Crucial weekend of football action ahead
Paddy McDermott is tackled by Padraig Tuohy during the last Championship meeting between Naas and Eadestown in 2022. Naas won that game by 1-15 to 0-11 Photo: Sean Brilly
The second game of the group stages in the Senior and Intermediate Championships are always an important one as teams stake their claims for a place in the knockout stages. RICHARD COMMINS previews the action to come this weekend where the game between surprise package Eadestown and county champions Naas has the potential to be tie of the weekend.
Emmet Bolton’s Eadestown have been the ‘bolters’ in this season’s senior championship, with a win over Clane followed by a draw with Sarsfields that many observers thought they deserved to win.
Those results have set up a mouth-watering tie in Group A with three-in-a-row champions Naas on Sunday. The players know each other well of course, with the Naas CBS connection in many cases while the likes of the three Boran brothers play hurling with the county town team.
Naas had a facile win over Confey in their Group opener and it’s impossible to see beyond them this weekend with the likes of Alex Beirne and James Burke in such good form, but Eadestown will give them a run for their money.
In the same group, Sarsfields should have too much for Confey ahead of a final round showdown with the county champions.
The feature game in Group B sees Athy and Celbridge face off on Saturday evening. This could be one of the tightest games of the weekend. Athy only squeezed past Clogherinkoe last weekend while Celbridge were very impressive in bursting Allenwood’s bubble.
That form might take them past Athy on this occasion, particularly if the latter are as open defensively as against Maynooth in the Preliminary Round.
In the other game, Clogherinkoe may be feeling better about themselves than Allenwood after the weekend, and with Céin McMonagle in such form they may be slight favourites for this one. It should be another tight affair, though.
In the Losers’ groups, relegation loom large for the four teams who lost in the opening round with Carbury, St Laurence’s and Kilcock particularly poor in those games. Maynooth are probably the odd one out of the losing quartet having been edged out by Moorefield.
Maynooth, though, are under pressure now to get into the knockout stages and they’ll find it hard in Group D against a Clane team boosted by the return of Adam Fanning in their win against Kilcock last weekend.
Moorefield are fancied to leave Kilcock staring at a relegation play off in the same group whereas in Group C, Raheens look likely to inflict more pain on a struggling St Laurence’s.
That leaves potentially the match of the weekend in the losers’ section where neighbours Carbury meet Johnstownbridge with a lot more than local pride at stake. Carbury will struggle to pick up anything against ‘Bridge and their final game against St Laurence’s has the look of a relegation semi-final already.
In a quirk of fate, three of the four Auld Shebeen Athy Intermediate Championship groups feature the winning teams from round one facing each other in round two. The exception is Group A where Leixlip, who overcame much-fancied Sallins last week face Straffan. They should move onto the four points mark. Sallins, on the other hand, will be looking to get back on track against Rathangan. Expect them to do so. Both those games are in Clane on Sunday.
In the other Winners’ group, Group B, Round Towers and St Kevin’s continue their impressive campaigns to date with a mouth-watering clash on Thursday night in Manguard Park. Towers might just edge it but a bit like Eadestown in the senior grade, Kevin’s have been a revelation so far and won’t be far away in this one.
In the same group, two recent operators at senior level, Ballyteague and Castledermot, face off looking for their first points. Jimmy Hyland has been in form for Ballyteague and with Castledermot really struggling so far, his influence may be deciding factor.
Group C and D feature, with respect to the four teams involved, two games which will go some way to deciding which teams are in danger of dropping down to Junior. In Group C, Ballymore Eustace need to stop their freefall against Nurney and the local derby in Group D between Kilcullen and Suncroft should be equally tasty.
At the top end of those groups, Milltown and Monasterevan got their seasons back on track with wins over Nurney and Ballymore Eustance in Group C while in Group D, Two Mile House and Caragh will both be looking to maintain maximum points also.
The Tom Cross Transport Junior Football Championship was disrupted somewhat with Ardclough conceding to Robertstown while a bereavement unfortunately saw the local derby between Ballykelly and Ellistown deferred.
There are three games this weekend in Group A with Division 4 SFL winners Athgarvan, still looking for their first group win, up against the team they beat in that league final, Rathcoffey, on Friday night. Rathcoffey may reverse that outcome on form having run Grangenolvin to a point last week.
Grangenolvin and Kill is probably the game of the weekend in the grade with both sides unbeaten in their three games to date, though Kill dropped a point in the draw with Castlemitchell. If Grangenolvin can recover the form from their first two games they can maintain their one hundred percent record.
Cappagh and Castlemitchell have two and three points respectively and will both still entertain hopes of a knock-out place, but Castlemitchell look the stronger of the two.
The five-team Group B has struggled for momentum so far. Robertstown and Ellistown meet this weekend having only played a game each. These are the two strongest teams in the group and Ellistown will be aiming to take another step towards an immediate return to Intermediate ranks. Ballykelly meet Rheban in the other game, a difficult one to call. Both beat Ardclough to gain their two points to date, but Ballykelly were more impressive in doing so and may be favoured here.
Venue: Manguard Park Pitch 1, Round Towers V St Kevin's 20:00, Referee: Colm Kearney
Tom Cross Transport Junior Football Championship Group B
Venue: Manguard Park Pitch 2, Rheban V Ballykelly 19:45, Referee: Jamie Lyons
Venue: St Laurence's, St. Laurence's V Celbridge 19:30, Referee: Niall Colgan
Venue: Manguard Park Pitch 1, Maynooth V Clane 20:00, Referee: Billy O Connell
Venue: Manguard Park Pitch 2, Two Mile House V Caragh 19:30, Referee: Ken Doyle
Venue: Round Towers, Milltown V Monasterevan 19:30, Referee: Eamonn Kelly
Venue: Raheens, Athgarvan V Rathcoffey 20:00, Referee: Paraic Mc Givern
Venue: Manguard Park Pitch 1, Ballyteague V Castledermot 13:00, Referee: Frank Delaney
Venue: Clane, Eadestown V Naas 16:30, Referee: Kieran Harris
Venue: Manguard Park Pitch 1, Carbury V Johnstownbridge 14:30, Referee: Niall Colgan
Venue: Manguard Park Pitch 1, Raheens V St. Laurence's 16:00, Referee: Fergus Devereux
Venue: Manguard Park Pitch 1, Athy V Celbridge 18:00, Referee: Brendan Cawley
Venue: Round Towers, Kilcullen V Suncroft 16:00, Referee: Killian Jones
Venue: Kilcullen, Ballymore Eustace V Nurney 19:30, Referee: Jack O Connell
Venue: Manguard Park Pitch 2, Grangenolvin V Kill 12:30, Referee: Daren Malone
Venue: Clane, Cappagh V Castlemitchell 15:00, Referee: PJ Cummins
Venue: Rathcoffey, Ellistown V Robertstown 18:00, Referee: Henry Barrett
Venue: Manguard Park Pitch 1, Sarsfields V Confey 15:30, Referee: Conor Daly
Venue: Manguard Park Pitch 1, Clogherinkoe V Allenwood 14:00, Referee: Alan Archbold
Venue: Manguard Park Pitch 1, Moorefield V Kilcock 17:30, Referee: Alan Lagrue
Venue: Clane, Sallins V Rathangan 14:00, Referee: Ryan Moran
Venue: Clane, Leixlip V Straffan 15:30, Referee: Damien Whelan
