PREVIEW: Favourites Roslea begin Championship defence while Harps also tipped to go through

Roslea v Lisnaskea Sunday July 26 Brewster Park 2pm Lisnaskea will be the outsiders when they take on county champions Roslea on Sunday at Brewster Park, but they will go to Enniskillen with the aim of springing a surprise.

Emmetts attacker Sean Keenan firmly believes that his side will go into the game rightfully as underdogs but if they can produce a massive performance then anything is possible.

“We’re going into Sunday’s encounter in good spirit, the side is going well this season and although Roslea are going to be a massive task for us, I feel we can go into the game with a sense that if we can nullify Roslea’s main players then we will certainly have a chance,” commented Keenan.

Tony Collins has stepped into the hot seat at Lisnaskea along with his backroom team of Gerry McElroy and Paul McDermott and the trio have impressed Keenan.

“The lads have brought in a very professional approach to the set up and with their knowledge and guidance we can do well. “We know keeping the Quigley brothers quiet is a tall order but if we can limit giving away silly frees and can get the ball quick into the forward line then of course we will have a chance.” Last Saturday Lisnaskea defeated Derrylin 2-16 to 1-10 with Ryan O’Keefe accounting for both goals and Daniel Kille registering 0-06.

Once again defenders Stephen Phair and Shane O’Hara will be asked to play major roles, while forwards such as Keenan, the Little brothers and the already mentioned O’Keefe and Kille will all need to have big parts to play as Lisnaskea look to produce an upset and book their place in the last eight.

However, they are coming up against a strong outfit. Roslea, who have Errigal Ciaran duo Mark Harte and Adrian O’Donnell at the helm this year, are an experienced side although defender Niall Cassidy is not about to underestimate Lisnaskea.

“They are coming in from winning quite a lot of games already this year in Division Two. They will have no fear and in all honesty have nothing to lose.

“It’s a derby game and if we don’t get off to a right start then you will see the confidence growing in the Lisnaskea side,” said Cassidy.

Roslea have thus far been reliant on the Quigley brothers, Sean and Seamus during the league and although Sean failed to feature in the last league game against Devenish due to sickness he will be expected to return on Sunday.

Both teams are expected to get quick ball into their full forward lines, Roslea also have forward Shane Lynch back from America while Ruairi McGuinness is starting to show the form that made him a key marksman for the Shamrocks back in 2011 before suffering a bad knee injury.

Roslea should have too much quality and will be hotly fancied to progress through to a repeat of last year’s final against Belcoo in the last eight.

Harte and O’Donnell will know though that if they take Lisnaskea lightly then they will be in for a serious battle.

The Emmett’s have only lost two games in the league to date and they will be able to call on the quality of 19 year old Garbhan McManus from the bench if needed.

However, it is hard to look past Roslea. They may be under new management but the players, the system and the organisation remains the same and the Shamrocks will be hoping that this is the first step towards a fourth title in five years.

Derrygonnelly Harps v Teemore Shamrocks Sunday July 26 at Brewster Park 3.30pm In a repeat of last year’s quarter final, these two teams prepare to do battle once more this weekend. Last August, it was Derrygonnelly who progressed to the semi-final after a four point win over Teemore and since then, there has been nothing to suggest the outcome of Sunday’s game will be any different.

Teemore have struggled in the league and prop up the table whilst Derrygonnelly have had twice as many wins and have secured second spot as it stands. When the two teams in mid April the sides drew in Teemore but when they played again at the start of June, the Harps won by nine points.

Derrygonnelly goalkeeper Dermot Feely will be playing in his 23rd championship campaign on Sunday and he’s preparing for a tough encounter: “It will be the usual tough game against Teemore. They have a very strong mentality and there will only be a point or two in it. The championship is all about on the day. League form counts for nothing. Any time we play Teemore we never get it easy and it will be no different this weekend” anticipates the 39 year-old.

2009 was the last time Derrygonnelly won a Fermanagh Senior championship and Feely admits this is too long: “We seem to win one and then disappear for four or five years. When you consider some of the teams we’ve had, it just isn’t good enough.” There is only one player more senior to Feely on the current side and that is Kevin Cassidy, a statistic that makes him laugh: “It’s good that there is one, I suppose!” Apart from Cassidy and himself, Derrygonnelly are quite a young team. In fact, he quips he played championship football with many of the current teams fathers. They have a good sprinkling of county players also and they will look to these players for a big game on Sunday. The likes of Ryan Jones, Paul Ward and Tiarnan Daly will need to step up if they are to progress.

Daly is just back in the team after a hamstring injury, which is a big boost to the side after he showed what he can do at inter-county level this year. Alongside Daly, Stephen Burns and Garbhan McGinley are also fully fit again.

The major blow to the Harps is the loss of Conall Jones who is in America for the summer. His absence in midfield will be sorely felt. The most likely person to pick up the midfield mantle will be Johnny McGurn alongside Maurice Cassidy.

Up front, Derrygonnelly will look to Kevin Cassidy, Paul Ward and Leigh Jones for their scores and if they are on song, Teemore may find the Harps difficult to contain.

The Shamrocks know they have championship pedigree though. Teemore captain, Hughie Brady made his debut against Newtownbutler in 2001 and they went on to take the title that year. The current team has plenty of experience in their ranks. The likes of Barry Owens, Joey Donegan and Declan Reilly have been around for a long time now and Brady believes the team have a different mentality and belief when it comes to the championship: “We’ll not be putting too much emphasis on the league, we’ve always performed best in the championship over the years. We always tend to raise our game and we’re hoping for a big performance against Derrygonnelly. We need our best performance of the year because they are one of the form teams this year, along with Roslea.” Barry Owens will be expected to line out in the middle on Sunday, most likely alongside Jason McCaffrey or Declan Reilly.

Whoever comes out on top here will have a good chance. Teemore also have key forwards who can threaten the Harps. Declan Fitzpatrick and Ryan Maguire are both lively in attack. The Shamrocks received a welcome boost last week when Eoin McManus played his first full game in the green and white, after a knee injury had ruled him out for the past couple of months. McManus is useful from frees and is a good all-rounder for the Shamrocks.

Brady recognises that in their last three meetings in the league and championship they’ve been on the wrong side of the result twice and have drawn one and he is in no doubt what they need to do this weekend: “The first league game was fairly tight but in the second game they were better from start to finish. If we perform like that we won’t come close to them.” Asked whether they’ll use last year’s championship defeat as motivation, he says: “We’re not really talking about that, we’re concentrating on getting our own performance right. It will be in the back of boys’ heads though and if that helps to get a player focused, it’s no bad thing.” Looking ahead to Sunday, he adds “We’d be quietly confident. We’ve prepared well and this is the date we’ve been thinking about and I feel there is a big performance in us,” concludes the captain.