Preview: Weekend’s Provincial Club Championship finals:
Saturday, 7th December
AIB Ulster Club IFC final
Arva (Cavan) v Ballinderry (Derry), Healy Park, 5pm
It’s been an incredible year for Arva who won the AIB All-Ireland Club Junior Football in Croke Park last January and are now one win away from following that up with a provincial intermediate title and another tilt at All-Ireland glory.
Were they to beat Ballinderry in Saturday’s final it would be the Cavan club’s 25th win in a row, which is an incredible statistic.
The closest they came to seeing that winning streak broken came in the Ulster semi-final against Monaghan champions Magheracloone when they trailed by seven points with as many minutes remaining but turned the game around with two late goals.
Powerful midfielder, Tristand Noack-Hofmann, scored one of them and set up the other and will be a key figure again for Arva on Saturday.
Despite their winning habit they go into this game as underdogs against a Ballinderry side who have serious momentum of their own having spent just one season in the Intermediate grade in Derry after a restructuring of the senior championship saw them lose a relegation play-off last year.
Ballinderry were All-Ireland senior champions as recently 2002 and sit second in the Derry senior championship roll of honour so they have a serious pedigree. But such is Arva’s happy habit of winning, you wouldn’t write them off.
“When you pull games out of the bag like we did last week it gives you that belief that you can dig wins out,” says Noack-Hofmann.
“That was the first real proper comeback victory we’ve had to produce in the last 24 games. It was a test of character for us and thankfully we got through it .
“Ballinderry is going to be another tough step up though and if we perform to the same level we did last weekend it won’t be good enough. The reality is we got lucky against Magheracloone. We didn’t perform good last week and if we perform at that level we won’t have a hope.
“Ballinderry are a top, top outfit and we have to bring it to them because it’s going to be an absolute battle.
“This time of year, winter football, anything can happen. They’ll back themselves and we’ll back ourselves and hopefully it will be a good encounter.
“On the day more often than not the better team wins so whoever has their stuff done better will come out on top and hopefully that will be us.”
Ballinderry were touted by some as possible Ulster contenders this year as soon as they were relegated to the Intermediate ranks in Derry, but it hasn’t all been plain-sailing on the way to this match.
They were taken to a replay by Faughanvale in the Derry final and only had one-point to spare over Tyrone champions Derrylaughan in the Ulster semi-final.
So even though they’re up against a team that plied its trade in the Cavan Junior championship last year, Ballinderry manager Jarlath Bell isn’t convinced the Derry side should be the favourites for this game most people are making them out to be.
“I’ve been very impressed by them,” said Bell of Arva. “This Junior thing, people have questioned me on it, even outside the club.
“It’s in people’s minds that they won the All-Ireland last year, but they won the Intermediate this year and they’re also playing senior league in Cavan and I think they finished third.
“So they’re no more Junior, they’re an outfit to me on the upward trajectory that are very much heading towards Senior Championship aspirations.
“So we’re not buying that, they’re a formidable side with six or seven Cavan representatives on the team so they’re a good team.”
Ballinderry have been given a big boost by the availability of Derry star Gareth McKinless for this match after his appeal against a two-match suspension was successful.
There won’t be much in this game, but the form of forwards like Ryan Bell, Shea McCann, and Niall O’Donnell could be enough to edge it for the Derry champions.
AIB Munster Club IFC final
Austin Stacks (Kerry) v Aherlow (Tipperary), Mallow, 1pm
Austin Stacks come into this match as hotter than hot favourites.
Kerry senior champions as recently as 2021, the Tralee side are on an upward trajectory again after their shock relegation to the Intermediate grade a year later.
They’ve shown impressive form on the way to this final but team manager, Billy Lee, insists they won’t be taking the challenge of Tipperary champions Aherlow for granted.
“It wasn’t too long ago (2006 and 2010) since Aherlow were winning senior county titles in Tipperary,” says Lee. “I didn’t realise they had been relegated two years ago,” he says.
“They are a senior team in my eyes, they’ve always been a senior club. They are big and strong, a physical team, that’s the style of football they play from what I can see and you underestimate any team at your peril.
