Monaghan’s Croke Park clash with Kildare dominates the weekend’s schedule, but there are also plenty of club games in the next week, including four finals over the weekend.
All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Qualifiers Round 4B
Monaghan v Kildare, Saturday, 7.00, Croke Park
Monaghan bid for a place in the All-Ireland SFC quarter-finals when they take on Kildare at Croke Park on Saturday evening.
Wins over Tyrone and Armagh (after a replay) saw Monaghan into a second consecutive Ulster final against Donegal, but they were unable to repeat last year’s heroics in a three-point defeat a fortnight ago. Kildare, who were relegated from Division One of the Allianz National Football League this spring, cruised past Louth in their Leinster opener, but they then lost to Meath, before getting back on track by beating Down and Clare in the qualifiers. Kildare, who became renowned for their good record in the ‘back door’ in the last number of years, have seen Jason Ryan has introduced a more attacking style than his predecessor Kieran McGeeney. These counties met at the same stage in 2010, when Kildare knocked Monaghan out.
Malachy O’Rourke has named an unchanged Monaghan team, while there are three changes to the Kildare team selected by Jason Ryan, with Mick Foley, Tomás O’Connor and Eoghan O’Flaherty in for Emmet Bolton, Gary White and Pádraig Fogarty.
Conor McManus, Kieran Hughes and Paul Finlay are key players up front for Monaghan, who will hope that Drew Wylie, Colin Walshe, Dessie Mone and co. can keep Kildare out at the other end. Kildare’s wide range of attacking options includes Alan Smith, Cathal McNally and O’Flaherty, with Tommy Moolick, Pádraig O’Neill and Ollie Lyons other key players.
Monaghan will be determined to return to winning ways and get the county’s first championship victory at GAA Headquarters since their 1930 All-Ireland semi-final against the Lilywhites.
Monaghan: Rory Beggan; Ryan Wylie, Drew Wylie, Colin Walshe; Dessie Mone, Vincent Corey, Fintan Kelly; Dick Clerkin, Darren Hughes; Paudie McKenna, Stephen Gollogly, Paul Finlay, Dermot Malone, Kieran Hughes, Conor McManus (Capt.).
Subs: Gerard McCaffrey, Conor Boyle, Kieran Duffy, Conor Galligan, Karl O’Connell, Gavin Doogan, Pádraig Donaghy, Owen Duffy, Thomas Kerr, Jack McCarron, Christopher McGuinness.
Kildare: Mark Donnellan; Ciarán Fitzpatrick, Michael Foley, Michael O’Grady; Ollie Lyons, Fergal Conway, Keith Cribbin; Tommy Moolick, Pádraig O’Neill; Cathal McNally, Niall Kelly, Éamonn Callaghan; Alan Smith, Tomás O’Connor, Eoghan O’Flaherty.
Silver Hill Foods Senior Hurling Championship Final
Castleblayney v Inniskeen, Sunday, 3.00, Aughnamullen
Sunday sees Castleblayney and Inniskeen contest the Silver Hill Foods Senior Hurling Championship Final for the fifth year in a row. The teams have evenly divided the last four titles, with Inniskeen winning it for the first time in 2010, Blayney fighting back with back-to-back wins in the following two years, before the Grattans finished strongly to snatch a one-point win 12 months ago. Taking out the fairly one-sided 2011 decider, the other three of those clashes have seen the teams hit the same combined totals – Blayney’s 4-32 to Inniskeen’s 1-41 – underlining how evenly-matched they have been in that time.
Both sides have 100% records in this year’s competition, with Castleblayney topping the group stage on ten points after Inniskeen conceded their final-round game. Clontibret put it up to Blayney in the first half of their semi-final last week, but the 27-times champions pulled away as expected to win comfortably in the end. Meanwhile, Inniskeen put Truagh to the sword, with Ronan and Dónal Meegan hitting a combined total of 2-21. These teams’ only meeting so far this year saw Inniskeen run out convincing winners in the SHL back in April.
