by winning Division 4 of the League this summer.
That was the club from the edge of the Curragh’s first senior title in a long time and it’s 1952 since they reached the Junior final (losing to Leixlip on that occasion) but with forwards of the calibre of Cian Doyle, Alan Sourke and Jordan Nolan Mullally they’ll entertain their supporters and might just go one step further than last year.
Rathcoffey and last year’s Junior A winners Castlemitchell are likely to be the best of the rest.
