Saturday, 4th January is set to be a football-filled day.
Pearse Park in Longford is the venue for the All-Ireland Intermediate club football semi-final tie between Crossmolina Deel Rovers and Caragh of Kildare. Throw-in for this game is 1pm and it’s set to be streamed live by TG4 on their YouTube channel (so I’ll be able to embed the live stream here).
The other semi-final, by the way, takes place the same afternoon at O’Connor Park in Tullamore. Kerry’s Austin Stacks take on Ballinderry Shamrocks of Derry in that one. The final is fixed for the following weekend at Croke Park.
But back to Saturday, 4th Janaury, where the football continues later in the day at Hastings Insurance MacHale Park.
Shorn of the pre-season competitions, counties are predictably lining up challenge matches to get themselves prepped for the National League and also to give them a bit of practice with the slew of new rules.
We’ve got a game – which is a charity match in aid of the Mayo Motor Neurone Association – fixed that Saturday evening against Monaghan. Throw-in is set for 6.30pm under the lights and so it should be perfectly feasible for the die-hards to take in both games. Ticketing information for this charity game will be announced nearer the date.
My Ball says:
December 17, 2024 at 10:29 am
Mayo Gaa seem to have a great relationship with Monaghan Gaa as they have a challenge or 2 every year .
Great cause too so would be nice to see people support it and get the new year rolling
yew_tree says:
December 17, 2024 at 10:46 am
Austin Stacks in the intermediate championship?
TsuDhoNim says:
December 17, 2024 at 11:08 am
@yew_tree: Yeah.
Relegated in '22. Got beaten in the Kerry intermediate semi-finals last year by Fossa on penalties. Won the Kerry Intermediate Final this year against Laune, but only after extra time. Not the force they once were, but with a young lad like Paddy Lane ('23 minor team of the year and I believe their top scorer this year, but open to correction) coming through & the county talent they'll have high expectations for the future (watching or listening to Paddy in interviews it's like David Clifford 2.0, almost like an impersonation to be honest - a scary enough thought)... and with the Kerry structure their Intermediate and Junior sides are always a huge threat in national competitions.
They'll be red-hot favourites to win it out.
Kevin Anthony Birrane says:
December 17, 2024 at 5:26 pm
Austin Stack's are saying the same thing about Crossmolina D R.
TsuDhoNim says:
December 17, 2024 at 7:01 pm
@Kevin Anthony Birrane: About them being red-hot favourites? Possibly, but they'd be lying or mistaken.
Taking a quick glance at the odds to quantify it (wouldn't be a betting man, so hadn't a clue what they'd look like) a tenner on a successful Stacks bet would return you ~€13 while a tenner on a successful Cross bet would return you ~€65.
The reality is the way the Kerry and Mayo competitions are structured, Kerry sides shouldn't be losing Intermediate or Junior to Mayo sides. Never mind a Kerry side that went from winning senior to relegation in the space of a year.... But the whole joy of sport is that sometimes they might, despite the heavy deck stacking at play. Especially with a young Cross side where nobody, not even themselves, knows just how good they are (or might be going forward).