Connacht Senior club championship 2011

[ross4life]

Tourlestrane, Glencar-Manorhamilton won the Sligo,Leitrim championships yesterday while the Roscommon championship is at the final stage (St. Brigid's  v Elphin) & the Galway,Mayo championships are down to the last 4 & 5.

Corofin,St Brigid's & Ballintubber look the best of the bunch but we might get a few shocks along the way.

Sunday 16th October Tourlestrane v Glencar-Manorhamilton - Pairc Seain MacDiarmuida   
Sunday 6th November   Ballintubber v   Tuam Stars/Corofin - McHale park
Sunday 6th November St. Brigid's v Tourlestrane - Sligo venue
Sunday 20th November Final

[SLIGONIAN]

Best of luck to Tourlestrane in this, we need Sligo club to show better than last yr in this against 4 in row champs glencar manor will be tough.

[Rossfan]

And Elphin will be tougher 

[ross4life]

Will be interesting to see what tactics Elphin will use v St Brigid's this year will have to be more adventurous if they want to win.  Glencar have forwards like Croal,Glancy etc that can do damage to any team in Connacht so it will be a tough game for the Sligo champs.

[GalwayBayBoy]

Down to last five in Galway

Corofin v Milltown

Salthill v Mountbellew-Moylough or Tuam Stars

Salthill have been the form team in Galway so far.

[ross4life]

Was at the Roscommon final today poor enough game played in awful weather conditions same result as last year with St Brigid's beating Elphin by 5 points.

Corofin are into Galway final but it seems they will have to wait a while for the final & i expect a repeat result in the Mayo final.

[Rossfan]

St Brigids win through in Ros in a poor game on a bad day.
They certainly don't look anything as sharp as last year and  I fear we could be in for a shock on 6th November.

[sans pessimism]

Salthill v Tuam next Sun-Finally Salthill get to play after weeks n weeks,through no fault of their own.

[Syferus]

Brigid's are a better team this year than last.

In my humble opinion Brigid's are easily among the the top three or four club teams in the country at their moment, their set-up is first class and the sheer depth of players they have is the envy of most of the country.

They swept aside the best of the rest in Roscommon this year without ever really needing to get out of second gear. If anything that's an ominous sign for the rest of Connacht rather than one that they're slipping. With all due respects to Tourlestrane and Glencar-Manorhamilton, Brigid's have to be looking at the draw as a golden opportunity to put back-to-back Connacht titles together.

Adding to that Ian Kilbride, who was a huge part of last year's run, came on as a sub in the county final on Sunday after returning from his tour of duty in Lebanon so Brigid's will only be an even more complete proposition the next time they play.

EDIT: It turns out he timed his leave to coincide with the county final. I don't when his tour of duty actually ends.

[sans pessimism]

Brigid's are a better team this year than last.

In my humble opinion Brigid's are easily among the the top three or four club teams in the country at their moment, their set-up is first class and the sheer depth of players they have is the envy of most of the country.

They swept aside the rest in Roscommon this year without ever really needing to get out of second gear. If anything that's an ominous sign for the rest of Connacht rather than one that they're slipping. With all due respects to Tourlestrane and Glencar-Manorhamilton, Brigid's have to be looking at the draw as a golden opportunity to put back-to-back Connacht titles together.

Adding to that Ian Kilbride, who was a huge part of last year's run, came on as a sub in the county final on Sunday after returning from his tour of duty in Chad so Brigid's will only be an even more complete proposition the next time they play.

How many club sides (outside Ros )have you seen

[RedandGreenSniper]

I saw Brigid's when we played them in a challenge game earlier in the year. Both sides were missing their county men but Brigid's movement and speed and link play was a joy to behold. They really know what they're at and will take beating. I think Ballintubber will give them a good go though, if they get out of Mayo and past Galway, of course.

[ross4life]

I understand Ian Kilbride would be available for selection if they make the Connacht final. St Brigid's are good enough to win another Connacht title but i don't buy this 2nd gear business they came up against defensive teams & had to grind out results in Roscommon & If they make the Connacht final it's likely to v another defensive team.

Without a doubt the best Roscommon club side since the Clann na nGael sides of the 80s/90s.

[Syferus]

I understand Ian Kilbride would be available for selection if they make the Connacht final. St Brigid's are good enough to win another Connacht title but i don't buy this 2nd gear business they came up against defensive teams & had to grind out results in Roscommon & If they make the Connacht final it's likely to v another defensive team.

Without a doubt the best Roscommon club side since the Clann na nGael sides of the 80s/90s.

It's hard for me to say they've overly exerted themselves in any of the it county championship matches this year, the two most indicative games for me were the group and semi-final matches against Western Gaels, for my money the second best team in the county by a noticeable margin, and they beat them by ten points on both occasions.

Brigids have no reason to fear any team, be it Gleencar-Manorhamilton or Crossmaglen. It'll take alot of work (and a bit of luck) to actually get there, but I fully believe this team is capable of winning an All-Ireland.

[Lone Shark]

In my humble opinion Brigid's are easily among the the top three or four club teams in the country at their moment, their set-up is first class and the sheer depth of players they have is the envy of most of the country.

They're a good side, but to say they're easily in the top three or four is stretching it a long way. As good as Kilmacud, Cross or Galls? Absolutely not. As good as Portlaoise, or Dr Crokes? I personally don't think so, but I accept that the betting would be close to 50/50 in either of those situations. That's before you allow for clubs in Dublin that have very impressive panels but haven't made it out yet - Plunketts, Parnells, Sylvesters, Vincents. I'll grant that Brigids have achieved more than them and deserve to be rated higher than them, but I can assure you now that if there was an All Ireland semi between Brigids and any of those four, I'd suspect the Dubs would be the odds on team.

St Brigids are third in the betting for the All Ireland now, despite having their county title already won, because they've to beat feck all to get to the last four. The only other team in Connacht that would be shorter than 10/1 at All Ireland semi final stage is Corofin, and that's due to experience, they aren't even playing that well this year. In contrast, Crossmaglen have to beat probably Galls, Ballinderry and either Burren or Cavan Gaels to get to a semi, while Galls have the same route. Kilmacud have a ferocious run of games ahead of them.

Their setup is first class and they do have a huge pick, as do all the South Roscommon clubs. If the chips fall right for them they are All Ireland contenders certainly, but that doesn't mean that they are suddenly one of the best three or four teams in Ireland. If they had the same route to the AI final as Crossmaglen or Galls, they'd be 25/1 or 33/1 shots now.   

[magpie seanie]

Good luck to Tourlestrane.