Shannon Gaels and Éire Óg tipped to win

IF league form is to be taken as a guide then Shannon Gaels and Wolfe Tones should emerge from group two for the play-offs but followers of Gaelic games will be the first to admit that, for the most part, league form is rarely an accurate indicator come championship time.

However, the fact that both the Gaels and Wolfe Tones have been doing reasonably well in the league should mean that their clashes with Kilmihil and Éire Óg respectively will be interesting this weekend.
Éire Óg v Wolfe Tones
ÉIRE Óg started the season with successive victories in the opening two rounds of the Cusack Cup but since then, things have gone downhill with four successive losses, some by rather big scorelines.
Wolfe Tones, competing in the next division, also won their opening two games but lost their next three. However, they bounced back last week to winning ways and remain in contention for a place in the play-offs in the Garry Cup.
Brendan Reidy and his management team have been making huge strides in recent years to put together a side that will challenge strongly for top honours. They have reached the play-offs on a number of occasions and, in 2007, caused a huge surprise when they defeated Kilmurry Ibrickane in the quarter-final, before losing out to the eventual winners Lissycasey in their next outing.
“The target is to get out of the group and hold our status and take it from there. It’s a hard group. We have two Division 1 teams and Kilmihil have beaten us well in the league recently. We have five or six dual players and it’s difficult to keep things fresh, given the demands that are on them,” Reidy said.
They go into this Sunday’s first-round tie without the injured David Reidy, who suffered a recurrance of a knee injury in a recent outing at Cusack Park. Terry Duggan has emigrated but they still have strong players to call on, such as Chris Dunning, Johnnie Bridges, Gary Leahy and Kevin Cahill, who have been part of the Clare senior panel this year. Seán Brennan, Patsy Keyes and Daniel Gallery are others they will be looking to as they seek to make a winning start to this season’s race for the Daly Cup.
While they didn’t make the play-offs last year, Éire Óg have been in the concluding stages most seasons in the last decade. They last won the title in 2006 and contested the final again a year later.
“We have been missing a lot of players this season due to a variety of reasons. Last week, we only had 14 when our league game against Shannon Gaels started,” manager Joe Joe Whelan said this week, before conceding that Éire Óg are a big day team.
“The Gaels would be the favourites at this stage to qualify. They have won a lot of games in the league. They seem to have the most work done and look like the best team, closely followed by Wolfe Tones. This is a very open group,” he said.
They will go into this campaign without Stephen Hickey, who is playing League of Ireland soccer with Limerick but apart from his absence, they are expected to have all other regulars available such as Shane O’Connell, Donie Lyne, Saran Butler, Shane Daniels, Brian Fitzpatrick, Seán O’Meara and Eoin Glynn.
While their league form hasn’t been good, Éire Óg tend to be a different team come championship time and they should be good enough to make a winning start to this season’s campaign.

Shannon Gaels v Kilmihil
BACK in the ’60s and ’70s, any meeting of neighbours Shannon Gaels and Kilmihil was guaranteed to attract a capacity attendance. They were fierce rivals then. In the ’80s and ’90s, they rarely met as first Shannon Gaels were down in the intermediate grade and when they came back to the top division, Kilmihil were in the lower grade.
Kilmihil regained senior status in 2008 and won the Senior B title last year. They have shown somewhat inconsistent form this season, winning two, drawing one and losing three in their league campaign.
Kilmihil manager Mick Darby said, “Our ambition is to get out of the group. Having won the senior B title last year it would be a step up again for us but it is a tough group and we will earn it with any team.”
After getting well beaten in the opening round to Clondegad, Shannon Gaels have been going great guns and five successive wins later they are through to the Cusack Cup semi-final with two rounds still to play.
Padraig Neylon and Eugene Flanagan are out long term due to injury but the arrival of Barry Toner this year has been a huge boost. They have threatened a breakthrough on a number of occasions in recent years but they have also produced some disappointing performances in that time.
Keith Ryan, Tomás Madigan, Noel Kennedy, John Neylon and John Paul O’Neill are amongst their more experienced players.
Gaels manager Peter O’Connell said, “Our first aim is to be competitive against Kilmihil and then in subsequent games. We’re in an even group where all four clubs will feel that if they get a run of form together, they could get to the quarter-finals.”
The loss of Shane Mangan, who has emigrated, has certainly been a blow to Kilmihil, who will be looking to the Ryans, David and Timmy, Mark O’Connell, Conor Crowley and Paul Reidy to lead the way.
Inconsistency has been a major problem for Kilmihil and unless they hit their best form this week, Shannon Gaels look set to take home the points.