Sallins set a high bar going into IFC final
Sallins' Luke Kelly and Stephen Mann of St Laurences during the Keogh Cup final earlier this year Photo: Sean Brilly
As ST LAURENCE’S bid to clinch an immediate return to senior football and SALLINS seek to end a nineteen-year spell outside the top flight, RICHARD COMMINS looks ahead to Saturday’s decider.
THE Kildare Intermediate Football Championship is renowned as one of the most competitive grades, not just in the county, but across the country. It’s easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than a relegated team to bounce back to senior as evidenced by the long gap back to 2009 since anyone achieved the feat. Maynooth were the camel in question.
Saturday’s final pits a team who looked hot favourites from day one, thanks to a stellar panel and a top four spot in Division 1 of the League, in Sallins, with a team who were considered contenders simply due to their newly relegated status, St Laurence’s.
Once the championship got into swing, though, Larries looked less like potential winners, with defeats by Ellistown in the Preliminary Round and Kilcullen in the group stages hardly ringing endorsements of their credentials.
But a hard-fought quarter final win over Castledermot brought them back into the spotlight and, with all due respect to their opponents along the way, Noel Mooney’s men took advantage of an easier looking half of the draw to meet the challenge of Two Mile House head on in the last four to qualify for their tilt with Sallins.
A glance at their paths to the final below shines a light on the scale of the challenge facing the underdogs. Sallins have scored 14 goals and won their six games with a cumulative 98 points to spare (average of 16). Ten points is as close as anyone has got to them (Towers and Milltown both achieving that mark). The goal conceded against Milltown was the first time ‘keeper Matthew Farrelly was beaten.
A young St Laurence’s have been dogged defensively and have plenty of strength and height in the likes of Mark Glynn, TJ Nolan, Tom Dooley, Adam Steed and Senan Murphy while in Ruaidhrí Lawlor have a skillful operator whichever line of the field he plays.
But Sallins are an outstanding all-round team. The Dalton brothers are the headline act but are well supported by the likes of the Ó Domhnaills, the Kellys, Darragh Mangan, Luke Killian and impressive shooter Cian Grimes.
It’s impossible to see beyond the men in white and green who should win with something to spare on all known form.
