Laois Intermediate Football Championship 2019

Started by The PRO, February 28, 2019, 09:54:21 AM

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The PRO

Round 1
Mountmellick v Timahoe
Portlaoise v Clonaslee
Annanough v Rosenallis
The Rock v St Joseph's

SCFC

Very open championship.
Any of 5 teams could win it in my opinion with maybe The Rock, Annanough and Joseph's the weaker three.

Heshs Umpire

4 pretty even games in that draw there. Very hard to call this championship.
Well I could keep it above
But then it wouldn't be sky anymore

The PRO

Said I'd have a go at previewing this. Looks like a very open championship.

Usually you'd expect the team coming down from senior and the team beaten in last year's final to be there or thereabouts.

So Clonaslee and Mountmellick for the final? Mightn't be that simple. Both teams are down a number of "Gaels" players from last year as a result of Croke Park's directive.

Mountmellick had a difficult league but were operating in 1B and got a few good results. Clonaslee had a great league and are due to play Portlaoise in the Division 2 final this Sunday which will be a preview of their meeting in the first round of the championship.

Hard to know with Portlaoise but one of these years, they are going to win this title. I'm convinced of it! Could be this year if they get enough interest in the second team. I should be waiting until after Sunday's league final to make a call on them!

Timahoe play Mountmellick in the first round. In recent years, they've been close to ending their senior exile but slipped back a bit last year. Had a very up and down league campaign. Could be a kick in them. Interesting game.

Rosenallis play Annanough in round one. Annanough should be buoyed by winning the junior last year but Rosenallis have settled into intermediate well after their junior win in 2016 and won their league meeting by a big margin.

Finally, it's The Rock v St Joseph's. Hard one to call. The Rock did well in the league but it was Division 3 whereas Joes were two divisions higher but got it hard to balance senior team commitments with player numbers for this second string team and only won one game before withdrawing near the end.


Prediction;

Portlaoise, Mountmellick, Rosenallis and The Rock to win first round games.

Depending on the draw then, possibly Mountmellick to play Clonaslee and Portlaoise to play Rosenallis in the semi-finals.

A Mountmellick v Portlaoise final with Mountmellick to lose their second final in a row.

Joseph's v Annanough in relegation final with Joseph's going down.

Not at all confident of many of those predictions now that I've written them down!

Jd

I'm expecting Clonaslee to just about get back up with Timahoe not far off either Clonaslee love winning intermediate championships and have done consistently and will fear no one and bully everyone. Timahoe have a right good team and with Quigley back have a dominant player to drive them forward Mountmellick Rosenallis Portlaoise will all be comfortable but just don't have enough dog in them to see out tough games   The Rock annanough and Joseph's will struggle a bit due to numbers and first teams but the rock are a wee bit better then the other two and I can see Annanough just having enough to stay up

The PRO

After last night's senior game and the league final last week, I'd have to change my view that Portlaoise might win the IFC.
Micky Nolan is gone up as are Rogers, Mulligan, Paddy Downey, and the two young lads Maher and Ronan Mc. Along with that, t the likes of Adrian Kelly, Scott Lawless, Conor Dunphy and John Kavanagh weren't named on the panel last night so I doubt they'll play intermediate.

Silkyskillssunshinee

Mountmellick and Timahoe was a poor game considering a lot of people predicted the winners of the championship would come out of it. Not too many county players on show I didn't think. Damien O'Connor was decent, but Quigley was a bit off the pace. Conor Whelehan for Timahoe might be an option.

Downtheroad

Quote from: The PRO on July 25, 2019, 12:05:20 PM
After last night's senior game and the league final last week, I'd have to change my view that Portlaoise might win the IFC.
Micky Nolan is gone up as are Rogers, Mulligan, Paddy Downey, and the two young lads Maher and Ronan Mc. Along with that, t the likes of Adrian Kelly, Scott Lawless, Conor Dunphy and John Kavanagh weren't named on the panel last night so I doubt they'll play intermediate.
Portlaoise  win with a bit to spare. Hard to make sense of league form.

Silkyskillssunshinee

Quote from: Downtheroad on July 28, 2019, 12:43:09 PM
Quote from: The PRO on July 25, 2019, 12:05:20 PM
After last night's senior game and the league final last week, I'd have to change my view that Portlaoise might win the IFC.
Micky Nolan is gone up as are Rogers, Mulligan, Paddy Downey, and the two young lads Maher and Ronan Mc. Along with that, t the likes of Adrian Kelly, Scott Lawless, Conor Dunphy and John Kavanagh weren't named on the panel last night so I doubt they'll play intermediate.
Portlaoise  win with a bit to spare. Hard to make sense of league form.

Must have not shown there full hand in the league final. Clever from Portlaoise.

They look the favourites for it now but have fallen at the last few hurdles in recent years so who knows.

High Fielder

Callaly in Rosenallis is a player I'd like to see Sugrue take a look at. Good for them to have him back

SCFC

Still looks a wide open championship. Timahoe v Clonaslee in the losers section is a massive game. I reckon the team that wins that could bounce right back with a chance of winning the championship. On the other hand, you'd have to say Annanough v Joseph's looks like the real relegation final.

Tintin84

Anyone any thoughts on how the Intermediate is going to go? Looks to be very close between the teams that will probably be left in it after the weekend's fixtures. Presuming Portlaoise and Clonaslee win semi-final line up will be.

Rosenallis vs Portlaoise
Mountmellick vs Clonaslee

Silkyskillssunshinee

Wouldn't rule out Annanough giving Portlaoise their fill of it. From what I've seen though Mountmellick look to be out in front with Rosenallis a dark horse.

Tintin84

Yeah, it's hard one to call I think it's a very close championship, But just looking at results and will be interesting to see tonight what way Clonaslee and The Rock finish up with Rosenallis having beaten them by 17 points in the earlier round.  Let's see what way results go tonight, And your right Annanough have absolutely nothing to fear at all.

The PRO

Annanough generally don't lose to Portlaoise's second team. They just might edge that one.
Can't see The Rock troubling Clonaslee in the other game.