Replying To johncreilly: "Only caught the one game again this week and have to say that both sides looked a little disappointed leaving the field in Kent Park. I just can't see either doing enough to make a Semi Final at present but the two week break comes at the right time. Tourlestrane struggling to defend with 11 players as the pticehs get faster and Molaise looking a bit jaded. On paper these are two good sides, it will be interesting to see what comes next for both. As one poster previously pointed out, we'll see real shape on things after round 3 so to make it interesting, I'll make my updated predictions for the groups.
Group 2 Senior 1. DRP 2. St. Marys 3. Tourlestrane 4. Molaise Gaels 5. Tubbercurry
Though I'm not fully convinced that either can take Owen B this year, I'm going with Drumcliffe and Marys to get out of the group. I may be a bit harsh on Tubbercurry here but I still don't see where the next win comes from. I hope they prove me wrong and really put the cat amongst the pigeons. Molaise to finish behind Tourlestrane on Score Difference. Exciting times ahead in this group though.
Don't be surprised if the top 3 all end up with six points. The Connacht champions are up and running now and with injuries easing, I'd expect them to be there at the end. Eastern Harps will play a Shamrock Gaels team on the last day who will have 6 points and a big score difference. I don't see Curry or Easkey upsetting any of them. Easkey in particular seem to be struggling badly.
Group 1 Intermediate 1. Calry 2. Enniscrone 3. St. Farnans 4. St. Pats 5. Geevagh
This is probably the most difficult of all. Geevagh may just find themselves and get a couple of wins. Calry need a huge bounce back. I predict they will and win their next two including Enniscrone who will join them in the top spots. St. Pats have given themselves a lifeline but I can't see them worrying the top two positions.
Round 3 will tell the story in this group. I'd expect Coolaney to cement their place in the Semi Finals and the winner of Ballymote and Castleconnor to join them. I'll just about side with Ballymote on that. I expect Bunninaddens opening day defeat to come back to bite them and end up int relegation with the so far disappointing Owenmore Gaels.
Group 1 Junior 1. St. Michaels 2. St. Johns 3. Molaise Gaels B 4. DRP B 5. Tourlestrane B
Going on the opening two rounds, I think the Michaels and Johns seem to have their acts together for championship. I'll back them to get to a Semi Final.
Group 2 Junior 1. Cloonacool 2. Eastern Harps B 3. St. Marys B 4. Shamrock Gaels B 5. Tubbercurry B
Second teams are impossible to predict as they are at the mercy of the first teams and their injury list. I'll back Eastern Harps to get out of the group following their league promotion. Cloonacool would really need to slip up badly to miss out.
12/12 in the Semi Final Picks 6/8 in the relegation. I'll take that drink now Eoinog.
As expected, Shamrock Gaels with too much for Eastern Harps. This feels like a big year for Shamrock Gaels and I think they'll meet Coolera again in the final. In relegation, I still think Tour will win one of their games to stay up but it's been quite hard to watch and Curry will give them plenty. One would imagine Easkey will go but who knows. Intermediate is wide open. Castleconnor winning on Friday night against Coolaney shows how 'on the day' intermediate football is and at this stage I have no idea who will win it but I'll stick with C/M to bounce back. Likewise, relegation could be anyone but I'll go with St. Pats by a hair. Junior could be exciting as St. johns seems to be going better. I'm hoping Cloonacool get it done.
So with group stages complete in Senior I don't think it's a huge surprise who the semi finalists are. St Molaise Gaels will see the campaign as a massive disappointment, clearly Langan was able to extract more out of them than current set up plus their new transfer. Tourlestrane will also see it as a poor campaign having only got 1 point but there may be a realisation setting in there that the golden era couldn't go on forever. Harps will see it as a good campaign getting 3rd but probably can thank the order of games they had.
This weekend I expect Curry to prevail by a narrow margin and Tubber will beat Easkey next week. Easkey to be relegated.
In intermediate Bunninadden will be the most disappointed across the two groups but their neighbours Ballymote can count themselves extremely lucky having got in not by their own doing but by the fact Castleconnor did them a huge favour. All 4 semi finalists in both relegation and knockout are very evenly matched. I expect Owenmore to beat Geevagh this week and we'll see the true measure of Castleconnor against St Pats in a very hard to call game. I'll give the nod to Castleconnor and Pats v Geevagh is a toss of a coin. Calry will be delighted to have halted the free fall they're in from senior champ last year to Div 3 league this year. They will have plenty to say in the semifinal against Mullinabreena who didn't blow anyone away in their group and were caught by Castleconnor. Farnans will be disappointed but at least kept out of relegation. Enniscrone were my dark horses but seem to have fallen out of the saddle the last two games which will suit Ballymote who as one poster said appeared to celebrate avoiding relegation battle as if it were a championship win. Interesting battle there.
In Junior the 3 first teams make it and looking at the semis Michaels will work Eastern Harps handily enough. Cloonacool should be better than Johns but a close one. Thankfully Tubber have withdrawn before being thrown out but there probably is no need for 10 in Junior A, 8 is more than enough.