Intermediate Championship favs among those to be tested on opening day
Daragh Nolan gives a full run down of the weekend's IFC action
While the other 14 teams set themselves for the opening round of the group stages, Straffan and Nurney will meet again to determine whose future lies in Group A and who in Group C.
Controversy and confusion aside, the opening round proper of the The Auld Shebeen Athy IFC has thrown up some brilliant fixtures.
Group A: This group’s opening round fixture throws two Intermediate Championship heavyweights together as Sallins meet Leixlip on Saturday August 24. Even with the inherent knowledge of the Intermediate Champion-
ship’s unpredictability, Sallins have still risen as the favoured name to win the lot. Their 2-11 to 1-10 win over Caragh in the preliminary round will have done nothing to discourage that notion.
Leixlip meanwhile relied on a 64 minute Tommy Moolick penalty to earn their place in this winner’s group ahead of Kilcullen. While their activity at both ends of the field left a lot to be desired, they did get over the line.
Styles makes fights and it will certainly be interesting to see how the team who has been referred to as young and coming for a number of years now fairs against a physical Leixlip outfit.
Leixlip were leaky against The Rags, but will likely change tact for this game against one of this Championship’s contenders.
If they can get dangerman Jack Barrett chances and tighten up at the other end, they could cause trouble, but based on what we have seen thus far, signs point to Sallins.
Rathangan must wait to find out their opening round opponents. The side who beat Suncroft 1-15 to 1-10 in the prelims will face the winner of Straffan and Nurney’s replayed fixture. This is a difficult group for Rathangan and they will see that first game, whoever they face, as a must win.
Group B: St Kevin’s and Castledermot get Group B action underway on Friday August 23 when they face off. Little needs to be said about the credentials of Casteldermot at this level, they are losing finalists for the past two years and they will be eager to right that wrong this time around. Their strong defensive style doesn’t always dazzle, but does typically get the job done. They narrowly emerged past Two Mile House in the preliminary round, winning 1-12 to 1-11.
St Kevin’s weren’t massively fancied by many heading into the prelims, but gave Leinster Junior Champions Milltown a stern welcome back to Intermediate level with a 2-13 to 0-8 win.
Castledermot remain the obvious choice for victory here, but if St Kevin’s can replicate anything even close to the score put up against Milltown, they have a chance against not a typically free-scoring outfit. That remains an unlikely prospect however when facing a historically resilient defence.
The other match in Group B is one of the opening round’s most fascinating as two recent Senior Championship sides face off.
Round Towers have had a year in Intermediate to settle in and are now being backed to have a good run at gaining promotion. Towers punished a poorly Ballymore side 3-14 to 0-3 in the prelims.
They faced a Ballyteague side with a healthy Jimmy Hyland leading them out and the dangerous forward hit 1-6 in their preliminary round win over Monasterevan.
Round Towers are favoured to come out on top here and fancied to reach the final of this competition, but I think Jimmy might rattle their cage along the way.
Group C: Milltown will face Ballymore Eustace on Sunday August 25 with both sides coming off respective 11 and 20 point preliminary round deficits.
Milltown got a tough welcome back to Intermediate against St Kevin’s, but it is unlikely that result will have destroyed all the confidence they have built up in one another following a brilliant 2023 campaign. Those high-spirits could be key as they face a
Ballymore side that many are now pegging for the drop.
Milltown should have enough based on what they have shown recently. An opinion partially informed by their opponents lack of showing on the opening day.
After a bit of a scorching at the hands of Ballyteague, Monasterevan will face the losing side of Nurney v Straffan. After a less than ideal Championship opener themselves, Monasterevan, like everyone in Group C, must target this game as a must win in a group where anyone could finish top and anyone could finish bottom.
Undoubtedly the tougher of the losing groups, Group D will open the Intermediate Championships group stages when Caragh meet Suncroft on Thursday August 22.
The Croft came up short against Rathangan in the prelims and now face a Caragh side chomping the bit to the right the wrongs of last year.
Caragh lost to eventual Kildare and Leinster Intermediate Champions Allenwood in extra-time in their quarter-final clash.
They came up against competition favourites Sallins in the prelims and will be looking to put down a marker against Suncroft, and will likely do so.
Two Mile House were edged out by Casteldermot in their preliminary round encounter, but will now see Group D as an opportunity to reach the knockout stages after failing to emerge from a nightmare winners group last year.
Kilcullen showed a lot more than most expected against Lexilip and were only beaten by a last-minute penalty.
That being said, Leixlip were poor and perhaps took The Rags lightly.
Their keys to an upset against The House are replicating the shooting accuracy they showed against Leixlip and getting chances for the likes of Dave Marshall and Jamie Buckley once again.