Ulster Minor Football Club Championship Quarter Final
Enniskillen Gaels v St Enda’s Glengormley (Antrim)
Saturday December 5th, St Pauls Belfast @ 1.30pm
Fermanagh Minor football Champions Enniskillen Gaels get their Ulster Minor Club Championship underway this coming Saturday in a tricky clash with Antrim side St Enda’s Glengormley, when the two sides meet in the first of the Quarter finals of the 2015 St Paul’s Ulster Club Minor Football Tournament this Saturday afternoon at 1.30pm.
Enniskillen joint-manager John Reihill says, “There’s four boys away from home, three in England and one in Belfast,” said Reihill. “With the under 16s playing we took a complete break for quite a while. We called everybody together a couple of weeks back to train with the seniors because we had four or five boys training anyway with the seniors. With Gaels seniors finished we’ve had our first solo sessions and there has been an excellent turn out, but its still a long time since we actually played as a team.”
St Enda’s counterpart Thomas McNulty is pretty confident with his side. Part of a five man management team McNulty said, “We avoided the Preliminary round which is always a good thing. It gives us that bit of time to go and watch the other two teams and then prepare, but I think we’ve a very good chance. I’ve watched Crossmaglen, Slaughtneil and Rostrevor in their finals and we’re not too far off those teams so I think we’ll be there or thereabouts.”
Enniskillen have had challenge games against Monaghan champions Donaghmoyne and St Michael’s MacRory side ahead of the clash with St Enda’s.
The Fermanagh champions will enter the game in optimistic mood of setting up an Ulster Semi-Final after winning the Fermanagh Championship quite easily. The Enniskillen club eased to a comprehensive victory over Erne Gaels way back in June and in the process collected a first Fermanagh minor title since 1998. The Enniskillen side also were to collect the Division 1 League title and so go into this game without tasting defeat all season.
Enniskillen have had a remarkable season this year with the Under-14s, Under-16s and the Minor side collecting every trophy in Championship and Division 1 League while the Under-14s also got their hands on the Feile na nOg title. The big thing for Enniskillen Gaels though is can they do it outside of the County? The Under-16s have this year already fallen at the first hurdle to Tyrone side Dromore in the Paul McGirr Ulster Club tournament 1-14 to 2-7.
St Enda’s Glengormley come into this game as strong favourites and have became a known force of late especially after winning the Paul McGirr Dromore U16 tournament when they defeated Armagh side Killeavy in the Final, 1-9 to 0-7. A shift in Antrim football has seen newer clubs slowly rise to prominence and hungry and eager young footballers are being facilitated by eager committee members. Situated on the Hightown road, the club occupy a hostile part of the Country in North Belfast. They possess some hugely quality footballers and will be full of running and a difficult side to breakdown.
There is no doubting the ability of the Fermanagh lads because in the 4 Championship games in Fermanagh they ranked up scorelines of 6-19, 5-15, 1-12 and 2-12. The County town side have clearly the firepower and defensive strategies to pose all opposition problems. The big question that they will need to answer though is can they operate on the Ulster stage once again.
A brief look through the St Enda’s team shows that they possess quality in every line of the field. Antrim minor star and team captain Odhran Eastwood is the real play maker in the side, along with him Michael McNamee, Conan Lyttle and Joseph Maskey are all formidable players for the Belfast side.
Enniskillen might well be the underdogs, but the Fermanagh champions won’t be a push over. They have already shown their capabilities by winning the Fermanagh double earlier this season. The Enniskillen youngsters have a wealth of talented players with Neil McDermott impressing in the Fermanagh MFC Final with 1-4. Other notable players include Conor Carney, Edward Boyd, Conall Quinn and Callum Jones while Michael Dooris has looked hugely impressive for the Senior side as they finished Division 2 in third place.
The scene has been set for what should be a free flowing open and high scoring game of football between two exceptionally prepared teams. Both teams have strong defences, mobile midfielders and potent forwards which suggests we could be in for a treat this weekend. St Enda’s will start as favourites to advance to the Semi finals, but Enniskillen have shown their worth this season and can play with a real swagger when needed.
There is nothing better to build confidence than winning matches and, in that regard Enniskillen have a solid base to work from. Will it be enough to upset the form book? Time will tell, but if Enniskillen can play to their potential then the Antrim champions will have a serious challenge on their hands.
Ulster Club Minor Football Quarter Finals –
Enniskillen (Fermanagh) v St Enda’s (Antrim)
St Eunan’s Letterkenny (Donegal) v Slaughtneil (Derry)
Rostrevor (Down) v Crossmaglen (Armagh)
Donaghmoyne (Monaghan) v Moortown (Tyrone)
