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Senior semis probably went as one would expect with Sloyanes injury ending any hopes of a Easkey shock. Harps mean defense on paper is performing on pitch as well by the looks of it. Johns put it up to Tourlestrane and 2007 should give them the knowledge that there is a county championship there for them particuliarily with the assembly line of talent coming through. It will take plenty of hard work though and Division 3 football in 2008 wont help. Tourlestranes injury crisis will have a major infuence on how the final will go.

Farnans after a poor start beat Mholaise very easily and presumably thats the end of the Northern influence in Grange in what turned into a very disappointing year for them. Michaels hard games stood to them against a rusty St Pats. Michaels have done extremely well to get to the final (with the returning Alan Taafe from 2 crutiate ops the catayst ). I'd imagine that Farnans will win the final but Michaels are strong where Farnans are weak so you never know.

See the final round of league matches are scheduled for weekend with as far as I can see only relegation issues to be decided. Farnans will beat Enniscrone so that relegates Johns. Presumably with a senior match Saturday , Seanie and the small matter of a minor final 2 hours later , ye will struggle to field against us ?? ( have sensitive negotiations to enter into as away at a wedding at weekend so if ye are fielding Seanie , i'd  personally appreciate an early decision !! ) Coolaney who are out of football for about 3 weeks  since a 15 point defeat by Geevagh so they  will hardly turn it around in the other crucial match particuliarily with Geevagh stung from their Senior championship relegation and a league final against Harps 1.5 team impending. However I'd always be nervous when one team has nothing to play for playing a team with everything to play for.

Massive weekend in Sligo Club championships with 4 tight games in prospect. Harps should beat Easkey in their replay but as the championship progresses the loss of Tony Taylor around midfield could yet be their achilles heel. I expect Tourlestrane to beat Johns though as the lads have said earlier here , are tourlestrane game hardened ? , are Johns tired ?? . Still expect Tourlestrane to win.

In the intermediate , there is 2 even harder matches to call. I'd just about fancy Farnans to beat Mholaises though Mholaises loss to Michaels in the league stage seems to have focused their mind somewhat. Both teams are capable of imploding but think Farnans have that bit more firepower. I expect Pats will beat Michaels. Pats are probably the freshest team in the county at the moment having effectively only started playing seriously in about late May and this coupled with 1 championship win getting them straight to semis. If they have got some key men in shape over the last month then they have too much strength in depth for Michaels. Michaels have the best midfield in the competition and a couple of classy forwards but if they can be negated then Pats superior panel will win through.

Very disappointed to see Geevagh relegated back to intermediate. Possibly just a little too inexperienced yet but I'd imagine the next time they go up they will stay up. Shamrock Gaels to me have plenty of talented footballer with unfortunately some of the better ones having committment issues. Genuinely think a year or 2 at intermediate wont do them any harm and in fact a winning run could energise the club way more than constant relegation battles in senior.

Stables bar on Wine Street which is literally around the corner from Sligo City Hotel would be considered a "rugby" pub in Sligo.

Everyone seems to be forgetting Stephen Ferris in backrow as an option. In this kind of game , I'd have him ahead of Neil Best where we have to be creative with ball. My backrow would be 6. Easterby . 7. Quinlan and 8. Ferris with Wallace on the bench. With POC and MOK as 2nd rows along with Quinlan and easterby ay least we should be guaranteed line out ball.

whilst all the media are congratulating themselves over how they all knew Trimble was better than Hickie , I dont hear too many admitting than on Fridays performance R Best is now a better hooker than Flannery. Flannerys linout throwing was a passable impression of Steve Thompson  on Friday night.

Be slightly nervous about building up young U16s as stars of the future yet Sligonian.

Is it just me or could someone explain the logic in having a 1/4 final replay in Tubber at 2.00 with a significant possiblity of extra time and a semifinal in the park at 4.00. Surely both should have been in the Park with the semi final on first to accomodate potential extra time ??

Dinny -- Friday will tell alot about Reddan. Lets hope he gets half the chance Stringer got over the years rather than just 60 minutes. Take your point on his CV in Munster but that was 2.5 years ago, he has progressed dramactically every year since. He should have been given a start in the last year with the full strength team to gauge whether he is real deal or not.Boss must be wondering what he did wrong in the 20 minutes he was on the pitch on Saturday. Simply think POC and DOC have moved way ahead of Malcolm at this stage. Can't fully get the hype about Carney. Personally didnt see any X Factor to date and I wouldn't have described him as impressive in Argentina. That said he was functional and in fairness didn't get much worthwhile ball to be impressive with.

