Rockies won’t crack

COUNTY SFC WINNERS ROUND Austin Stacks v Legion Friday, May 26 Connolly Park, 7.30pm

THIS is a really, genuinely difficult game to call.

After last weekend both teams – off the back of difficult replay victories away from home – will be buoyant. If confidence was in short supply before it should now be coursing through their veins.

Legion, in particular, will feel especially delighted to have finally shaken off the challenge of Kenmare. After losing out to the Shamrocks in the club championship semi-final – and having failed to beat them in Direen in the county championship – Sunday’s win will have come as blessed relief.

With that weight off their shoulders they’ll travel to Connolly Park this Friday evening with little to lose, giving them the chance to go at the game with abandon. Can the same be said of the Rockies?

Probably not. Playing at home Pat Flanagan’s men will have – rightly or wrongly – a much greater burden of expectation. Worryingly their record in Connolly Park in championship football in the last year or so hasn’t been as strong as they would like (their humbling at South Kerry’s hands last year stands out in that regard).

Still one gets the sense that they’re a serious championship force waiting to be unleashed. They’ve got some real talent there, but maybe not as much strength in depth as they would like.

When they were good last weekend against they were very, very good. Maintain that and Stacks should have enough to win.

Verdict: Austin Stacks