Na Rossa’s win last week underlines competitiveness of the Intermediate championship

Na Rossa’s win over Naomh Muire in the first round of the IFC championship underlines the view that the IFC is the most competitive of the county’s championships.  

Last year’s junior A champions upset the odds against their near neighbours Naomh Muire, a well-established intermediate team, and one of the dark horses for the championship.  

“If you take the senior championship there are two to three teams in with a realistic chance of winning,” said former Malin manager Terence Colhoun, who guided his home club to senior championship semi-finals in 2013 and 2016. 

Killybegs defeated Malin by two points in the 2013 semi-final and Malin went down again by two points to Glenswilly in the 2016 decider.  

“If you look at the intermediate championship there are 12 teams competing in the championship and up to seven to eight of those teams are in with a chance of winning it.  

“And on any given day any of the twelve teams, as we saw last weekend with Na Rossa, are capable of beating each other.  

“You cannot say the same for the senior championship and that is why the intermediate is the most competitive of the two championships. 

“Naomh Muire are a seasoned intermediate championship team and had a good Division Two League campaign. 

“Na Rossa really struggled in Division Two and were relegated back down to Division Three at the end of the season.” 

The other result from last weekend that caught the former Malin boss's eye was Bundoran’s 1-7 to 0–7 win over Burt in Gaelic Park, Bundoran.  

“Bundoran had a poor league season. They won just one game. And yet they beat Burt which goes to show league form is no guide for championship football. 

“The view is that Buncrana,Termon, Malin, Milford, and Naomh Columba, the winners will come from one of those.  

“Gaeil Fhánada, Naomh Muire and Bundoran make up the outside bets.  

“Termon and Buncrana were promoted from Division Two and are two of the form teams and had good wins last weekend. 

“Malin had a good season in Division One and finished up in the top half of the league though they did fall away a bit in the last few games. 

“They got off to a winning start away to Red Hughs and Daire McDaid scored four goals and Enda McCormick scored ten points for Termon, in their win over Naomh Columba, at the Burn Road. 

“Buncrana ran up a big score in their win over Letterkenny Gaels away so they are up and running They were without Caolan McGonagle for the game. 

“Malin are at home to Termon this weekend which should be interesting and is a good test for both Malin and Termon. 

“However, I suspect they will be both holding back a little in case they meet later in the year and regardless of the result, I believe they both will make it through to the business end of the championship.  

“Milford are another of those capable of going all the way.They got off to a positive start with a good win over Gaeil Fhánada, down in Fanad. Though they lost last weekend, Gaeil Fhánada, I would not write them off just yet.  

“They are another of the seven or eight clubs capable of giving the championship a rattle.  

“But they have a big game this weekend away to Naomh Muire, who will be anxious to get their campaign back on track after last weekend’s defeat by Na Rossa.  

“Given they are at home, it may be enough to see Naomh Muire shade it and back in the championship race.  

“Milford should be too strong for Letterkenny Gaels, who are having a very poor season and only scored three points against Buncrana last Sunday.   

“Buncrana, forewarned and forearmed, should have too much for Na Rossa,at the Scarvey. 

“The meeting of Burt and Red Hughs in Burt is a big game for two clubs who both lost last weekend. 

“Burt lost away to Bundoran and Red Hughs lost at home to Malin. I was impressed with Red Hughs and they put it up to our boys. This will be a close game with both teams setting up defensively. I suspect it will be a low-scoring game. 

“I give the nod to Burt on the basis they are at home but I don’t expect there will be much between them and would not be surprised if Red Hughs shaded it.  

“After last weekend’s big defeat by Termon, I expect Naomh Columba to bounce back at home to beat Bundoran.”