“They have produced players over the years. Mark [Russell] and Barry Grogan would be the lads to the forefront of people’s minds but we won’t underestimate any player they have, because if you do you’re in a bad spot straight away. You have to take opposition players on their merits on what you see, not what you hear second-hand or what you assume, so we’ll be giving them all the due respect and focus that we need to give them to make sure we get the most out of our boys, and hopefully that’ll be enough to get us over the line.”
No-one is giving Aherlow a chance but themselves. Club Chairperson, Paddy O’Shea, is bullish that they’re travelling to Mallow in a determined mood rather than a fearful one.
“This is the ultimate David v Goliath but isn’t it a great position to be in,” says O’Shea.
“Our lads aren’t going down to Mallow on Saturday just to show up. There’s a great confidence and exuberance in the team. They know the challenge in front of them is gargantuan, but it’s a shot to nothing.
“All you can do is break the game down to chunks of 10 minutes and if you can still see them with 10 minutes to go, who’s under pressure then?
“Stacks are an amazing team and have produced some of the greatest footballers of all time, but we’ll go down there and we’ll have a plan. We’ll stick to our plan, we’ll be disciplined and we’ll know what we’re doing.”
If Aherlow are to pull of a shock they’ll need star man Barry Grogan to shoot the lights out, but that will be difficult with a man-marker as sticky as Dylan Casey shadowing him.
At the other end of the field quality Stacks forwards like Paddy Lane, Cian Purcell, and Greg Horan are capable of doing serious damage given a good supply of ball.
Munster Club JFC final
Firies (Kerry) v Kilmurry (Cork), Mick Neville Park Rathkeale, 6pm
Remarkably, this is Kilmurry’s third year in a row to contest the AIB Munster Junior Club Football Championship Final.
Cork Junior A champions in 2022, a restructuring of the Cork championship the following year meant the Premier Junior A grade became the gateway to this competition.
Kilmurry lost the 2023 Premier Junior A Final to St. Finbarr’s’ second team but progressed to Munster again because Cork can’t be represented by a club’s second team in provincial action.
This year Kilmurry went one better, beating Canovee to qualify for this year’s Munster campaign.
They’ll hope it’s third time lucky because in the last two years they’ve been beaten by Kerry opposition in the Munster Final.
Fossa beat them by 11 points in 2022 and last year they lost to Listowel Emmets by four points. On both occasions Kilmurry didn’t quite play to their full potential, so they’ll surely be highly motivated to make amends this time around.
Kerry teams have been utterly dominant in the Munster Club Junior Football Championship since its inception in 2001, winning 19 of the 22 finals since then.
You’d expect a seasoned Kilmurry team to make a real match of this, but Firies have looked like a typically accomplished Kerry team in this grade on their way to the final.
Their half-back line of Niall Donohue, Pádraig de Brún and Stephen Palmer give them a great platform to attack, and forwards like Stephen Palmer, Cian Doe, and James Horgan are all very clinical finishers.
Sunday, 8 December
Munster Club SFC final
Loughmore Castleiney (Tipperary) v Dr. Crokes (Kerry), Mallow, 1.30pm – TG4
Dr. Crokes come into this match as very warm favourites but they won’t be taking anything for granted after their close shave with Waterford champions Rathgormack in the semi-final.
The Kerry side were slightly fortunate to come away with a one-point win in the end, and had their goalkeeper Shane Murphy to thank for a crucial save that proved to be a vital intervention in the final reckoning.
Loughmore-Castleiney will surely take a lot of encouragement from the tape of that match. When Rathgormack attacked Dr. Crokes with a direct brand of football in the second half they rattled the Kerry side, and that’s the sort of game that the Tipperary champions like to play too.
They were impressive in their semi-final win over an Éire Óg Ennis team that included five Clare county men. Despite their exertions in both codes over the course of a long season, it was the Mid-Tipp side that finished the match more strongly which is a testament to their impressive physical conditioning.
Forwards like Micheál Burns, David Shaw, Tony Brosnan and super-sub Kieran O’Leary means that Dr. Crokes have superior firepower than Loughmore-Castleiney.
But if the Tipperary team manage to win the majority of restarts around the middle third like they have been doing all season then they’ll have the platform to make this a game of fine margins.
