Favourites Na Gaeil face tough opener

DEFEAT here in the First Round does not mean the end of the year at Championship level for each club (losers going into the Novice Championship) but any club that has ambitions to go to Croke Park down the line simply must win this competition to get themselves into the shake-up for doing so. Fossa were the winners of last year’s revamped competition and the side they defeated in last year’s decider, Beale, face a tricky opening encounter away to a Cordal side off to a good start in Division Five of the County League.

Lispole were last year’s Novice winners, but this is the level they want to be competing at, having lost to the team that won the county’s fourth tier Championship (including when it was the Novice) for five consecutive years between 2012 and 2016, four of those being in finals. The West Kerry side face a difficult opener themselves with the visit of Cromane, 10 years on from when the Mid Kerry club were Novice champions back in 2007.

Listry and Scartaglin were amongst the sides to beat Lispole in that run and both are here in this grade this year with away fixtures in their opening games. The former travel to Asdee while Scart appear to have the more difficult trip in heading to former All-Ireland Junior Club Champions Castlegregory.

Duagh are the other team to have contested an All-Ireland Junior Club Final, 10 years ago exactly, and they host Kilgarvan who won a cracking Preliminary Round encounter with Ballylongford after extra-time to make it here but the home side will be the ones expected to advance.

Ballyduff, meanwhile, enter off the back of a big win over Knocknagoshel in the other Preliminary game last weekend and they welcome Sneem/Derrynane north after a difficult start for the South Kerry side in Division Four.

Tarbert host Moyvane in a North Kerry derby with Shane Enright’s side hoping for a boost in this grade after slipping down to Division Four in the League. Moyvane surprised many by beating Listry last year but will need to find some of that inspiration for another run in the Championship.

Valentia face last year’s Novice runners-up Tuosist in the other First Round encounter as the competition is the only one that doesn’t offer advancement beyond the county bounds afterwards.

Whether or not some of the sides here are more interested in trying to win the Novice is debateable in advance but the opportunity is here for them to try and more up a level.

Listry as the Division Two outfit will be the favourites but Castlegregory, Duagh and Lispole will all feel they have a genuine chance of making it into the shake-up.

Cromane and Cordal will hope Division Five doesn’t come against them in playing sides at a higher level, but it is eight years since a Division Five team won a Club Championship title in the County, that being Churchill in the 2009 Novice, making it more favourable in advance to the higher placed County League sides.

PREMIER JUNIOR CLUB CHAMPIONSHIP

A DRAW that has thrown up some interesting pairings, maybe the standout one pits two pre-Championship favourites against each other in the form of Na Gaeil and Beaufort.

Na Gaeil came very close to adding to Glenbeigh/Glencar’s former woes last year but the Tralee side have started positively in Division Three much like how their Mid Kerry opponents next Monday in Killeen have in Division Two. Truth be told, this is a match good enough to grace a decider and what will be the difference between both sides will be most interesting to see.

Listowel Emmets and Annascaul meet this Saturday 10 years after both sides met in an Intermediate Final, both clubs victims of the 2015 restructuring that brought them down here. Neither are heavily fancied for the title in advance but it might just suit both of them in terms of making a challenge this year.

Ballydonoghue enter off the back of a North Kerry Championship win last December and after pressing last year’s Champions in the semi-finals will feel they are capable of challenge but Churchill away in their most immediate task. The team they beat in the North Kerry Final, 2015 Novice winners St Senans will hope to make amends for their performance in that decider but East Kerry side Firies will present a difficult challenge to them.

Declan O’Sullivan’s first Championship game in charge of Dromid Pearses puts them in a South Kerry derby with Renard, one they will be hopeful of success in despite Renard having some promising players coming through.

Also down South Kerry way, 2009 All-Ireland Junior Club champions Skellig Rangers entertain a St Pats side who were another team that could have got the better of Glenbeigh/Glencar in last year’s competition and that might be the spur for a strong challenge by them in 2017.

Fossa and Ballymacelligott meet three weeks after Ballymac got the better of John Evans’ side by two points in the County League with the St Kierans side at home on this occasion.

Finuge and Keel meet in the other First Round encounter, both amongst the seven sides in the competition that have won some form of a provincial title in the 12 years since they came on offer to teams across all different grades and abilities.

Whether it’s a team that has never ventured beyond the county bounds or one with experience of success that proves to be the winner, it should throw up plenty of intriguing possibilities. How will sides with Kerry U-21s playing on Saturday fare less than 48 hours after the exertions in Ennis, and will it come down to who is better placed in the County League?

The winners of Na Gaeil versus, Beaufort, Ballydonoghue, St Pats and the victors of Listowel and Annascaul might start as the initial favourites but two of those are guaranteed to be gone after the Easter weekend, which might leave the door open to other sides to challenge for a spot on the road to Croke Park next February.