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Connacht Club SFC Quarter-Final Preview

Oct 16, 2009

Tourlestrane (Sligo) v Castlerea/St Kevin's (Roscommon), Markievicz Park, Sunday, 2.30pm.

Sligo's Tourlestrane welcome Roscommon men Castlerea/St. Kevin's as the Connacht Club Championship gets underway on Sunday and the men from the Yeats County will be confident of inflicting further pain on a side who have never had the rub of the green outside their own county.

Sligo veteran Eamonn O'Hara will be out to once again get one over on ex-Roscommon star Nigel Dineen after his side gained back-to-back wins over Eastern Harps.

Harps were downed by Tourlestrane in both the Sligo county final and last weekend's county Senior League Division One decider and Anthony Brennan's men did not let up in the second of those games as they geared up for a serious crack at Connacht glory.

O'Hara, Brian Kennedy, captain Gerry McGowan and Stephen Henry will all be keen to go all the way with a very experienced Tourlestrane outfit, while Barry Kinnane did his place of a provincial quarter-final start no harm when he scored a goal after coming into the team. Unfortunately, Brendan Egan is unlikely to be involved due to work commitments in Sweden.

So the hunt to add to the glut of silverware already gained will go on for Tourlestrane against a West Roscommon club who really want to stand up and be counted this year.

County champions in 2003 and again last year, Castlerea failed to get close to Galway opponents Caltra and Corofin once they emerged into the provincial mix in those seasons. They will like to think they have improved again on last year after seeing off Western Gaels in their county final and they are about to find out if that is the case.

Defensively, Castlerea have looked sound but if the afore-mentioned Tourlestrane stars can all weigh in with enough scores then the Roscommon men are likely to struggle to match them. The veteran Dineen and the prolific Ger Heneghan apart, there are not too many likely heavy-hitters in Denis Kearney's team's attack and they will need to keep their opponents as much at bay as possible if they are to outscore them.

Verdict: Tourlestrane

 

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