Castleconnor and Shamrock Gaels clash in Group One of the Kennedys Intermediate Championship at St Brendan’s Park, Corballa next Sunday afternoon at 1pm, where a win will be of paramount importance to both sides.

Castleconnor have two wins from three; Shamrock Gaels are on one win from their two games so far, so it brings together two sides on course for the knockout stages.

For the home side, this is their last group outing and therefore they will be extremely eager to finish the group on a high and secure a top-two finish to leave them in good stead heading into the knockout stages.

Shamrock Gaels are not yet secure of a quarter-final berth – although most would expect them to progress – and a win here will give their campaign a real shot in the arm.

Last weekend, both sides overcame tricky sides.

Castleconnor eventually dug out a one-point win over St Mary’s at Kent Park despite being behind for most of the tie, while Shamrock Gaels came through an equally difficult encounter with neighbours St Michael’s at Coola by just two points, 0-16 to 0-14.

Interestingly, both of these sides will meet in the Division Two final later this year having completed solid league campaigns, so this game will give an indication as to who will be likely to secure promotion.

Castleconnor beat Shamrock Gaels when the sides met at the same venue in the league, 0-14 to 1-8, but this one could be even closer.

Cloonacool v Ballymote

Saturday at 6.30pm in Cloonacool Community Park

Cloonacool host Ballymote on Saturday evening at Cloonacool Community Park (6.30pm) in what is a vital game for both teams.

In what is an increasingly lop-sided group, both sides find themselves pinned to the bottom without a win in their first three game and both look destined for a relegation battle.

However, whoever wins this game could, depending on results elsewhere, finish in fourth position and thus enter the knockout stages.

Therefore, a win is crucial in those terms and also in terms of creating a positive momentum.

Cloonacool have proved to be stubborn opposition at home both in the league and championship, particularly in the league where they secured notable draws against Castleconnor and St Patrick’s.

They are a hard-working and honest side, and depending on the game-plan they adopt, this is a game they will see as very winnable.

Ballymote have endured a difficult time on their relegation to the intermediate grade. They have suffered heavy losses at home to St Patrick’s and Enniscrone/Kilglass and although they ran Easkey quite close, they have been unable to secure an all-important win.

For a club of their stature and history, relegation to Junior ‘A’ would be almost unthinkable, so they will have plenty of hunger to secure a win here and set up a potentially crucial final round game against St Farnan’s.

Expect a close and hard-fought battle here, with both sides fighting for their lives. 

St. Patrick's v St. Farnan's

Saturday at 5pm in Seamie Donegan Memorial Park, Dromard

St Patrick’s host neighbours St Farnan’s next Saturday evening at 5pm in Group Two of the Kennedys Intermediate Championship, in what is an important game for both these West Sligo clubs.

St Farnan’s have struggled to date in the competition and are currently on two points after three games – their only win coming last weekend when they disposed of Cloonacool – but possess match-winners that could potentially cause St Patrick’s problems in this local derby.

The Skreen-Dromard outfit are regarded as one of the contenders for honours in the intermediate grade after coming close in recent years, and will be expected to enhance their credentials with a win here.

St Patrick’s have been scoring freely of late in the competition – they bagged three goals in both of their opening two games against Ballymote and Cloonacool – so St Farnan’s will be wary of the attacking threat posed by a forward line that has Padraic Clarke as it’s focal point.

St Farnan’s also have some ace attackers in Finnian Cawley and James Hynes - although the latter is likely to play a little deeper at centre-field – but they will need to score more frequently than their previous outings to have a chance of beating St Patrick’s.

Given St Farnan’s struggles to date this year, one would expect St Patrick’s to be relatively comfortable winners in this tie but with their eyes on a quarter-final spot, and more importantly avoiding a relegation battle, St Farnan’s may spring a shock. 

Easkey vs Enniscrone/Kilglass

Saturday at 6.30pm in Enniscrone GAA Park

Next Saturday Evening Easkey will have the short journey of travelling to Enniscrone. In yet another West Sligo Derby sees the home side come into the match on the back of unbeaten record to date and will feel they can get the better of Easkey next Saturday night .

The last day out Easkey were punished by the favourites for the Intermediate Championship St.Patrick’s as they netted four times while Enniscrone Kilglass continued their unbeaten record in this year’s championship with fine victory over Ballymote.

Enniscrone/Kilglass have been playing good football so far in this year’s championship with Mark Gordon playing a big part for his side from midfield while Brian Coleman has been clinical in front of goals for his side.

Easkey will be hoping to return to winning ways next weekend and they will feel that a massive improvement will be needed if they are they are get the better of their neighbours and Dessie Sloyan will have be supplied with better play and hope that the forwards can run off him to create opportunities.

All in all it should be a real close game between two local rivals and it could be too close to call this one.

Bunninadden v St.Mary's

Saturday at 6.30pm in Bunninadden Community Park

On paper this game should be a dead cert for Bunninadden one of the favourites for the Intermediate championship. However games aren’t won on paper and St.Mary’s Intermediate team have shown this in plentiful supply during this year’s campaign. St. Mary’s, last year’s Junior A winners have already claimed the scalp of St. Michael’s and ran Castleconnor to the minimum on Saturday last. Indeed they could have beaten Castleconnor having been three points up at half time, but their inability to score for a period of twenty minutes ultimately cost them a result. They are a team full of pace and youth with many of the successful minor teams of recent times holding their own at this grade.

Bunninadden meanwhile set their marker out early in their bid to return to the senior grade after an impressive win away to Shamrock Gaels. In their last encounter they disposed of Castleconnor by four points but unfortunately suffered the loss of Padraig Mitchell due to an incident which will rule him out for the rest of the campaign. Behind for a period of that game the 2012 Intermediate champions battled back to secure the two points. They have plenty of fire power up front with the likes of Joe Rogers, Vincent Frizzell and Michael Gormley but their backs will be tested against St. Mary’s Conor O’Grady and Gareth Blake. 

One would expect a home win but St. Mary’s have already shown that they intend making a name for themselves at Intermediate grade. Thrown in on Saturday is at 6.30 in Bunninadden.