Sunday November 24th
AIB All-Ireland Junior Club Championship Final
Clanmaurice (Kerry) v Raharney (Westmeath), Mac Donagh Park, Nenagh, 2pm.
Referee: Kevin O’Brien (Limerick)
There will be plenty of All-Ireland Champions on show this weekend as Clanmaurice and Raharney go head-to-head for the All-Ireland Junior Club Championship Final. All bar one of Clanmaurice’s starting 15 started Kerry’s All-Ireland winning triumph in September, including this year’s WGPA’s Players’ Player of the Year recipient Patrice Diggin in the centre of the park.
This is the second Junior Club Championship Final for Clanmaurice in just three years, having lost the decider in 2017 to a strong Kilmessan (Meath) outfit. They will be hoping to have a different outcome this weekend and with a team filled with All-Ireland winning Champions, confidence will be soaring when the sliotar is thrown in on Sunday.
Meanwhile on the opposing side stand a few of this year’s Intermediate Champions, with six of the panel on this year’s winning county team. Four players started the final in September, including the Intermediate WGPA Players’ Player of the Year, Pamela Greville.
On the club scene, they have been dominant for the last number of years, having claimed their fifth county Championship title in a row. However, this is their first ever All-Ireland Club Championship final and after many years of trying to reach this stage, they will be hoping to take full advantage come Sunday.
AIB All-Ireland Junior B Club Championship Final
Denn (Cavan) v Na Brídeoga (Mayo), Athleague GAA, 2pm.
Referee: Mike Ryan (Galway)
For both teams, this weekend will be a special piece of history regardless of the outcome as it is the first time that a Cavan team or a Mayo team have reached an All-Ireland Club Championship final at any age grade.
Na Brídeoga, in the colours of the blue and red, will take to the pitch this weekend having overcame the tough test of Warwickshire side John Mitchels in the Semi-Final by just three points. In that match, the Mayo champions were behind at the break but they came out all guns blaizing in the second 30 minutes to take the victory and give themselves one more match in 2019.
They will come up against an Ulster outfit in Denn, who stopped their Westmeath opponents in their Semi-Final victory by three points, despite being behind at the interval. They will be hoping to put that experience to use this weekend when the game gets underway.
#TheToughest
