St Colmcille’s expected to maintain excellent form

SFC QUARTER-FINAL PREVIEW

Will it or won’t it go ahead? That remains the big question ahead of this SFC quarter-final at Skryne on Friday night, but as of going to print time Meath GAA are insisting that the meeting of St Colmcille’s and Donaghmore/Ashbourne is on and we must give the game the respect it deserves by previewing the potential fixture.

The theme of this year's SFC quarter-finals is very definitely 'keeping it local'. Three of the four quarter-finals will be contested by teams that are no more than five or six miles apart and in some cases a lot closer.

The one exception to the local derbies is this quarter-final.

There's 30km between Laytown and Ashbourne and in terms of form heading into Friday night's contest they are light years apart, but when it comes down to knockout football anything is possible and Donaghmore/Ashbourne proved that. After losing their opening two games of the SFC to Dunshaughlin (1-10 to 0-14) and Curraha (1-12 to 4-4) Donaghmore/Ashbourne were staring into the relegation abyss with nothing only their own self-belief to back up any claims of salvation.

Few could see a way through for them after their dismal opening couple of games and especially after shipping four goals in the loss to a Curraha side that seem to be perennial relegation contenders.

However, when all else looks bleak, sometimes the power of self-belief is all you need and while there were times in their final group game against Na Fianna when all looked lost Donaghmore/Ashbourne never gave up the ghost and Kevin Fenton came up with the winning goal to salvage their season. Other results conspired to go Donaghmore/Ashbourne's way and they proved that old adage that without luck you achieve nothing.

Donaghmore/Ashbourne had luck on their side on the last day, so much so that their progress was determined by the fact that they had outscored Na Fianna in the championship and advanced.

St Colmcille's have been threatening big things for a few years now. All-Ireland IFC Club finalists in 2017, they have developed young players to such an extent that they have been the dominant force at underage in Meath for quite some time.

However, all that talent struggled to make a serious impact at senior level. Last year much was expected yet they found themselves in relegation trouble.

This year again, they reached the A FL Div 1A final where they were unlucky to lose to Ratoath (last year they lost the same final to Summerhill after extra-time), but they were less than impressive when scraping past Skryne by 0-12 to 0-9. In their second game they slipped further down the pecking order when held by Moynalvey (0-10 each), but when they needed a big game they game up with the goods to stun champions Ratoath, 2-10 to 0-10, to top the table and march on. On their day St Colmcille's are capable of anything. At their best they are unstoppable, a force of power, pace and precision. On an off day they are muddled, confused and prone to a heavy loss.

However, there is something stirring on the gold coast of the county and St Colmcille's should advance to the last four and from there who knows what might happen - if the game goes ahead at all.

Verdict - St Colmcille's.