Preview: Weekend's senior club championship finals

By John Harrington

The senior club championships are really coming to the boil now in most counties.

Four county finals take place this weekend – the Wicklow SFC Final, the Clare SHC Final, the Derry SHC Final, and the Tyrone SHC Final.

There are senior football semi-finals in Carlow, Down, Dublin, Kildare, Leitrim, London, Mayo and Roscommon, and senior hurling semi-finals in Cork, Laois, Limerick, Meath, and Offaly.

We preview the four county finals below and you can view and download a full list of all this weekend’s senior club championship fixtures at the bottom of the article.

Sunday, October 5

Boom & Platform Hire Wicklow SFC Final

Baltinglass v Carnew Emmets, Echelon Park, Aughrim, 2pm

Carnew Emmets have had an incredible year, reaching both the Wicklow senior football and hurling finals with largely the same group of players.

Reaching the hurling final for the third year in a row was largely expected, but less so their progression to this football final considering they were only crowned Intermediate champions last year.

Carnew haven’t won a Wicklow senior football championship since 1973 when they actually did the double of senior football and hurling titles. What odds history will repeat itself this year?

They’ll go into this match as underdogs but that didn’t faze them in the semi-final when they edged out a fancied Arklow Geraldine Ballymoney team who until that match were the form team in the championship.

Carnew are very organised in defence, have strong ball-winners like Dan Redmond, Jack Doyle and Padraig Doran in the middle third, and two outstanding forwards in Ben Brosnan and Sean Murphy.

The former is a strong ball carrier who can shoot points from all sorts of angles and distances, while Murphy gives them a great presence on the edge of the square.

If Carnew can dominate the middle third like they did against AGB they’re in with a great chance, but Baltinglass will surely come into this game with serious fire in their bellies after losing last year’s final to Tinahely when they let a six-point half-time lead slip.

They gained a measure of revenge for that defeat against Tinahely in this year’s semi-final which they won in thrilling fashion after extra-time.

They really cut loose in the second-half of extra-time in that match to eventually win by nine points, and there was a real feeling of catharsis about the result that should set them up nicely for this final.

Tommy Keogh is their main danger-man in attack, but they’re a nicely balanced team and on any given day others like Christopher Heaslip and John Mcgrath are potential match-winners.

Baltinglass have lost three of the last four county finals and the pain of those defeats could well provide them with the well-spring of motivation they need to finally get the job done on Sunday.

Clare Senior Hurling Championship Final

Clooney Quin v Éire Óg Ennis, Zimmer Biomet Páirc Chíosóg, Biomet Páirc Chíosóg, 3.30pm

This novel looking Clare SHC Final will provide the 12^th different winner of the Canon Hamilton Cup in a span of 22 years.

In any given year you just can’t be sure any more what teams in Clare will rise to the top, but there’s no doubting that the two very best in the competition this year have made it to the final.

Both Clooney Quin and Éire Óg Ennis have enjoyed unbeaten runs to get here, which is a fair achievement in itself in what’s such a dog-eat-dog championship.

Clooney Quin dethroned Feakle in the quarter-final and then edged out the always formidable Ballyea in the semi-final despite a Tony Kelly masterclass.

Éire Óg also beat Feakle, in the group phase, and then showed real grit to edge out a previously unbeaten Kilmaley in the semi-final, so both teams come into this game with an impressive body of work behind them.

Both teams are nicely balanced sides with a range of threats, but you get the feeling this match will be decided by some of the bigger personalities on both sides.

Éire Óg managed to beat Kilmaley even though their two county stars had relatively quiet matches by their very high standards with Reidy scoring a point and O’Donnell failing to register a single score.

The Ennis club will need bigger contributions from them on Sunday if they’re to win a first county championship since 1941.

Peter Duggan has been Clooney Quin’s main man all year and is their most likely match-winner, but he has a strong backing cast with men like Ryan Taylor and Darragh McNamara around him.

This one looks like it will go right down to the wire.

Leadon Timber Frame Derry Senior Hurling Championship Final

Slaughtneil v Kevin Lynch Hurling Club, Owenbeg, 3.30pm

Slaughtneil go hunting here for what would be a remarkable 13^th Derry SHC title in succession.

This will be the sixth time in seven years they’ll face Kevin Lynch’s in the final, and they’re red-hot favourites to dole out more misery to the Dungiven side.

The underdogs will take some measure of encouragement though from the fact they gave the reigning champions a decent game when they met in the group phase, losing out by just four points on a scoreline of 0-27 to 1-20.

Perhaps complacency set in that day for Slaughtneil though as they led by 12-points early in the second-half before suffering a late fade-out.

They were without Chrissy McKaigue, Sean Cassidy, and Meehaul McGrath for their semi-final win over Swatragh but all are expected to return to what should be a full-strength Slaughtneil line-up.

If Kevin Lynch’s are to pull off what would be a big shock they’ll need star men like John Mullan, Richie Mulan, Sean Kelly, Tomas Brady, Mark Craig, Paddy Kelly and Niall McGonigle to really hurl up a storm.

It’s hard though to look beyond a Slaughtneil team stacked with free-scoring players like Brendan Rogers, Cormac O’Doherty, Shea Cassidy, Mark McGuigan, and Ruairí Ó Mianáin

Tyrone Senior Hurling Championship Final

Éire Óg Carrickmore v Dungannon Eoghan Ruadh, Healy Park, 4pm

Éire Óg Carrickmore will bid to make it six Tyrone SHC titles in a row when they play Dungannon Eoghan Ruadh in Sunday’s Final at Healy Park.

This is a familiar match-up as Éire Óg have beaten Eoghan Ruadh in four of the last five finals.

Last year’s decider was the closest in that sequence, and most heart-breaking from an Eoghan Ruadh point of view as they conceded two late goals that turned the game on its head.

Motivation will be easy to source for Eoghan Ruadh after that gut-wrenching defeat but the jury is out on whether they can match the scoring threat of an Éire Óg side that boasts quality attacking players like Aidy Kelly, Aidan Woods, and Seán Óg Grogan.