It’s a 16th consecutive final in total for Castleblayney, who have won the Mick Quigley Cup 12 times since 1999. A hugely experienced Blayney team should be call on current county players like Peter and Mark Treanor, Brian McGuigan, Hugh Byrne, Paddy Finnegan, Tony Forde and Cormac McNally along with veterans such as Paul Murphy, Jimmy Lacey and David Connolly and young guns Fergal Rafter and Niall Garland. Inniskeen’s corner-forwards Ronan and Dónal Meegan will cause problems to any full-back line, while Trevor Hilliard, Paul Meegan, Martin Murphy, Gerard Ruddy and Pauric Dowdall should also play key roles in their bid for a third county championship.
Blayney will be hell-bent on regaining the title, but Inniskeen will be equally determined to make it back-to-back victories for the first time in their history, so it should be an intriguing battle, which looks set to go down to the wire.
Silver Hill Foods Senior Hurling Championship Shield Final
Clontibret v Truagh, Sunday, 1.30, Aughnamullen
Sarsfield Park also hosts the shield final between beaten semi-finalists Clontibret and Truagh.
Truagh finished second in the group stage with six points, two ahead of Clontibret, who they defeated by four points in round five. Truagh couldn’t handle the Inniskeen attack in their semi-final, while Clontibret fell away in the second half against Castleblayney.
Both these teams depend to a large degree on young players. Conor Boyle, Noel Flood and Cathal McAnespie are leading lights for Truagh, along with Conor McKenna and Damian McCarron, while Clontibret will need big performances from Brian and Fergal Greenan, Raymond McNally and Christopher Morgan and they will also hope that Ned McCann has recovered from the injury that forced him off last week.
Platinum Tanks Reserve Football Championship O’Duffy Cup Final
Castleblayney v Scotstown, Friday, 7.30, Tyholland
Scotstown have beaten Ballybay and Clontibret to reach the final, while Castleblayney edged out Monaghan Harps before easing past Cremartin and Truagh. Scotstown share top spot in the RFL Division 1A with Clontibret, while Blayney finished first in Division 1B.
Scotstown will be looking for big performances from Paul Grant, Seán Mohan, David McCague, Eddie Beggan, Orin Heaphey and Dermot McCrudden, while Keith Hill, David McMahon, Aaron McNamara and Niall Duffy could play key roles for Blayney.
Platinum Tanks Reserve Football Championship Crawley Cup Final
Aughnamullen v Donaghmoyne, Friday, 7.30, Oram
Elsewhere on Friday, Aughnamullen and Donaghmoyne contest the Crawley Cup Final for the second year in a row.
Aughnamullen edged that game on their way to completing a double and wins over Corduff, Inniskeen and Carrickmacross have seen them through to another decider. Donaghmoyne got a bye to the semi-finals where they won narrowly in a high-scoring game against Éire Óg. Donaghmoyne finished top of the RFL Division Two, two points ahead of third-placed Aughnamullen.
Aughnamullen should be able to call on the likes of Colin Clerkin, Niall Keenan, Lee Conlan, Thomas Hughes and Páraic Bannigan, while Donaghmoyne could be looking to Niall Garland, Stephen Byrne, Conor Finnegan and Niall Kelly to lead their challenge
There is also a Platinum Tanks Reserve Football League Division Three game between Emyvale and Toome on Friday and Toome are in action again on Wednesday evening against Truagh. Also on Wednesday, the Division 1A top two go head-to-head when Clontibret meet Scotstown and Donaghmoyne host Seán McDermotts in the first Division Two semi-final.
The Maguire Transport Minor Football Championship Division Three semi-finals are down for decision on Tuesday, with Latton up against Aughnamullen and Corduff facing Killeevan.
The McElvaney Recycling Minor Football Leagues are coming to their conclusion. Tuesday’s last round in Division One sees Monaghan Harps, Scotstown and St. Patrick’s host Carrickmacross, Donaghmoyne and Killanny respectively, while in Division Two, it’s Toome v Truagh, Doohamlet v Emyvale and Cremartin v Clontibret.
Wednesday’s scheduled round of games in the Monaghan Credit Unions Senior Football League depends on the result of the county team’s clash with Kildare on Saturday.
There is a local derby between Blackhill and Oram in the Eurotech Junior Football League on Wednesday, while high-flying Aughnamullen travel to Smithborough to play Éire Óg.
The Gerry’s Prepared Veg. juvenile competitions continue with action in the Under-16 Football and Hurling Leagues and the Under-12 Football League.
By cshalvey Fri 1st Aug