Trimble coming in for Hickie was simply a form selection - how many other fringe players might have went past the incumbent if they got a couple of chances like Trimble fortunately got ?? Duffy on the bench is a reflection of Darcys poor form rather than anything Murphys' done wrong.

Dinny -- I'd agree with alot of what you post here on rugby matters but can't agree this morning. Firstly on Reddan . Yes he was 3rd choice effectively 3 seasons ago for Munster but he left . Yes he was 2nd choice at Wasps to Dawson 2 seasons ago but last season in the premiership where squad rotation is ripe , he was Wasps 1st choice in their big games and played consistently well(not just once) winning the European cup . That is a very evident progression from where he was 3 years ago rather than Stringers static form. To discard him on 1 average performance behind a beaten and 2nd choice pack in Argentina is disingenous and your pick ( and mine !) Boss caused 2 tries on his debut in Australia 12 months earlier. What I'd agree with you on , is that he can't play on Friday , as he aint experienced enough at International rugby. Who knows whether he is good enough or not, because under EOS no one gets an opportunity to break into his team.

To drop POC for MOK doesn't make any sense to me. I consistently say that POC isn't the living legend he is portrayed as. In fact he isn't more that a good international class 2nd row rather than been the remotely world class lock he is portrayed as but to say that, MOK who barley played a competitive game of rugby all year, at the twilight of his career is better in a crucial match is wrong

Presumably you are talking of  Brian Carney rather than Rob Kearney. How does your logic on Reddan tie in here ?? Carney hasn't yet played a serious game of rugby union in his career to date ( Magners league and Argentina).

Horgan doesn't look fit , Hickies is playing like he has retired already so admittedly we do have problems on the wing. I'd drop Hickie and play the only Irish player who looks like they are in any form in A Trimble ( 3 tries in last 3 internationals ). I'd keep Dempsey who had a decent game Saturday ahead of Murphy who as recently as the Italian match showed he cant defend. However Murphy should be coming on after 60 minutes in every game for a member of the back 3. Darcy and O Garas horrific form, is in my view, the catylst for our poor performance to date. We can make all the changes we like but if these 2 don't up the ante then we wouldn't beat France or Argentina. Sadly both are confidence players so it will be hard for them to turn it around.

I'd agree with Dinny on Quinlan. Again I dont overly rate him but he is a leader and tactically way more astute than many consider him. He should come in for Easterby. Thanks to EOS , we dont have an alternative No. 8 so Leamy has to stay there. He is making mistakes but at least he looks as if he wants the ball. To me he is patently not a no. 8 but a blind side flanker. If Wallace isn't fit enough for 80 minutes then we are better starting Best and bringing Wallace on. If he is fit , then I'd have Ferris on bench rather than Best as he gives more options and is way better with the ball than Best.

Its evident in the serious rugby poster posts here , that there is a huge frustration in EOS and his inability to change his first 15 over the last 12 months. We are now in a situation where the first 15 isn't working and we genuinely don't know whether the likes of Trimble , Murphy , Boss , Reddan, Ferris, Young , O Kelly, Quinlan or even Gleeson and Heaslip in Dublin would improve the team as some haven't got a prolonged chance , some no chance all of last season and some not at all.

I expect EOS to make the one enforced change at hooker and rely on his "first 15".I'd expect us to lose to France by more than 7 and then obviously whilst we could beat Argentina we certainly wouldn't score the 4 tries then necessary.

OMS -- Think Geevagh have to win one of the 2 matches to be sure of promotion so fully expect them to win tomorrow. Its the return match when Coolaney have everything to play for and Geevagh nothing is the match I'd worry about. Seanie , did you think ye'll be in a position to field against us or the gap between games to greatto arouse any interest ??

Hardy -- Dont totally agree with your scenario of how we qualify !! If we draw with France , then we need to lose to Argentina by less than 7 and score 4 tries to be ahead of France. If we lose by 7 and not score 4 tries or vice versa then we are level and realistically Sunday put pay to our points difference ( particuliarily with France playing Georgia in their last match).

You’re right, except the bonus point cut-off for a loss is 7 or less (i.e. less than 8, rather than less than 7). If Ireland draw with France and lose to Argentina by less than 8 it goes to points difference between Ireland and France for second place.

which realistically wont be us after Sunday.

Disappointed with that team though quite predictable. At the squad announcement , EOS had said he would make a better use of his squad but obviously with it been so apparent that the teams preparation is undercooked he had to try and get his first 15 sharp. Cant help morale in the camp with 8 guys now knowing they wouldn't see any action bar injury.

