Hogan Park, Moate, is the place to be this Saturday evening at 6.30pm as Athlone and Garrycastle lock horns for the right to progress to the last four. Garrycastle, the reigning champions, will not want to relinquish their title easily, least of all to their neighbours Athlone.
The many friendships which exist between players from both clubs will be parked for 60 plus minutes on Saturday evening as the battle for a place in the semi-final, not to mention local bragging rights, unfolds.
In recent years the green and reds have held the upper hand in championship encounters between the two sides but the blue side of Athlone will be hoping that this year can be different.
Both sides will be disappointed with their recent form and will be forced to field without a number of regulars due to injury. Garrycastle will be without the services of Gary Dolan, Aiden Browne, and Shane Mulvihill while James Duignan is reported to be doubtful. In Athlone Damo Kelly, Alan Gaughan, and Tom Trainor all have question marks hanging over them while John Egan is recovering from a recent cruciate operation.
Garrycastle, albeit missing Dessie Dolan, were comprehensively beaten by Mullingar Shamrocks in their final group match, which deprived them of an automatic semi-final spot. Our loss to Killucan did likewise and so we have this mouth-watering derby clash.
While the sides shared the spoils when they met in the league earlier in the year, form will go out the window in a game like this. It really is like a cup game and the old cliché that whoever wants it most will take the spoils certainly will ring true.
The bookies and many more have installed Anthony Cunningham’s men as warm favourites and perhaps rightly so given that they contested last year’s Leinster club final. Yet we in Athlone will not be lacking in hunger as we make the short journey to Moate. We too will travel with confidence.
Having conceded 1-18 in our last outing we will need to tighten up if we are to have any chance. Garrycastle have plenty of scoring threats in the likes of Paul Dillon, ‘Dollar’ Daly, Paddy Mulvihill and of course Dessie. How we manage to curtail that threat will, not surprisingly, have a big bearing on the game.
Both sides know each other inside out which gives an added edge to the game. The prize on offer is a semi-final meeting with upwardly mobile Killucan in two weeks time. Expect it to be tough, expect it to be tight, and in the hope of putting the commentators curse on them I’ll go for Garrycastle to shade it!
