It’s Football Championship Finals this weekend and it looks like being an exciting programme for followers of the big ball game with deciders at Junior, Intermediate and senior level.
Junior Football Championship final
Davitt’s Park – Saturday 4-00pm
St. Agnes v Pearses
Both sides have impressed in the run up to Saturday’s final at Davitt’s Park where Naomh Una will start as slight favourites by virtue of their division 3 league winning campaign.
The ‘Aggies’ went through their league campaign where they won 12 of their 14 fixtures but one of their defeats came at the hands of Na Piarsaigh back in early July with the Antrim Road side edging it by a point in a high scoring 6-10 to 2-21 encounter.
It was a reversal of their round 1 league meeting where St. Agnes had two to spare over Saturday’s opponents. That one finished 1-14 to 0-15 so league form would suggest there is little to separate the sides.
Pearses league form was inconsistent though and they won only 6 and lost 7 of their league fixtures but as we have already seen this season, league form can count for little when it comes to the championship.
Despite losing prolific forward, Ronan Carroll to a serious injury earlier in the season St. Agnes carried their good league form into the championship and recorded a confidence boosting 1-20 to 0-13 win over Kickham’s Ardoyne, the other team to record a league win over them, and went on to beat Cardinal O’Donnell’s and a walk-over against St. Malachy’s meant that they topped Group 1 undefeated.
That form earned the ‘Aggies’ a direct passage into the semi-final where they met an Eire Og side who had defeated O’Donnell’s in the quarter-final and came into the semi-final at Pairc Una on a good run of form.
Division 3 league winners, St. Agnes took advantage of a home fixture, the prize for topping their group, to defeat Eire Og in a competitive Junior Football Championship encounter.
They didn’t get it all their own way against an Eire Og side who were still in contention late in the game when Mark Graham finished to the net from close range to close the gap to four.
As they had done throughout the game, the Aggies were always able to respond and the league winners finished strongly to win by seven in the end and book a place in the final against Na Piarsaigh.
A goal from James Campbell in the 15th minute gave them a lead they would not subsequently lose.
Aggies wing-back, Caomhin Floyd’s shot looked to be going over but came back of the upright and Campbell gathered the rebound before dispatching his effort low and into the bottom corner.
The same player followed up his major with a point to pile on the pressure as the Aggies began to take control and David McGaharan added another from out on the wing, much to the delight of the Aggies support.
Conall Turley was excellent for the Woodland’s side and finished the game with 7 points as St. Agnes ran out 1-18 to 1-11 winners.
Their opponents in Sunday’s final, Na Piarsaigh have put indifferent league form behind them and seem to have peaked at just the right time coming into the championship and defeated Wolfe Tonnes and Eire Og in the group stages but lost to Laochra Loch Lao.
They beat a strong Kickham’s Ardoyne in the quarter-finals and produced, possibly their best performance of the season to reverse that defeat to Laochra Loch Lao in the semi-finals and will fancy their chances on Saturday in West Belfast.
Liam Deegan, Philip Murray, Sean Moreland Fion Grew, James Smyth, Ruairi Bannon, Piaras Donaghy and Thomas McFarlane will lead the Na Piarasaigh challenge as they aim to claim their second Junior title in recent years.
St. Agnes will look to Colum Carroll, James Campbell, Ryan Reilly, Cormac Flannery, Caoimhin Floyd, Patrick Mulgrew, Shea Madden, Conall Turley, David McGaharan and Colin Clarke to lead them to a league and championship double at Davitt’s Park and they might just have enough to see them through.