Quarter Final 1 – 5pm
Sportlann, Colaiste Feirste
Saturday 23rd November 2024
St Brigid’s (Antrim) v Magherafelt (Derry)
The excellent St. Paul’s Ulster Minor Club football tournament kicks off this weekend with two games down for decision.
Antrim champions, St. Brigid’s get the ball rolling when they take on Magherafelt on Saturday at Sportlann, Colaiste Feirste on Saturday at 5pm in the first quarter-final and it looks a tough opener for the Musgrave Park side.
Magherafelt retained the Derry championship and return to Shaw’s Road with the experience of last year behind them and Derry clubs have excelled at St. Paul’s over the lifetime of the tournament.
Magherafelt beat Lavey 0-15 to 1-9 in this year’s Derry final on their way to a sixth County title while St. Brigid’s edged out host club, St. Paul’s 2-8 to 1-8 in the Antrim decider at Lamh Dhearg. Played in terrible conditions back on October 6th two goals late in the first half from Joe Mulgrew and Joseph Mallon were the decisive scores that got them home
St. Brigid’s will be aiming to become the third Antrim club to win the tournament following the success of host club, St. Paul’s in the inaugural year of 1982 and again in 1986 while Lamh Dhearg were the most recent winners back in 2010 and we at the Saffron Gael wish St. Brigid’s good luck in this year’s tournament.
The action gets underway at Colaiste Feirste at 5.00pm on Saturday and should attract a good crowd.
Sunday 24th November 2024
Prelim Game
1pm
Sportlann, Colaiste Feirste
Kingscourt (Cavan) v Mayobridge (Down)
On Sunday it is the turn of Kingscourt Cavan and Mayobridge from Down to meet in a preliminary round at Colaiste Feirste.
Mayobridge defeated John Bosco in the Down final but we have to go back to 2004 to find the last time a Down club claimed the title when Rostrevor defeated Kilrea in the final.
We go back even further to find the last Cavan winners with Cavan Gaels defeating Slaughtneil in the 1999 decider but the Gaels made it to last year’s decider before losing to Four Masters by 1-10 to 2-4 in an exciting game.
Kingscourt are new to the competition while Mayobridge have competed recently but Cavan Gaels have brought a high standard of football to the tournament over the years and Kingscourt will be hoping to maintain that standard.
Kingscourt defeated Cavan Gaels in the Cavan final and will start Sunday’s game against Mayobridge as slight favourites but there is unlikely to be much between them.