Championship finals week-end ahead
As the 2023 season draws to a close a big week-end of football is scheduled with the finals of the senior, intermediate, and senior championships taking place at three different venues.
The junior decider gets the championship show on the road as St Mary’s Rasharkin and Cardinal O’ Donnell’s play at Dunsilly on Friday night in the Junior Championship final.
The Intermediate final follows at Kelly Park on Saturday afternoon in an all South West clash as near neighbours and keen rivals All Saint’s Ballymena and Con Magees Glenravel meet to determine the winners that title.
It’s on to Belfast on Sunday with the current holders of the senior title Erin’s Own Cargin hoping to retain their title at the expense of Cuchullian’s Dunloy in an all South West encounter at Corrigan Park.
Friday 6th October
Graham Tarmac Junior Football Championship
Cardinal O’ Donnell’s v St Mary’s Rasharkin (Dunsilly 1) at 7.30 pm
The ratings in the third division told the championship tale as the first and second finishers in the league meet in the junior championship final as division three winners St Mary’s Rasharkin take on the runners up in the division to determine the winners of the junior title.
Cardinal O’ Donnell’s were the only side in the race for the division three title to gain a win over Rasharkin with victory at Dreen and the Whiterock Road men will be seeking a similar result this time.
Rasharkin cruised through their semi-final with a 2-13 to 0-05 victory over St Malachy’s whilst the MacRory Park residents had to work much harder to emerge from their semi-final with a 2-13 to 1-13 win over Eire Og.
Rasharkin are an experienced outfit and have alternated between division 2 and division 3 in recent years but have introduced some excellent young blood to their squad over the past 18 months.
Andrew Hasson is an excellent keeper and has featured for the county a few years ago while Emmet McFerran, Conor Hasson and Pearse Kelly bring a wealth of experience to their defence.
Thomas Mc Mullan and Ruairi O’ Boyle have impressed at mid-field all season while, Eamon McNeill, Shane Hasson, Ryan Lynch and the back in harness Cathal Mooney are all potential match winners.
For the second year in succession O’Donnell’s had to work hard to overcome the challenge of Eire Og.
Richard McAvoy and Gary Meehan put them in a strong position with goals early in the contest but in the end, they had to dig deep to secure the win after withstanding a late barrage of attack from the Derriaghy side.
Mc Avoy and Meenan with former Rossa player, Sean Pat Donnelly and the back in harness, Mark McKenna carry a serious attacking threat and the Rasharkin defence will need to be at their best to contain them.
O’Donnell’s were beaten finalists to Pearses at the same venues a year ago and should benefit from that experience but Rasharkin have more than a few individuals who have experience of life at the higher level.
St Mary’s are already assured of second division football in 2024, and although this looks likely to be a close one that experience may be the factor which makes the difference.
O’ Donnell’s will give it a real lash but Rasharkin are awarded the vote…..
Saturday 7th October
OB Construction Intermediate Football Championship
All Saint’s Ballymena v Con Magees Glenravel (Portglenone) at 3.00pm
Near neighbours and close rivals, All Saint’s Ballymena, and Con Magees Glenravel line up in search of the Intermediate title at Kelly Park Portglenone on Saturday evening.
A game which will provoke intense interest and it is certain to attract a big attendance to the Casement’s venue.
Con Magees were division 2 winners this year and have enjoyed a more than positive 2023 campaign to date and will start this one as firm favourites after losing to Dunloy in last year’s Intermediate final at Dunsilly.
They recorded an impressive victory over All Saints in Ballymena on their way to promotion this year and will hope to repeat that performance at Kelly Park on Saturday.
The Con Magees Impressed in their semi-final win over a useful Sarsfield’s side at the same venue a fortnight ago but were forced to withstand a late rally, inspired by the excellent Garry Lennon with Glenravel net minder Jonathan Fyffe and full back Sean Higgins coming to the rescue with late interventions.
Both had enjoyed good games with Rian Lennon, the Hynds brothers, Cathal and Eoin as well as Eamonn Fyfe impressing as they ran out 0-14 to 0-10 winners.
Under the guidance of Joe Cassidy Con Magee’s have become a formidable side with players like Niall Swann, Declan Traynor, Callum Higgins, Cormac McKeown, Daniel McQuillan and Aidan O’Donnell all strong performers.
All Saint’s made their way to the final with a win over St Teresa’s at Hightown but were slow out of the starting blocks and despite having a strong wind behind them, trailed 0-4 to 0-1 at one stage.
They recovered to hit three late points and go into the dressing room on level par with Ronan McKillop scoring 0-3 of heir first half total.
After the break it was a different story and 2 goals from Kavan Keenan and another from Ronan McKillop saw them run out 3-10 to 2-7 winners against a limited Glen Road side.
.
Getting to the final has been quite an achievement for the Ballymena side in a season where they have been decimated by injuries with both their county players Paddy McAleer and Conor Stewart out with long term injuries.
Peter McReynolds is just one of a number who will miss Saturday’s show piece while James Gillan and Eoin Campbell have joined an extensive injury list.
