The fixtures
Donegal v Down Sunday 2pm (Live on RTE 2)
London v Roscommon Sunday 3pm
The previews
Donegal v Down
Given the pedigree of these two teams, it is amazing to think that they haven’t won an Ulster title between them since 1994, the year that Down went on to win their last All-Ireland title. If either team is going to change that, they are going to have to do it the hard way. Tyrone lie in wait for the winners of this one with an impressive looking Armagh outfit likely to make it to the final on the other side of the draw.
Of the two sides, Down look the likelier to mount a challenge. James McCartan’s side were impressive in the league and the partnership between Marty Clarke and Benny Coulter in attack looks particularly promising.
Marty Clarke has made an instant impact on his return to Gaelic football
Sunday will be the first chance to see how Donegal have recovered from a series of devastating defeats. Their last game in the league saw Armagh humiliate them by sixteen points in Ballybofey, while their last outing in the championship was a fourteen point hammering at the hands of a rampant Cork in Croke Park.
As recently as April, their under-21 side suffered a heartbreaking defeat against Dublin in the All-Ireland final, when only the crossbar prevented Michael Murphy from giving them a memorable victory from the penalty spot.
Murphy will pose the biggest threat for John Joe Doherty’s side from full forward and if he is given the right supply of ball in Ballybofey he could definitely do damage. Down captain Ambrose Rogers is a major doubt for the Mourne men having only had a cast removed from his foot last week and Dan Gordon is on standby to replace him. Midfielder Brendan Boyle will miss out for Donegal with a groin injury, while after six months travelling, Rory Kavanagh returns to the side at wing forward.
Teams:
Donegal: P Durcan; F McGlynn, N McGee, K Lacey; M Maguire, K Cassidy, B Dunnion; B Monaghan, N Gallagher; R Kavanagh, C Toye, D Walsh; D Molloy, M Murphy, C Dunne
Down: B McVeigh; B McArdle, D Rooney, D Rafferty; K McKernan, J Colgan, C Garvey; D Gordon, K King; D Hughes, M Poland, P McComiskey; B Coulter, J Clarke, M Clarke.
Odds:
Donegal 11/10, Down 11/10, Draw 13/2
JOE Prediction: Donegal have home advantage, but Down have already won in Ballybofey this year and we think they can do it again. Down to emerge as narrow winners.
London v Roscommon
After the almighty fright that New York gave Joe Kernan’s Galway a few weeks back, Fergal O’Donnell and his Roscommon squad would be wise not to take their trip to Ruislip for granted. One of these days, an unfocussed Connacht side will come home from either New York or London with a defeat, the prospect of which is on the increase with an ever growing number of young footballers leaving the country in search of work on foreign shores.
We can’t see this happening this Sunday however, for although Roscommon’s league form was truly abysmal, London’s was as bad if not worse. Both sides only managed to win one game in the spring, with London’s coming against perennial whipping boys Kilkenny in Division four, which is where Roscommon will play their football next season after finishing bottom of Division Three this campaign.
Donie Shine will be a big threat for Roscommon
Fergal O’Donnell has been boosted by the return of two heavyweight performers in the shape of Karol Mannion and Ger Heneghan, who both return having missed the majority of the league. O’ Donnell has named championship debutants Stephen Ormsby, Cathal Dineen and Paul Garvey while Enda Kenny, Senan Kilbride and Gary Cox miss out through injury.
London, who include former Galway footballers Eamon O’Cuiv and Paul Geraghty in their starting line up, will hope to go one better than the last time they hosted the Rossies in the Connacht championship at Ruislip; on that occasion in 2005, they were defeated by a single point.
Teams:
London: Evan Byrne; Donal Conlon, Eamon O’Cuiv, Barry Comer; Johnny Niblock, Conor Beirne, Noel Tuohy; Paul Geraghty, Sean McVeigh; Brian Smyth, Derek Hayden, Ciaran McAllion; Killian Phair, Darren Horan, Eoin O’ Neill
Roscommon: G Claffey; S McDermott, P Domican, S Ormsby; S Purcell, C Dineen, M O’Carroll; M Finneran, K Mannion; D Keenan, P Garvey, C Cregg; J Rogers, D Shine, G Heneghan
Odds:
London 8/1, Roscommon 1/20, Draw 16/1
JOE Prediction: London will probably run them close, but in Heneghan and Shine, Roscommon have two forwards of real class who can put enough on the board to see them through. Roscommon by four points or more.
Conor Heneghan
