Hopefully the highly anticipated and much delayed west junior b football championship goes ahead on Sunday.
The highly anticipated west junior b hurling final last Saturday ended in a welter of excitement, the hungry west board were only delighted that it finished level.
There was no way theyâd have a âfinish on the dayâ stipulation. Another bumper pay day for them this Sunday for the replay in Drom.
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Stakes bowed out and gave a walkover late enough to prevent the 1/4 being played this weekend
Some stupid stuff alright.
Not sure how much itâll hinder K/D with their Premier Junior Football Q/F the weekend straight after the newly scheduled Hurling Q/F but Iâd assume the majority of players would be dual?
Mostly dual and winning momentum to get them to the end.
The Gucci man was a consistent 8/9/10 all year but he wasnât scoring sensation goals or points to please the judges.Teams only win all Irelandâs because of the likes of DOD.Gillane will get it making it a 3 in a row for Partickswell.Wont it?
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Yeah, if he gets it it will be lynch, byrnes and gillane. Lynch has two. Some going for a club in such a small parish
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Has that even happened before,I doubt it.
I think not. Ballyhale would be the closest
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They need to seriously up the punishments for walkovers. The championships have been blighted with them. That w/o officially eliminates Askeaton.
Stakers should be sent down Junior B now. No more about it.
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This seems to have been the worst year ever.
Your fellow parishioner on the board told me that it is a big concern and being reviewed
I donât think LimerickNomad ever made an appearance here did he?
I donât believe so.
15/22 last week, with obviously some matches still to be played after getting called off last week. Not as good as the week before, but still not bad. The one major shock was Kilmallock 2 pulling out a win against Croagh/Kilfinny.
We move onto the knockout stages in Senior & Junior; the Intermediate have to play off the final group matches that werenât played last week while the Premier Intermediate play out their final group game which should be very intriguing. Not going to re-predict the re-fixed matches, Iâll stick with last weekâs predictions.
Senior Quarter-Finals
Sunday October 1
Doon (1/3) vs Mungret/St. Paulâs (11/4) @ 2pm in the Gaelic Grounds
Ballybrown (9/2) vs Patrickswell (1/6) @ 4pm in the Gaelic Grounds
We move onto the senior quarter-finals and weâll be treated to a double header in the Gaelic Grounds. Pity the scheduling doesnât allow for us to take both in as well as the last round of the Premier Intermediate, maybe could have played one on Saturday night. But I shouldnât complain too much, at least Iâll get to watch a few matches this weekend.
Mungret have already had a great season and this is a free shot against a much-weakened Doon side. Doon have shipped a couple of hammerings and are obviously missing a huge amount of backs but they dug out the results they needed to⌠first to avoid relegation and then to make a quarter-final, when they were written off in some quarters. But theyâre definitely not the force they have been in other years and Mungret will reckon they are there for the taking. Iâve said it a few times but they are down Richie English, Josh Ryan, Chris Thomas, Mikey OâBrien, Tommy Hayes and Patrick Cummins⌠their six starting backs last year. Iâd actually give them a fair bit of credit for regrouping and getting this far with the likes of Adam English, Darragh OâDonovan, Barry Murphy, Eddie Stokes and young Donal Coughlan really stepping up in the absence of others. English looks to have kicked on another gear and is one of the elite players in the competition. As mentioned, Mungret have already completed what they set out to do by getting promoted to the Senior A group with a great win over Ballybrown the last day. They looked fairly comfortable on the ball in poor conditions and will definitely feel like Doon are there for the taking. The likes of Brian OâMeara and Fintan Fitz dropping in around the middle of the field to receive passes allowed them to hurt Ballybrown and eventually get the ball they needed into the likes of Liam Lynch inside. Barry Duff added yet another goal and his direct running has been a major feature of their game. People talk about belief and itâs one of those things that you donât really know about until you are in the heat of battle. Everyone will say you believe you can win, and you obviously do at surface level. But if there are any doubts about that, they will be exposed when you play the better teams. I think there was an element of that in a couple of matches this year, with maybe Doon benefiting already. I do think Doon are there to be got at, Mungret riding the wave of momentum could win but if there are any doubts at all in Mungret, Doon will expose that. I think Doon just about have enough in attack to get the scores that Ballybrown were unable to but theyâll be pushed all the way. Doon by 4.
This is a draw people wanted in that itâs a parish derby but Ballybrown have fucked up for a second year in a row. In a good position but didnât get the job done against Mungret, they have only made the quarters at all by a stroke of good luck with Monaleen scoring a late goal in a match that didnât really matter for them. Aidan OâConnor was superb for them in the rain against Mungret but he really lacked support in the second half and they probably didnât put up enough of a score in the first half when they had the elements. Patrickswell started their season brilliantly with the win over Na Piarsaigh but have only produced flashes since then. However, leaving aside the fact that itâs a derby, they should have too much for Ballybrown. If they can feed any sort of decent ball into Gillane, he will do damage and they have other forwards who can score. They will need to keep an eye on Aido and Ballybrown will need a more consistent performance from Coughlan but overall, I canât see the Well not winning this one, I just think Ballybrown have failed to deliver against the bigger teams. Even against Adare when they probably were the better team, they didnât actually kill the game off. Patrickswell by 8.