Kavan Keenan, who was excellent against St. Teresa’s a fortnight ago received a late Red Cad and is another who is unavailable while Ciaran McGarry was also dismissed in that game but it is unclear at the time of writing if he received two yellows or a straight red.
It will be a relatively young All Saints side who will take the field in Portglenone on Saturday with Cal O’ Brien, Sean O’ Callaghan, Patrick Ferris, Michael Read and Ronan McKillop amongst the youngsters in which Liam ‘Baker’ Bradley will be pinning his hopes.
The Slemish Park side do have experienced performers in Sean McVeigh, Emmet Killough, Connell Lemon, James and Benny McDonnell, Ryan Stewart, Shea O’Brien and Michael McCarry who has just returned to the panel after a lengthy injury layoff.
Liam Bradley will know that his side will need to make a better start than in the semi-final and keep it going for the full 60 plus minutes if they are to cause an upset but the smart money will be on Con Magee’s to take the honours and complete a memorable double.
Sunday 8th October
Northern Switchgear Senior Football Championship
Cuchullian’s Dunloy v Erin’s Own Cargin (Corrigan Park) at 2.30 pm
The championship week-end reaches its climax in the senior decider on Sunday at Corrigan Park and a bumper attendance is expected at the West Belfast venue for a final that no one would have predicted when the championship kicked off at the end of July.
Certainly the reigning senior champions Cargin would have been on most people’s radar but few would have expected last year’s Intermediate winners Dunloy to be their opponents for Sunday’s decider.
Despite the exploits of Cuchullian’s in getting to the final, Cargin had been installed as firm favourites from the outset whereas Dunloy had occupied an extreme ‘outsiders’ position with those who calculated the odds.
In the event, the former County and provincial hurling champions have defied the odds and made their way to Sunday’s decider on merit.
The Cuchullian’s opened their championship account with a win at Milltown over St Gall’s and although they lost by three points to Creggan in the group stages they went on to qualify for a play-off place.
They have made people sit up and take notice with a win over Lamh Dhearg in the quarter-final and went on to beat Casement’s Portglenone in the semi-final.
Last weekend Dunloy were still on line to collect a unique Senior Hurling and Football championship double but were well beaten by Loughgiel Shamrocks in the hurling semi-final.
Just how that defeat has affected them remains to be seen when most of that side takes the field again on Sunday but the Elliot brothers, Seaan and Nigel, Eoin McFerran, Deaglan Smith, Ciaran McQuillan, Conal Cunning, Karl Fitzpatrick and Kevin Mc Quillan are all excellent footballers who are unlikely to be fazed by the big occasion.
Casement’s were the semi-final opponents and the division one league champs did enter the fray as firm favourites.
In the event the Cuchullian’s men retained their positivity and goals from Nigel Elliot and Karl Fitzpatrick in the opening period on a wet evening proved crucial.
Casement’s came back in the latter stages and looked on their way out of jail when their chief marksman Paddy Kelly split the posts to level the semi-final with ten minutes on the clock but Dunloy stood firm to dominate the remainder of the game.
Reigning champions Cargin started out as the short priced favourites to regain their senior title and in the event they were not troubled in the group stages, moving through with few problems.
They defeated Aghagallon in a repeat of the 2022 decider but such progress was only secured by a late score from replacement Tom Shivers.
St Brigid’s were there semi-final opponents and were expected to give the Toome men a run for their money and indeed the South Belfast men took the early initiative to lead 0-05 to 0-03 at the break and the Toome men looked in a spot of trouble.
St. Brigid’s increased their advantage, early in the second half but Cargin sprung to life and a great James Laverty point lit the fuse as Erin’s Own went on to dominate the second half.
A Tomas McCann challenge which opened the way for Conhuir Johnston to find the net and another from Kevin O’ Boyle shortly after proved conclusive as Cargin concluded 2-06 to 0-06 ahead to book their place in another final.
Dunloy have approached all of their championship games with positivity and they will no doubt approach the final in the same way, confident of finding a way through a tight Cargin defence.
The Erin’s Own rear guard are likely to be marshalled by experienced trio, James Laverty, Justin Crozier, and Kevin ‘Kobo’ O’ Boyle who will hope to nullify the threat posed by the Elliot brothers Seaan and Nigel and big Kevin McQuillan who is likely to lineout on the edge of the square.
Cargin will chose from John Carron, Kevin Mc Shane, Gerard Mc Cann and Mark Kelly at mid-field with McCann and McShane likely to get the starting nod and the Toome men may well have advantage in that area where Eoin Mc Ferran and Oran Quinn are likely to field for the Cuchullian’s.
Cuchullian’s have pace a plenty in their forward unit and are expected to cause problems for the Erin’s Own defence but the defending champions have fire power up front themselves with the towering Pat Shivers possibly deployed on the edge of the square with Jamie Gribbin, Tomas McCann, and possibly Michael McCann on the ‘40’.
Much will depend on how Dunloy react to that hurling semi-final defeat last weekend but regardless, I would expect the greater experience and knowhow of the reigning champions to be enough to see them retain their title.
