Semi-final places up for grabs as senior football title race hits home straight

THERE is an attractive double header of senior football championship action in Tuam Stadium on Sunday as Salthill/Knocknacarra and Caherlistrane face off in an intriguing quarter-final clash while Milltown and Mountbellew/ Moylough duel again in their quarter-final replay.

One of the teams who have illuminated the championship has been Caherlistrane and, having posted significant tallies in all four of their SFC games, they will be quietly confident going into this Sunday’s fixture (throw-in 3:45pm).

Indeed, the only blemish on their copybook has been their championship opener against St. James’. Having led by 11 points at half-time, Neil McHugh’s men looked on course for the win but a late scoring surge – inspired by Galway’s Paul Conroy – saw them defeated 3-9 to 1-14.

However, they duly bounced back to catch Annaghdown, 3-12 to 1-15, before exacting revenge on St. James’ early in the knockout stages when recording an emphatic 2-18 to 4-6 win. This was followed up with a preliminary quarter-final victory over Moycullen on a 0-17 to 0-14 scoreline.

Having scored six goals in their first three SFC games, but, alarmingly, conceded eight, that victory was notable for the very reason that they neither scored or conceded a major against Moycullen. “From a forwards’ perspective, we have been doing okay,” begins manager McHugh.

“I suppose, (having conceding on average two goals a game), we worked on that for the Moycullen game. We tried not to concede anything and we set ourselves up to play that way and it worked. That said, Moycullen did have opportunities to score so it is something we can improve on.”

Caherlistrane do have injuries going into this one, with both defender Kevin Nally and forward Brendan Murphy struggling with knee injuries. That said, McHugh insists the emphasis is very much on the squad and given they have been averaging 1-17 a game in the championship – and top Division 2 of the County League – this would certainly reflect solid structures.

In contrast, Salthill/Knocknacarra have not showed as much flair in the championship as Sunday’s opponents, albeit they have only played three games. So far, they have been averaging 1-11, and conceding 1-10, which means on current form they have higher targets to hit against Caherlistrane.

For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.