Premier Intermediate
Sunday October 1
Blackrock vs Glenroe @ 2pm in Kilmallock
Bruff vs Newcastlewest @ 2pm in Ballyagran
Cappamore vs Effin @ 2pm in Bruff
Dromin/Athlacca vs Na Piarsaigh 2 @ 2pm in Fedamore
With Effin having booked their place in a semi-final after last weekendâs win over Bruff, we have four teams playing for three spots. Cappamore are now officially relegated after last weekâs defeat while Glenroe & Na Piarsaigh have nothing to play for. So the big one really is Bruff vs Newcastlewest in Ballyagran. The winner progresses, the loser could very well be out⌠and they probably would have been the two favourites to win this competition outright at the start of the year.
Blackrock banged in five goals the last day against Cappamore to officially relegate the men from the East while Glenroe were defeated by Dromin/Athlacca in a very low-scoring game. Blackrock have generally been decent this year and with Glenroe having nothing to play for really, I think Blackrock should get the job done. Blackrock by 5.
Huge game in Ballyagran. Bruff had such a good start to this yearâs Championship, the only team with a 100% record after three rounds but theyâve now lost two of the last three and need a result here or they could very well be gone. To be honest, I would expect Blackrock and Dromin/Athlacca to get the job done against sides with nothing to play for so that would make this a straight shootout for that last semi-final spot. If one of these sides doesnât make the semi-final, I would consider that a big casualty. NCW had an awful start to this yearâs Championship with two losses but have now put together four wins on the trot. Perhaps they havenât been overly convincing in any other than the Dromin/Athlacca game but they would appear to have momentum, something Bruff are maybe lacking. Iâve mentioned before that I do like NCWâs attacking options and maybe are more battle-hardened than Bruff. Iâll give them the nod to edge this one, NCW by 3.
Effin already through, high on confidence against winless Cappamore, already-relegated. Hard to see this going any way than Effin continuing to build their confidence. Effin by 8.
Na Piarsaigh rode their luck a bit early in the year to pick up their two wins but havenât been too far off any team, bar maybe Bruff. D/A have been a mix bag, great results against the likes of Effin & Bruff but a very disappointing performance against NCW. They ground out a win in awful conditions against Glenroe last week and puts them in a very good position going into this weekend. They need to remain focused and get the job done, however, NaP donât have anything to play for but I suppose there are a few Premier Intermediates who want to make an impression and try and get into their senior team, which probably makes them a slighty more dangerous proposition than Glenroe or Cappamore. Alan Dempsey is back, I believe, so he might be one that could push with a big performance? Perhaps Gearoid Synott too? I still expect D/A to get the job done, I think at this point they are a better team but they need to stay professional. D/A by 4.
Granagh/Ballingarry play Murroe/Boher and Knockainey play St. Kieranâs in the re-fixed Intermediate fixtures today at 1pm. Although the forecast doesnât look any better than last week.
Junior A Quarter-Finals
Saturday September 30
Dromcollogher/Broadford vs Feenagh/Kilmeedy @ 3pm in Coolyroe
Mungret/St. Paulâs 2 vs St. Patrickâs @ 4pm in Na Piarsaigh
Tuesday October 3
Crecora/Manister vs Kilteely/Dromkeen @ 8pm in Knocklong
Monagea still have to play the Wellâs second team but I believe they are already confirmed to be in the fourth quarter-final against Caherline due to the Stakers giving Kilteely/Dromkeen a walkover.
A local derby on Saturday in Coolyroe where the rampant Feenagh/Kilmeedy come up against Drom/Broadford in what should be a cracker. Mark Keane has done a great job with F/K, they look very well-coached and this is already the best theyâve done in a number of years. But if they were to fall at the quarter-final stage, it would still be bitterly disappointing, it looks like itâs opening up nicely for them this year. D/B were in what looked like the softest group and havenât looked 100% convincing but still came through relatively unscathed. From when I saw both these sides this year, I was more impressed with F/K who seemed to have more hurling all over the pitch but I do think that if you press right up and donât allow their runners take handy ball on their puckout that you can cause them problems. If you sit off them, the likes of Boyce, Coleman and Fitzgibbon will throw points over from distance for fun. D/B have some nice forwards now but I wonder do they have the backs to hold F/K if they fire? Iâm going to go for F/K based on form, F/K by 5.
Mungret in some form this year, at both grades, and I could regret writing them off again. The likes of Mullins, Flahive, even Lynch & Jagana have experience at a much higher level than this but I was impressed with how Patâs recovered from their early setback and Iâd say itâs the first time in a long time that theyâve managed to get both Hegarty brothers fit and firing. With the Mullinses all involved now too, Sean Mortell and Shane Cross; I think they also have the backup artists to give the Hegartys the support to flourish. Iâm going to go with Patâs to edge this one by 3.
I do think K/D are a serious outfit, Iâm still not sure how they lost to Ballybricken/Bohermore but they look well-organised and they have scoring forwards. Now, other than Sean OâDea, Iâm not sure they have the backs to hold top forwards at this level as you donât really want to detail Brian OâGrady in a man-marking role, although they may be happy with him at 6. Now, do Crecora have the forwards to really scare teams, outside of the obvious? Where they deploy Cathal OâNeill is the key, I do think it is a waste putting a forward of his calibre at 6 when I believe he is good enough to win matches on his own. They have a lot of pace and athleticism all over the pitch, Cathalâs brother is a ridiculous athlete, but they do have lots of running in them. Rian OâByrne and Rory Hannon are nice players too and maybe they arenât as reliant on Cathal getting scores as they were last year. I predicted them to win it outright and I canât go against that despite being very impressed with K/D. C/M by 2.
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I have it ordered. Launch do at the Woodlands on November 4th or 5th.
I hear Effin have a big player back for semi final.
The 5th I think.
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After nap putting mungret v st pats on their 3rd pitch last year, they have refused access this time and sent it to Doon
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