2017 county senior champions Liam Mellows face near neighbours Castlegar in Pearse Stadium on Sunday (2pm ), having produced a solid six-point victory over Craughwell in the first round of the county championship.
Castlegar drew their first outing with Tommy Larkins by 1-12 to 0-15 and they needed talisman Ger Farragher to be at his best to earn that point, as he hit 1-8 from placed balls in that outing.
Others who mpressed for Murt Connolly's men in the opening round were defenders Brian Hartnett, Donal Barry, and forwards Enda Concannon, Jack Coyne and Aaron Tummon.
Mellows, who have Clareman Louis Mulqueen back in situ as team manager this season, were also reliant on an ace free-taker. Centre-forward Adrian Morrissey hit 0-13 (12 frees ) in their 0-17 to 0-11 win over Craughwell the last day out.
Their other four points came from midfielder Kevin Lee, Tadgh Haran, Conor Kavanagh, and joint team captain Aonghus Callanan.
The champions had other strong performers in defenders Sean Morrissey, Brian Lee and Michael Conneely, and midfielder Jack Hastings.
Based on their respective form the last day, the temptation is to go for a win for the current champions.
The game is preceded by Moycullen v Ardrahan in a senior B group game at 12.15pm.
In their round one games, Moycullen drew 2-14 apiece with Abbeyknockmoy, whereas Ardrahan, with Galway's Jonathan Glynn wearing the number 14 jersey, were beaten 0-20 to 0-16 by Padraig Pearses.
If Glynn lines out on Sunday at full-forward, he will probably be picked up by Moycullen's Matt Donohue, who won an All-Ireland medal with Galway last season. That potential clash would be an interesting subplot to the game - and an individual battle worth looking forward to.
