Tourlestrane the favourites as Championship gets underway
THE coming weekend marks the start of the club championships in Sligo, with the Belfry Senior Championship and Kennedys Intermediate Championships taking centre stage.
The first round of games take place on Saturday and Sunday, with the second and third round pencilled in for the next two weekends thereafter.
Though county players are now free from Sligo commitments, a number of clubs have been hit by players going abroad for the remainder of the summer.
Tourlestrane, who have dominated the club scene over the last 25 years will start the campaign as favourites, but Tubbercurry, defending champions St Mary’s and perhaps Coolaney/ Mullinabreena could have a say in the final destination of the Owen B. Hunt Cup.
Group One is anything but a foregone conclusion. The four- team group includes the two most recent winners, St Mary’s and Tubbercurry, as well as Coolera/ Strandhill and Drumcliffe/ Rosses Point.
The team that tops that group will go straight to the semi- finals, with the second and third placed teams going through to the quarter- final.
Coolera/ Strandhill have suffered from emigration – evidenced by their relegation from Division One in the league – while Tubbercurry will hope to bounce back following their shock exit at the hands of Calry/ St Joseph’s in 2015.
Drumcliffe/ Rosses Point just about avoided relegation in 2015, but will harbour justified hopes of making a quarter- final here on the back of an impressive Division Two league campaign.
Group Two sees south Sligo neighbours Coolaney/ Mullinabreena and Curry square off this weekend, in a game that looks set to decide who will top the group.
Last year’s intermediate champions Easkey are the third side in Group Two, but could struggle in the top tier despite having a nice blend of youth and experience in their squad.
Finally in Group Three, championship favourites Tourlestrane will play Eastern Harps and Calry/ St Joseph’s.
It is Eastern Harps and Calry/ St Joseph’s who meet this weekend, and the loser of that tie will find themselves up against it heading into the second round.
Former Sligo manager Tommy Breheny, who guided St Mary’s to last year’s title, says Tourlestrane look like the team to beat ahead of the opening round of fixtures.
“Tourlestrane are the favourites, certainly on the back of a good league campaign and the new management team that is in there.
“They have also probably been the least affected in terms of players being away for the summer.
“The main contenders for the title are probably Tourlestrane, St Mary’s and Tubbercurry.
“Again St Mary’s and Tubbercurry are hit by guys being away for the summer, so you would imagine that from the knockout stages it will be clearer and it will open up from there.”
“As for dark horses, there has been a lot of talk about Coolaney/ Mullinabreena, and Drumcliffe/ Rosses Point will fancy themselves to get out of Group One as they have a good young side.”
As for relegation, Breheny says Easkey could well make the drop back to intermediate at the first time of asking.
“Easkey might struggle, but they have done a lot of great underage work but maybe they don’t just have the depth in their panel to compete.”
The Kennedys Intermediate Championship also gets underway this weekend, in what is the strongest second tier competition in many years given the restructuring of the championship.
St Molaise Gaels, who are Division One league finalists, are favourites according to Tommy.
“St Molaise Gaels have to be favourites; they won two matches last year in the senior and looked certain to go through to the quarter- finals.
“They were unlucky not to go through and couldn’t get any momentum after that.
“They will be very strong. St John’s are without Charlie Harrison, but will be there or thereabouts, and I would also expect Shamrock Gaels to be possible outsiders.”