Bracks nominated for the title

The race for the JFC Matthew Ginnity Cup has produced plenty of good football this year, due to the high quality of the teams vying for the title and the prize of a place in intermediate football. Ballinabrackey were nominated for the title by the Meath Chronicle at the outset and I see no reason to change that forecast as the final hurdle approaches. Ballinabrackey manager Pascal Keelaghan (pictured) has endured a tough time over the past few months and had to cope with the passing of his father, following illness, a fortnight ago. "It's tough, but life has to go on and next Sunday will be a busy day for me," he told the Meath Chronicle. Apart from patrolling the sideline for Ballinabrackey at Pairc Tailteann, the manager will also be lining out for Rhode in the Offaly SFC semi-final against Shamrocks at O'Connor Park, Tullamore, 5.0. "It will be hectic, but it won't be a problem as the JFC final is at 2.0 and my own game doesn't throw-in until 5.0, so I will have sufficient time to get from Navan to Tullamore. "My involvement with Rhode won't cause any problems for Ballinabrackey, we are all looking forward to the game. "It's the type of game that could be very tight, we have a few injury concerns as Trevor Bannon and Chris O'Connor are on the doubtful list at the moment, but we expect them to be okay. "This game is generating a lot of interest on the Offaly side of Ballinabrackey, there is a lot of support for the club, they have gone though a long spell without any success and it would be a major boost for everyone if we could win on Sunday," he concluded. Ballivor manager Paddy Doyle is delighted that the club are once again in a position to challenge for honours are a few years on the slide and now that the senior hurling semi-final is out of the way, the Kildalkey players can concentrate on their football. "Tony Fox is on the doubtful list, he aggravated an injury playing for Kildalkey last Saturday," he told the Meath Chronicle. "We will need to have everyone available to us for this game as Ballinabrackey are a serious team and they will relish the wide open spaces of Pairc Tailteann. "Our qualifying group looked easy, but when you have to play Navan O'Mahonys and Donaghmore / Ashbourne it's always going to be tough. "We have players from Kildalkey and Killyon on our panel and if everything goes right for us on the day, then we have a reasonable chance of success, but Kevin Kelly will be a big loss also, he sustained an injury against St Brigid's. "It will all depend who performs on the day, hopefully it will be Ballivor and we will continue on an upward curve," he added. Ballivor secretary Gerry Molloy is looking forward to the game and is expecting plenty of support. "This game is creating plenty of excitement in Ballivor and Kildalkey, we have gone through a quiet enough period in more recent times and it's great that we have made it to the junior final," he said. His Ballinabrackey counterpart Thomas Quinn is also buoyant about the big day. "This is great occasion for our club, it's about 25 years since we were in a final and everyone is looking forward to the game in Navan," he said.