Fleet-footed Skryne should have too much for Cilles
SFC PREVIEW
The reward for both Skryne and St Colmcille's for victory in Sunday's SFC quarter-final in Pairc Tailteann (2pm) is huge. St Colmcille's have never been in a SFC semi-final before while Skryne will be bidding for their first last four appearance since they went on and won the Keegan Cup in 2010.
It is a remarkable turnaround in fortunes for Skryne in less than 12 months as they retained their long standing senior status by the skin of their teeth in a relegation final against Moynalvey last October and now they stand just 60 minutes away from a semi-final place.
Despite being so close to that last four place Skryne would be wise not to take anything for granted. Since their SFC win in 2010 they have reached the knockout stages on seven occasions, but fell at the first hurdle in everyone of those years.
For St Colmcille's their bid for a place in the SFC semi-finals has only ever happened on two occasions in their history and on both those times, against Summerhill in 2018 and St Peter's in 2021, they came up short.
This is just St Colmcille's second spell as a senior club and after reaching the All-Ireland Club IFC final in 2016 much has been expected of them to make a significant impact at senior level, but it just hasn't happened.
It was the same back in 1988 when St Colmcille's won the IFC title for the first time, but after making no impact in eight years at the top table they regraded to intermediate level for 1997 and took until 2016 to make it back up.
The expectation of success for St Colmcille's is based around the excellence of that team that won the IFC in 2016, but after eight more campaigns at senior this is just St Colmcille's third quarter-final appearance.
Another factor in St Colmcille's favour when it comes to senior expectations is the burgeoning population experienced along Meath's gold coast in recent years.
After many years of outstanding success at underage level and fielding five teams in adult championships the wait for ultimate glory goes on and that wait might have to be extended a little further. There is no denying Niall Ronan has given St Colmcille's belief since taking over this year and the superb individual talent of players like James Conlon and Ben Brennan will always ensure they have a chance.
However, there is something special brewing in Skryne and their impressive recovery from near relegation 12 months ago to being genuine Keegan Cup contenders is remarkable.
There is a perfect blend of exuberant youth and wily experience about Skryne.
Backboned by players like Ciaran Lenehan and Harry Rooney and boosted by the energy and ability of John O'Regan, John Finnerty, Niall Finnerty, Shane Smyth, Billy Smyth Skryne play a well-organised fleet-footed style of football that could be too much for St Colmcille's to cope with.