Experienced Bunmahon Battle Emerging Kilmacthomas For Intermediate Football Title

Near neighbours Kilmacthomas and Bunmahon clash in the final of this year’s Eastern Intermediate Football Championship on Friday evening at the St. Molleran's Ground in Carrickbeg where it is expected that a close and interesting battle will be fought out.

          Bunmahon are a club that are regular participants in this stage of the championship, they reached the county final three years ago when they narrowly lost out to Ballinameela after a replay and last year they again reached the Eastern Final where they narrowly lost out to a Saint Saviours side who had been relegated from the senior grade at the end of the previous year.

Kilmacthomas this year are under the guidance of Benji Whelan who recently was appointed as the Waterford Senior Football Manager and they have played well under one of their own to reach this year’s divisional final, with some who are watching the championship in the East of the county believing that they have done so a year or two ahead of what many would have expected them to do so.

Both sides are through to this stage of the competition after semi final wins last week.

Bunmahon were first to qualify for the divisional final by virtue of gaining revenge for their defeat in the divisional final last year, beating Saint Saviours who lost out to Dungarvan in the county final last year, winning 2-7 to 0-8 at Dunhill, while later the same evening in a local derby clash at the Saint Mollerans Club grounds in Carrickbeg Kilmacthomas had a double digit victory over their next door neighbours Newtown.

There is nothing like two neighbouring sides meeting in a divisional or county final and the meeting of these two neighbouring clubs no doubt will bring out the best in each other on Friday evening.

Bunmahon are the more experienced of the two sides at this level, but that will not deter their opponents in this game who will go into this game believing that they can get one over on their neighbours and will look to the earlier game in the competition between the two sides for much of their confidence, a game that ended in a 2-8 to 0-14 draw.

Kilmacthomas have a very strong spine to their team which is likely to have Niall Cronin start between the posts, Gary Kiely at full back, Peter Gallagher in front of him, Jack Dee and John Cleary in the middle of the field, while Alan Fitzsimons is likely to start at centre forward and Adam Walsh who has played senior football for the county is likely to be at full forward and could well prove to be the side’s main score getter on the night if given opportunities.

Bunmahon will be able to pick from a number of players that went so close to winning a county title after winning the championship in the east of the county back in 2015 and that experience you feel would have to stand to them.

Players lie Eoin Fitzgerald, Kieran Roche, Jonathan Fenton, Niall and Patrick Queally, Michael Harney, Richie Walsh, Ciaran Buckley, Conal Queally, Dylan Power and Shane Dwan have done this all before and would love to add to their collection of medals.

This is a game that could well go right to the wire and be as close as the earlier game between the two sides and it might be no surprise to learn that the allotted hour might not be enough to find a winner.

Football for whatever reason has often suffered in the east of the county and this game could well give the game a boost in the eastern half of the county and whichever them comes out on top will have reached the county final on merit.

For me, Bunmahon who are favourites will win this title and therefore go on and play either Modeligo or Ballinameela in the final, and if they were to come out on top in that game in the coming weeks they will add to a number of traditional footballing sides in the middle of the county who will compete in the senior championship next year.