Anticipation rising in Round 3
Palatine stunned reigning champions Old Leighlin in Round 2. Photo: Pat Ahern
This game is what rises the excitement levels in the championship. Both sides are laden with quality players.
Conor Doyle for Rathvilly oozes confidence and is the sort of person who leads by what he does rather than anything he might say. Throw in Liam Gavin and Padhraig Bolger and you have the spine of Rathvilly.
For Palatine, Mark Buggy is making a name for himself. The longer he keeps scoring, the harder he is going to find the hits. It will be interesting to see how his championship season develops. If he has a quiet day, Conor Crowley and Josh Egan have the capability of taking over.
Grange were found guilty at the weekend of stealing two group points from Fenagh with Henry Hegarty’s late penalty. No-one should have been surprised by that. They have a habit of staying to the bitter end no matter what. John Murphy is still their spiritual leader but Darragh Burrows, Shane Cormican and Pat Murphy are feeding off him.
Bagenalstown Gaels are starting well in games but are not driving on. This was the case the week before against Éire Óg and then again against Rathvilly. Cian Doyle, Jamie Clarke, Patrick Abbey and Darragh Nolan are flying and the feeling is there is more to come.
These two sides have had tremendous battles over the years. Mind you, there are few enough of those players still playing at this level when it was at its most intense. For Old Leighlin the mantle has fallen on the likes of Tadgh Roche, Tadhg O’Neill and Aaron Amond but David Bambrick, Cathal Coughlan and Seamus Kinsella are all looking on approvingly and having an influence too.
This is an extremely young Éire Óg side. Fiach O’Toole, Alex Delaney and Kyle Nolan are learning to ply their trade alongside Chris Blake and Ross Dunphy who have produced for club and county. The elder lemon, Eoghan Ruth, looks on approvingly and is a massive leader.
Whoever gets momentum in the second half wins this. Old Leighlin get the nod.
Not to put too fine a pin in it but Mount Leinster Rangers were simply awful against Éire Óg at the weekend. What is more, there was hardly a Rangers supporter in the stand where there was a sense of apathy throughout their whole effort.
Fenagh have a nice blend running through their squad with Sean Murphy still a leader by what he does on the field. It hurt Fenagh that when chances presented themselves late on they were unable to take them. They won’t be the last side to find out that if you leave Grange in a game, then the Killerig Road side have the confidence and self-belief to keep on plugging and make something happen.
If Rangers turn up here they should prevail but don’t rule out a Fenagh win.
The Fighting Cocks have a 100% record so far with more or less the same panel as last year. Ballon will be hurting after the manner of their defeat to St Patricks over the weekend. They had St Patricks in their sights but never pulled the trigger. Both sides have some superb forwards. Aaron Dowling will be a marked man for the Cocks and surely Evan Corr will show after a couple of disappointing outings so far this year for Ballon.
Both these sides have experienced chastening defeats in the championship. Tinryland were turned over by St Patricks in the first round but they hit back to beat Clonmore the next time out. They depend on Diarmaid Walshe from play and placed balls but will need to spread the scoring responsibilities around a bit more.
Kildavin-Clonegal hit back after their narrow defeat in the first round to Eire Og where they showed little mercy on Ballinabranna. With Conor Doyle, Daniel Cronin and Alex Callaghan all scoring 1-1 each, they look a very balanced team.
The fact that Tinryland were senior last year should stand to them but it will be tight.
Both these sides are coming off big defeats this week so something will have to give here. Ronan Quinlan and Eoghan Byrne are pulling the strings for Éire Óg and Colin Byrne knows where the posts are for Ballinabranna.
Now here is a tasty morsel to wrap up the weekend. St Patricks are flying and the memory of Craig Staunton’s two two-pointers from play reflects the attitude of a side who are confident and want to play an open game. They got away with it at the weekend when Ballon, who were trailing by eleven points in the first half nearly caught them after the change of ends. Clonmore are not firing. Two defeats in a row to the experienced The Fighting Cocks and Tinryland doesn’t spell disaster but another setback here could cause palpitations on the Carlow Wicklow border.
This is Naomh Eoin’s first team. Eire Óg’s third string. The Myshall side enjoyed an excellent win over Asca two weeks ago but didn’t follow it up against Leighlinbridge. For the second week in a row Naomh Eoin keeper, Kyle Foley, featured on the scoring list but they need more from Adam Kenny, John Michael Nolan and Scott Tracey.
Dan Crotty and Luke Ramsbottom lead the Éire Óg challenge and they will need to hit back after the hiding they received from Asca.
Two sides who hope to go all the way meet here in what could be a four-point game. Darragh Foley continues to lead the way for Kilbride but that mauling they received from O’Hanrahans first time out suggests their challenge is not as strong as other years. On the other hand, Leighlinbridge have two wins out of two with Charlie Nolan and Josh Kearney both taking leadership roles.
After losing to Leighlinbridge in the first round, Palatine dug deep to beat Kilbride by a point over the weekend. Fionn O’Toole is pulling the strings up front for the Bennekerry side while Cormac McConnon’s last minute goal at the weekend was a priceless strike.
They face an ambitious O’Hanrahan side where Cian Dowling and Lee Walker are proving hot to handle. The Blues look set to record another win.
Asca inflicted a heavy defeat on Éire Óg over the weekend which atones for their loss the previous week to Naomh Eoin. They depend a lot on intercounty player, John Phiri. After defeats to Éire Óg and O’Hanrahans, Rathvilly look fragile at this level this year.