Ulster Club SFC final
Kilcoo (Down) v Errigal Ciaran (Tyrone) , Box-It Athletic Grounds, 3.30pm (TG4)
So much for Kilcoo being a team in decline. That’s the charge that was levelled at the 2021 All-Ireland champions when they were beaten by Scotstown in last year’s Ulster semi-final, but no-one is saying it now after they emphatically beat the same opponents at the same juncture of this year’s competition two weeks ago.
The Down champions banged in five goals that day and look to have timed their run to top form this season perfectly.
The counter-attacking machine that brought them All-Ireland glory three seasons ago has really clicked into gear again, and they bring serious momentum into this final.
And as good as hey were against Scotstown, team manager Karl Lacey believes they still have significant room for improvement.
“People can say whatever about our best performance against Scotstown but deep down we know within the group that some of the markers we’re trying to hit, we weren’t anywhere near them,” says Lacey.
“We looked at it that way rather than just the score-line, so we know there’s plenty of stuff there in our own game that we need to improve on.”
Errigal Ciaran didn’t look quite so fluid when beating Armagh champions Clann Eireann in the other semi-final, but Lacey knows they’ll be formidable opponents.
“They had to grind it out. Clann Eireann are a great team as well so it wasn’t easy for them.
“Obviously I was really impressed with the two Canavans [brothers Ruairi and Darragh], it is no hidden secret in regard to the danger those boys bring to it.
“It is also the experience that they had to grind that out. They probably weren’t in a great position at half-time, then after the sending off [Clann Eireann’s Tiernan Kelly] things opened up.
“They had the experience to get the right man on the right ball at the right time and that says a lot about them. That never say die attitude, they never lie down and they continued going until they got the win, it is going to bring danger.”
Tyrone teams have a poor record in this competition, but as the only side from the county to win it previously Errigal Ciaran have the sort of self-confidence that doesn’t come so easily to other clubs from the county.
That’s arguably why despite being second-best for much of their semi-final against Clann Eireann they still found a way to win it.
“We didn’t play well but the only thing that matters is we got over the line,” says manager, Enda McGinley.
“If winning ugly is a good habit, I think we’re addicted to it at this stage.
“I would love to be looking really impressive and the confidence of scoring five goals because then you know the boys are really clicking.
“We can build up how good it is to win ugly, we can build up that they have come through adversity but there are much more benefits to playing good football, so we still have that bridge to cross – but you can’t work on that if you’re out.
“When it’s a special team like Kilcoo it could bring the best out of you, that’s what you’re hoping to harness, without wanting to put any weight on their shoulders.
“It’s just a sense of opportunity and a great place to be.”
With forwards like the Canavan brothers and Peter Harte in their ranks, Errigal Ciarán certainly have the firepower to trouble Kilcoo.
That won’t be enough though if they can’t match the ferocious work-ethic and ability to force turnovers that is the Down club’s calling-card and was so in evidence again in their semi-final win.
In a match of fine margins, Kilcoo’s greater experience of these sort of occasions could also be a defining factor.
Leinster Club JHC final
St Lachtain’s (Kilkenny) v Castletown Liam Mellows (Wexford), UPMC Nowlan Park, 1.30pm
Kilkenny champions St. Lachtain’s come into this game as favourites based on their impressive run through Leinster that saw them steam to convincing wins over Offaly champions Drumcullen, Dublin champions Crumlin, and Wicklow champions Avondale.
Castletown Liam Mellows had things a bit harder in their semi-final win over St Fechin’s of Louth which is probably why they’re viewed as the underdog here, but that’s a tad unfair.
St Fechin’s are a fine team who know their way around Leinster and have been successful in the Cúchulainn Cup, so that match was always a banana skin for the Wexford champions.
They’re not as slick a hurling team as St. Lachtain’s, but most of these Liam Mellows players also won a Wexford Senior Football Championship this year so they’re a powerful, athletic side who will give the Kilkenny champions plenty of it.
If they are to pull off an upset they’ll have to physically dominate the middle third and find away to curb the influence of St. Lachtain’s centre-back, Brian Kennedy, who has been excellent all year.
If St. Lachtain’s break even around the middle, then the firepower supplied by their dangerous inside forward line of Darragh Maher, James Maher, and Shane Donnelly can give them a winning edge.