Clubs shift their focus to Munster
FOUR clubs are planning for Munster Club Championship action in the next couple of weeks and all will be hoping to make it to the provincial finals at the end of November and the start of December.
Despite Dr Crokes winning a third County SFC title in-a-row on Sunday, perhaps the bigger story the same day was the Lixnaw hurlers’ win over Cashel King Cormacs in the Munster Intermediate Championship.
Despite being short a number of key players due to injury, the county champions hurled heroically out in Hermitage Park to beat the Tipperary representatives by three points.
The win means Lixnaw are at home again next Saturday when they host the recently crowned Cork champions, Charleville, at 1.30pm in the provincial semi-final.
The same say the Kerry Intermediate football champions Kilcummin will cross the Shannon estuary to play Clare champions, Kilrush Shamrocks, in Kilrush (1.30) in a provincial quarter-final, with the winner to play the yet to be decided Waterford champions the following weekend.
County senior football champions, Dr Crokes, have little time to be basking in the glory of last Sunday’s three-in-a-row win as they head to south Tipperary to face Moyle Rovers this Sunday for a Munster SFC quarter-final.
The winner of that fixture will be out again the following weekend in the provincial semi-final, this time playing host to Cork champions St Finbarrs.
Meanwhile, Kerry’s Junior representatives will be in action the weekend after next with football champions, Beaufort, also Tipperary bound to face Ballylooby-Castlegrace in a provincial quarter-final, with the winner to play the Clare champions, Michael Cusacks the following weekend in a semi-final, with the Munster JFC final scheduled for December 2 in Mallow.
The same day, November 10, the Kilgarvan hurlers make the trip to Tournafulla in Limerick to play the home club in a Munster Club JHC quarter-final (1.30) and if the south Kerry club is successful they will host Waterford side Ballinameela in a semi-final on November 17.