There is a full round of senior football championship matches down for decision this weekend on both Saturday and Sunday.
On Saturday evening three in-a-row county champions Corofin will take on Milltown (7.30pm ) in Tuam Stadium in what promises to a be a lively encounter.
Milltown had a narrow victory over a lacklustre Salthill outfit in the first round and it will be interesting to see the likes of Kieran Fitzgerald, Liam Silke, Ciarán McGrath and Cathal Silke marking Milltown’s trio of James Kavanagh, Michael Martyn and Mark Hehir.
If those three Milltown forwards are tied up, it is difficult to see where their scores will come from.
The last time these sides met in championship it was a landslide victory for then manager Stephen Rochford’s side and it will be intriguing to see how Milltown set up defensively on Saturday evening to try to nullify Corofin’s free scoring forward division which includes Ian Burke, Gary Sice, Martin Farragher and the pacey Dylan Wall.
That game is the second part of a double header with Kilconly and Cortoon Shamrocks (5.45pm ) and based on their respective first round displays, it is hard not to plug for a Cortoon win in that clash.
Elsewhere on Saturday Tuam Stars take on An Chearthrú Rua in Pearse Stadium (5.30pm ) in what should be a close affair. The Connemara men made light work of Cárna-Caiseal in the first round and they will fancy their chances of putting the Stars to the sword too.
The clash of the round in some ways could be near neighbours Mountbellew/Moylough and Caltra.
Both sides had good wins in the first round and it will be interesting to see how many of the Mountbellew U-21 stars will progress to the senior ranks during the course of the year.
In the other two games you would have to fancy Salthill and Killanin to be too strong for Leitir Móir and Barna respectively.
Will Moycullen have too much for St James?
There is an attractive double header on Sunday at Pearse Stadium with St Michael’s and Mícheál Breathnach’s in action at 2pm and then St James who produced a fabulous last 10 minutes to beat Caherlistrane taking on Maigh Cuilinn (3.45pm ).
Terry O’ Regan is manager of St James this season and he will expect big displays once again from county star Paul Conroy and former county player Eoin Concannon to try to get straight to the next winners round.
However, Michael Donnellan’s Maigh Cuilinn have some good young players and county corner back David Wynn has been very influential this season and his sallies up the field along with Sean Kelly, Gareth Bradshaw, Peter Cooke, Eoin Walsh and the Lydon brothers make them a difficult side to defeat.
The confidence they garnered from winning the Intermediate title last year is still with them and they might just have enough to beat the Jimmies once they can nullify Conroy’s influence around the middle, and especially if he is put in at full-forward for a while.
Conroy cannot be allowed to be left in a one-on-one with the Moycullen full-back as he will do damage if he gets supply in there as Caherlistrane found out to their cost.
The final game of the day sees Annaghdown take on Caherlistrane (6pm ) in Tuam Stadium and based on their terrific first 30 minutes against St James and Annaghdown’s poor showing against Caltra the temptation here is to go for a Caherlistrane win.
Especially if key county forward Damien Comer is not back to 100 per-cent and injury free for his club. Comer at full-steam is a hard detail to derail, however he has been struggling with injury and that has to be a concern for the county management team too with the Mayo and Galway clash on June 18 coming into view.
