Bridie McMenamin Shield quarter-finals (Sunday)
Greenlough (Derry) v Mullaghbawn (Armagh) (Greenlough, 1pm)
Éire Óg (Tyrone) v St Paul’s (Antrim)(Carrickmore, 2pm)
IF the formbook is anything to go by, the two clubs most likely to emerge as overall winners of the Shield will be in action this weekend.
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Different Antrim clubs had accumulated four successive titles 2019-2022, but Derry’s Drumsurn upset that run last year when they defeated Rasharkin.
Another club from each county will make their debut in the competition on Sunday and both will be tipped to progress.
Greenlough have home advantage against Mullaghbawn, who had tough games against Killeavy and Culloville in the latter stages of the Armagh championship.
Meanwhile, the Bannsiders pulled away from Drum in the second half of the Derry junior final, teenager Connla Kerr hitting seven points, exactly half their total, in a player-of-the-match performance.
The other tie is in Carrickmore where Éire Óg will hope that the gradual improvement evident over the past couple of seasons with the development of a strong underage structure will bear fruit against another club that have improved significantly through underage players coming forward.
St Paul’s lost last year’s Antrim final narrowly to Rasharkin, but were impressive right through the junior title race this season, beating neighbours Naomh Eoin comfortably in the semi-finals and then Ballycastle by 2-9 to 0-7 in the decider a fortnight ago.
You would expect Newry Shamrocks to be facing Greenlough in one semi-final on November 9, while the Belfast side should be facing Burt from Donegal in the other.
Ulster Club Junior A Championship quarter-final
Kilrea (Derry) v Denn (Cavan) (Saturday, Kilrea, 1pm)
KILREA have been knocking on the Derry intermediate championship door for a few years now and finally managed to barge it open with a 0-12 to 0-2 victory over Glenullin in the final three weeks ago.
Midfielder and former county star Karen Kielt, top scorer Eimear Maguire and Shauneen Donaghy were at the centre of the Kilrea defence, all dominant personalities in the game.
Denn have just won their first-ever Cavan title, beating holders Crosserlough narrowly in Kingspan Breffni a fortnight ago.
The first round group game between the pair at the start of August ended in a single point victory to Denn. But they proved that wasn’t a fluke with a strong showing in the final when two late points from Shanise Fitzsimons got them over the line on a 0-10 to 0-8 scoreline.
Shanise and younger sister Hannah are the driving forces in the team, with Aoife Conaty, Eimear Tierney and Muireann Cusack-Smith other key players.
Pearses Park will be an advantage to the Derry champions – but they will get a much tougher challenge than they did in their last game.
