The big 3 expected to all win this weekend in senior football championship

It does not seem all that long ago since many gathered at Fraher Field in Dungarvan to see The Nire beat Stradbally to win a seventh County Senior Football Championship since they first won it on a famous day at Cappoquin venue in 1993 when they beat a hotly fancied Dungarvan side.

Since then, a lot of water has passed under the bridge when it comes to football in Waterford.

The Nire went on to put up some excellent performances against Limerick champions Ballylanders at Kilmallock and then Clare champions Cratloe in Fraher Field before loosing out to Kerry champions Austin Stacks in the Munster Final at Pairc Ui Chaoimh.

Waterford under a new management team in the opening weeks of the new year won the McGrath Cup for the first time since 1981, the first year of the competitions history, beating fancied sides Cork and UCC in the semi final and final respectfully.

This gave many high expectations heading into the league, but it was to prove to be a disappoint campaign, with Waterford winning just one game, the opener against Wicklow, with their next best result, a draw away to London.

This weekend, for the clubs in the county it a fresh start with the opening round of games in the Senior Football Championship down for decision.

Even before a ball is kicked in this year’s championship, it can be taken as a certainty that certain things will happen.

Barring some unforeseen circumstances the big three – The Nire, Ballinacourty and Stradbally will be involved in the semi finals come late September or early October.

It can also be taken for granted that An Rinn, Kilrossanty and Rathgormack will be the teams most likely to be vying for the remaining semi final spot, with two of them making the quarter finals, with De La Salle, Ardmore, Saint Saviours, Gaultier and Brickeys the sides challenging for the final quarter final spot, and two of the five will most likely to be involved in a relegation battle.

Holders the Nire are involved in Championship opener against Clashmore later this evening under the lights at Fraher Field.

The Nire under Benjie Whelan last year played some brilliant football and were worthy winners of the championship. They saved their best performance of the year for their penultimate game of the year, beating Cratloe in Fraher Field. On the day they were magnificent and if they can come anywhere near replicating the performance served up that day throughout the championship, they will be a very hard side to beat.

Clashmore last year had a disappointing year by their own standard’s. They know that they are capable of much better than they served up last year. They will look to get the year off to a good start and while they could find the going tough against the champions, it must be remembered that Clashmore have some fine footballers, including inter county hurlers Tadhg de Búrca and Brian O’Halloran, and will know that they are capable if making life difficult for the champions.

The sides clashed at the semi final stages of the championship a few years back and for much of the game it was Clashmore that proved to be the better of the two sides. An early second half goal that day proved to be the difference between the sides. We must also remember that it is not all that long ago that Clashmore beat the then champions Stradbally in the opening round of games in the championship.

The remaining games in group one of this years championship are down for decision on Sunday in Fraher Field.

Ardmore last year needed to beat Ballinameela in a relegation play off to retain their status for this year. De La Salle two years ago won the Intermediate championship and last year did better than most expected to win a place in the quarter finals.

Both sides have some very good footballers and will be looking to get the year off to a good start with a win here.

Ardmore will know that they have to improve on last years showing, while De La Salle will find out that the second year playing senior can often prove to be a little more difficult than the first.

The second game in a double header on Sunday at Fraher Field will see Ballinacourty take on Rathgormack.

This could well prove to be the best game of the weekend.

The two clubs clashed last week in the Under 21A Football County Final where the Comeragh Men cam out on top, winning a third title at this grade in five years.

However, there is a big step up from underage football to senior football, even from under 21.

There can be no doubting that Rathgormack have some fine players in the likes of Gavin Nugent, Michael Curry, Jason Curry and Conor Murray.

Ballinacourty will be disappointed not to have won back to back titles last year and will be all out for a win this year.

Like Rathgormack they have some excellent players who need no introduction, players like Stephen Enright, Patrick and Gary Hurney, Mark Ferncombe, Sean O’Hare and Jason O’Brien.

Looking at the three games in Group one this weekend, I am going for wins for The Nire, De La Salle and Ballinacourty but am not going to rule out the chances of the other three from winning too easily.

In group two, there is three games down for decision on Sunday.

An Rinn and Saint Saviours clash in the opener at Kill.

An Rinn have reached the semi finals in the last two years. Going to within one point of The Nire in the semi finals last year will give the side confidence that they can go another step forward this year.

Saint Saviours in the last two years have reached the quarter finals, having for many years previous flirted with relegation.

At this time of the year, Saint Saviours could at time find it hard to put out a full strength team due to players being involved in other sports. If Saint Saviours can put out a strong as team as is possible, then they can win here, but if they were to be short the services of some of their key players, then it could prove playing catch up from an early stage, could mean that it will be a long year for the wrong reasons.

The second game at Kill on Sunday sees Gaultier take on Stradbally

Like Saint Saviours, Gaultier have some very good players, and it would be nice to see them do well.

You could ask are Stradbally as good a side as they were four or five years ago. The side shows a number of changes in the last few years. They have lost some good players, but they have brought forward some good players as well, who are a different type of player to those that served the club for much of the last decade and a half.

Stradbally at times have being slow to settle in the championship, but have always done enough to reach the latter stages of the championship as the league section of the championship progressed. Could 2015 prove to be another year when Stradbally have a slow start? Gaultier will be hoping it will.

The final game of the weekend sees Kilrossanty take on Brickeys on Sunday evening in Fraher Field.

A few years back Kilrossanty were involved in a relegation play off against John Mitchell’s, a game they won and since then they have showed signs of improvements each year.

Brickeys for many years flirted with relegation and eventually dropped down to the intermediate grade at the end of the 2013 championship, but came straight back up last year.

This year their main focus will be to retain their status and to work from there, but sometimes that could be easier said than done.

In the Group two games, An Rinn, Stradbally and Kilrossanty are the favoured sides to begin with wins, but just as in group one, don’t rule out the chances of one of them loosing.