All-Ireland Intermediate Football Championship semi-final: Ballinderry Shamrocks v Austin Stacks (Saturday, Parnell Park, 2pm, live on Spórt TG4)
LIKE pioneers of the old Wild West, Ballinderry Shamrocks have to get over the Rockies at Dublin’s Parnell Park (O’Connor Park in Tullamore was deemed unplayable) to reach the promised land.
‘The Rockies’ in this case are Tralee’s Austin Stacks and the promised land is of course a place in the All-Ireland intermediate final.
The Derry and Ulster champions will have to be at their best to get there and they start as distant underdogs with the bookies against a side that had to battle for stages to win the Kerry title but then cut loose in Munster and won their provincial final by with an eye-watering 7-7 to 0-2 victory against completely out-gunned Tipperary opposition.
They are spearheaded by Kerry minor star Paddy Lane who still has a bit of filling-out to do but he has scored heavily throughout the campaign while Cian Purcell hit a hat-trick in the Munster final and Donagh McKivergan is another scoring threat.
Defensively the Kerry champions have looked very solid. Corner-back Colm Griffin has been outstanding and centre-half back Jack O’Shea, who held David Clifford (playing for East Kerry) scoreless in 2021 when Austin Stacks won their last senior title, has been a tower of strength at the back.
Add in the likes of Armin Heinrich, who made his Kerry senior debut last year, Joey Nagle and Joey O’Connor who is partnered at midfield by Michael O’Donnell and you get a sense of the quality in the side. Out of a panel of 25, at least 20 have worn Kerry’s green and gold at senior or underage level so there is strength-in-depth and experience in the side.
The Stacks’ last serious test came in their county final in early September against a Luane Rangers side that had edged out Fossa at the semi-final stage despite 3-8 from David Clifford. The final was drawn but in the replay a month later on November 9, they powered home by a dozen points.
Since then, ‘the Rockies’, managed by former Limerick boss Billy Lee with input from Armagh assistant-manager and club and Kerry legend Kieran Donaghy have coasted past Cork’s Killshannig (by nine points) and Tipperary’s Aherlow (by 26).
While the Kerry men through the carried all before them to win Munster, Ballinderry have had to graft harder for their silverware. An Austin Stacks clubman remarked recently that “we don’t know how good we are” and conceded that this weekend would be a “huge test” for the team.
It’ll be likewise for Ballinderry who have had to scrap all the way to this semi-final and they go into it battle-hardened and determined with nothing to lose.
The 2003 All-Ireland senior champions (Austin Stacks won that title in 1977 with icons Mikey Sheehy and Ger Power leading the way) survived an almighty scare in the Derry championship before getting past Faughanvale after a replay and since then Jarlath Bell’s side has beaten Armagh’s Carrickcruppen (by five points), Tyrone’s Derrylaughan (one point) and Cavan’s Arva (again by one) to win the Ulster title.
Defensively, the Loughshore outfit have been solid with Allstar Gareth McKinless at centre half-back. They held Tyrone’s Derrylaughan to 1-5 in the semi-final and came back from behind to beat Cavan’s Arva in the Ulster final.
Arva led by three points in the second half but Shea McCann’s goal (the only one of five goal chances Ballinderry took) levelled it and a point from evergreen Darren Lawn won a thrilling decider at the death.
Ruairi Forbes has registered vital points in all three Ulster outings while McCann, Niall O’Donnell and veteran Ryan Bell are all regular scorers in a team that has shown impressive spirit to get this far.
Can they go a step further?
Everything will need to go right for them to do so. Ballinderry have lost key players in Ryan Bell and Gareth McKinless to red cards already during this campaign and they can’t afford to lose their discipline in this semi-final.
On paper you’d have to go along with the bookies’ assessment of this pairing. Without having an out-and-out Kerry star in their ranks, Austin Stacks have quality and experience and a strong bench too.
They showed grit to see off Luane Rangers in a competitive Kerry championship final and a ruthless streak to run away with the Munster decider.
Ballinderry have a proud tradition and plenty of quality too and they’ve had to dig in to get over the line by a point in their last two games. To cause an upset, the Derry men will have to work furiously to close the Kingdom representatives down and stop them playing and – after missing a series of goal chances in the Ulster final - they’ll need take a higher percentage of the opportunities that come their way. If they can make this a dogfight then you certainly wouldn’t rule them out.
There’s no silverware for winning semi-finals and Ballinderry won’t care if it’s pretty as long as they get over the line and make it to the promised land.
All-Ireland Intermediate Football Championship semi-final: Crossmolina Deel Rovers (Mayo) v Caragh (Kildare) (Saturday, Glennon Brothers Pearse Park, 1pm, live on Spórt TG4)
BONFIRES burned along the River Deel when Crossmolina brought home the silverware following their 1-7 to 1-6 victory in the Connacht decider against Roscommon’s Elphin. Niall Coggins scored the goal in the final and he also found the net when the Deel Rovers side cruised past Galway’s St Michael’s at the semi-final stage. Mayo star Conor Loftus was also among the scorers.
Crossmolina were All-Ireland senior champions back in 2001 so the club has been at this stage before but these are uncharted waters for their opponents Caragh, from Prosperous in Kildare.
Michael Browne’s side clinched their first county title since they captured the junior crown in 2020 and they saw off opposition from Meath, Kilkenny and Wexford to reach the provincial final against Dublin’s Naomh Mearnog.
After failing to score for the opening 24 minutes, the Kildare outfit settled and five points from full-forward Jake Corrigan propelled them to a 0-13 to 0-8 win.
