Seven day’s on from the All Ireland final and the glamour of Croke Park, it is back to the reality of club football this weekend. While for most its action in the league for the best four sides in the intermediate championship its semi-final day on Sunday. Burrishoole, Parke, Charlestown, and Kilmaine have all made it this far with two spots in the final up for grabs in McHale Park on Sunday afternoon.
The first game of the day pits west Mayo rivals Parke and Burrishoole together in at 12.30pm throw in. For Burrishoole this year they are looking to make it third time lucky, having been beaten in the last two finals by Tourmakeady and Davitts. This year their task has been made tougher after losing a couple of players from those squads and the generally even nature of this grade where all sides fancy their chances of making the breakthrough. Burrishoole will be looking to Jason Doherty to lead their line in attack a week on from the All Ireland final heartbreak, while a fully fit Liam O’Malley is also a welcome addition to the side this year. They were made to work hard against Achill in the quarter final and will not get anything easy from Parke. This is the second year in a row that Parke have made the semi-finals of this competition following their promotion from the junior ranks. Declan Shaw has overseen their progress from a group containing Swinford, Kiltimagh, and Ballyhaunis and then taking out a fancied Hollymount-Carramore side in the quarter finals. Parke played with a fearless air in their last eight clash, if they can replicate that on Sunday they will give Burrishoole plenty to think about.
The second semi-final of the day which throws in at 2pm, pits Charlestown who were surprisingly relegated from senior last year and Kilmaine. On paper, you cannot look past a Charlestown side that still have a number of key men from the side that won the senior title in 2009. Kilmaine came back from loosing their first game in the group to work their way through on points difference. They ripped through Swinford in the last eight scoring four goals in the process. But the likes of Richie Haran, Sean Morris, and Kevin Duignan should have enough to see Charlestown through.
