Closely contested Intermediate Championship quarter-finals expected
Caragh's Ryan Burke and Sallins' Colm Dalton will be key to their respective team's chances when they clash in the first of the Auld Shebeen Intermediate Football Championship quarter-finals Photo: Sean Brilly
The Auld Shebeen Athy Intermediate Football Championship continues to enthral and it would take a brave person to confidently state the winner at this stage. Leixlip and Round Towers have probably been the pick of the bunch so far but there are a number of other sides left in the competition with genuine Championship aspirations.
Another Preliminary Round repeat and St Kevin’s will be hoping the result is similar too having given near neighbours Milltown a roasting on their return to the Intermediate grade.
Milltown learned quickly from that one, though, and sailed through their Loser’s group with wins over Monasterevan, Nurney and Ballymore, while Kevin’s achievement in finishing second to Round Towers, ahead of Castledermot and Ballyteague, is not one to be sniffed at.
County hurler Mark Grace has been a big influence for St Kevin’s around the middle while Conor Murray is their main scoring threat. They recovered well from a heavy defeat to Towers to draw with an improving Ballyteague side in their final group game.
Milltown have been missing Junior Club Player of the Year Kevin Byrne for most of this campaign, placing a heavier reliance on youngsters such as Patrick Donoghue and Ben Curran alongside the more experienced Alan Dignam and Colin O’Shea.
Kevin’s may benefit here from competing in the Winners’ section and with the confidence from that Preliminary Round win, they look well-placed to secure their place in the last four.
From their Preliminary Round massacre of Ballymore Eustace, Towers have had the look of potential Intermediate champions with Mark Scanlon doing a fine job of reviving them two years after their drop from Senior.
With father and son attacking duo Jason and Jay O’Brien in flying form, they overcame a stern test from Ballyteague with five points to spare, routed St Kevin’s and then looked to have more in the tank when holding off Castledermot.
A local derby will certainly fire up opponents Rathangan, who have had something of a curate’s egg of a campaign which has been bookended by wins over Suncroft in the Preliminary Round and again in last Saturday’s Preliminary Quarter Final.
In between they were in a difficult Winners’ Group where they beat Straffan before losing out to Sallins and Leixlip, two teams who will feel they’ll be in the mix for honours.
Rathangan have plenty of talent when you consider the two Teahans, Sam Savage and Muiris Curtin but Towers look the more rounded team and form suggests they should be able to cope with their neighbours on this occasion.
Only an injury time Tommy Moolick penalty rescued Leixlip in the Preliminary Round against Kilcullen. Not an auspicious start for them and Moolick’s accuracy from the spot has been a theme throughout with successful conversions against Sallins and Rathangan as his team went through their group unbeaten.
Each of their four games were won by a two-point margin. That’s a sign of a team who know how to survive a dogfight, a compelling argument in their favour ahead of this weekend’s encounter with Ballyteague.
The counter argument is they’ll get caught eventually but in the free-scoring Jack Barrett, 1-22 to date, the aerial threat of Moolick and Darren McDermott, operating at full-forward, and Jack Quinn back from injury in defence, they look strong on paper.
Ballyteague are gradually recovering from relegation last year, although they failed to win any of their group games, drawing twice. A win against Monasterevan last weekend saw them through to this encounter and Jimmy Hyland has been on fire up front, with Fionn Murphy his willing foil as always.
We’re going to go slightly against form lines here and suggest Ballyteague might just edge it. As long as they don’t concede a penalty!
Repeats of Preliminary Round pairings have been a feature of the Senior and Intermediate competitions, but no one will be complaining about this appetising one.
Sallins had the upper hand when they met the first time, franking their credentials as favourites for the title, though a defeat to Leixlip in the group stages and the form of Round Towers perhaps dampened some of that enthusiasm.
They remain a top class outfit, though, with talent across the starting fifteen. Colm Dalton was on fire the last day against Straffan, as he has been all year, and an expected match-up with Ryan Burke will be eagerly anticipated. Luke Killian too has been in form at midfield while the likes of James Dalton, Stephen Kelly and Paul Farrelly have weighed in with plenty of scores.
Caragh have rebuilt nicely through the Losers’ section, but Suncroft, Kilcullen and Two Mile House are not the same quality of opposition as Sallins will pose. They have in Burke, Eoghan O’Haire and Darragh Swords three players who can trouble the men in green but might be scuppered by the bad luck of the draw once again having lost out to eventual winners Allenwood at this stage last year.
Ballymore Eustace v Two Mile House
Ballymore were playing senior ten years ago. Then in four years from 2016 onwards they went down to Junior twice, each time coming straight back before reaching the Intermediate final in 2021.
Two Mile House meanwhile were promoted to Senior in 2018 but came straight back down. But they have been competitive at Intermediate level until now, reaching the semi-final last year. While Ballymore’s appearance in the relegation final was signposted by poor League form and relegation to Division 4, their opponents slipped almost unnoticed into danger.
House were eyeing the knockout stages before their final game, but they encountered Suncroft’s season’s best performance and succumbed to three killer goals.
Ballymore will feel they have played better at times than their results suggest, including against Monasterevan the last day, but their five-point reversal in that game typifies their inability to find a win.
They have very capable players in Niall and Simon Murphy and the Barretts and a great escape can’t be written off. Two Mile House are very reliant still on the likes of Peter Kelly and Mark Sherry, while county goalkeeping panellist Didier Cordonnier has been playing outfield.
Being a local derby between clubs only ten kilometres apart, it is difficult to predict. Two Mile House look better placed to edge it by a point or two. A draw wouldn’t be a huge surprise.