Hardy -- Dont totally agree with your scenario of how we qualify !! If we draw with France , then we need to lose to Argentina by less than 7 and score 4 tries to be ahead of France. If we lose by 7 and not score 4 tries or vice versa then we are level and realistically Sunday put pay to our points difference ( particuliarily with France playing Georgia in their last match).

Dinny -- Agree with you on Quinlan. The only aspect that he is superior to N Best in is his lineout which EOS is fixated about. Again agree on Stringer but think you are slightly harsh on Reddan. Last season he played all the big matches for Wasps and had a couple of big man of the match performances.

Bcarrier --Despite whatever anyone thinks of Isaac Boss he is way superior to Kieron Campbell

I take your point Muppet but whatever else I'd question about POC , I wouldn't question his application.

On the team for Georgia, I'd play Murphy fullback ( Girv is going to play against France / Argentina and 1/4 !! so Murphy deserves a chance to put him under pressure ) , wings of Horgan ( needs the match) and Hickie ( another poor match and Trimble would be in ) , our 1st choice centres as both need games , ditto with O Gara and I'd play Reddan but EOS will play Stringer. Horan , Flannery and S Best would be my front row ( Hayes will have 3 big matches in a row hopefully !! ) , O Kelly and POC ( I think DOC looks slightly sharper and hence doesn't need the game as much as POC ) and a back row of Quinlan , Wallace and Ferris ( I think Quinlan is the only viable alternative to easterby as a lineout option, Wallace needs the game and conversely Leamy is a key player who looked sharp on Sunday and who again has hopefully 3 very physical matches in a row to come). As what has been alluded to here earlier , I think the first 15 is too set in stone and EOS should be telling Hickie , Murphy , Reddan ,Flannery and Quinlan that they are playing for a place against the French.  Is that team likely to happen ?? Knowing EOS form, its more likely he'll just slot Horgan in for Trimble.           

EOS contract extension for 4 years looks bad business for the IRFU at this moment. Team looks woefully undercooked and its hard to see them been within 7 of France in a fortnight.

Hickie and Darcy had nightmares. I'd worry about Darcy who is a confidence player ( see the lions 2 years ago) , at least with Horgan on the way back , Hickie could be dropped. O Garas kicks were worryingly not even close to going over. Stringer isn't a world class scrum half and the guy who could be, is 3rd Choice . Surprised at calls for Horans place on here as B Young isn't a viable alternative at this level. Rory Best has a nightmare and whilst Flannery wasn't much better , its a tight call whether Best superior scrummaging compensates for his lineout fallibility. The Myth of POC as a world class  player was again exposed last night. He is easily good enough for international rugby and calls a few post ago, for him to be dropped are wrong, but he aint  Chris Jack.
Wallace has played his first game of rugby in 5 months and i'd struggle to see how he'll be fit to face the French. With his attributes , perhaps we would be better starting with N Best and having wallace when it losens out a bit with 20 minutes to go. Easterby is too negative a player who simply is on the team for his lineout ability. Leamy is a blindside flanker who's restart attempts make me very nervous but again EOS in his wisdom has left our most natural No. 8 in Jamie Heaslip in Dublin.

On last nights performance can't see us getting within 7 of the French and with our points difference shot after last night , we will then need to beat Argentina and score 4 tries which will be a bridge too far.

Thanks Seanie. Had clean forgotten about Calry and couldn't understand how ye weren't top on scoring averages. We simply have to beat Curry to get a second game against them. (realistically we wouldn't beat them by the 15 points needed !!) Sadly with injuries mounting and apathy building( my overriding emotion when I heard Curry result was that a playoff would mean extra games and thats a sure sign that its time for a break) , I am not overconfident.Fair play EScroneman for posting today , at least you are not a sunshine poster !!

Seanie, regarding last years intermediate playoff , are you sure the 3 teams weren't involved the second time ? Remember Curry beating Michaels by a couple of points , then ye thrashing Curry and then losing to Michaels by a point. Ye definitely would have best point difference out of those 3 matches. In playoff , did Michaels not beat Curry and ye then lost to Curry in "final". Obviously you were involved so I'll bow to your superior knowledge if the above doesn't seem right to you.

Regardless of world cups and guys in Dublin , I'd fully expect Gaels to beat Castleconnor as simply they have way more to play for. Hence the losers of yourselves and Ballymote are in a losers take all relegation playoff. The above scenario encapulsates more of whats wrong with the relegation system than anything else we wrote.

OMS , in regards to our situation , if we were to beat Curry in that relegation match , my understanding was that it would be another 3 way playoff as points difference is irrelevant for relegation ??