Saturday September 13 McMahon Healthcare SFC semi-final Roslea v Ederney Brewster Park, 8 p.m.

Ederney have the unenviable task of going up against holders Roslea in the first of this year’s Fermanagh SFC semi-finals. The Roslea side are going for their fourth title in just five years while Ederney will be looking to make their first final since 2006, having previously lifted the Fermanagh crown just once in 1968.

Roslea have two games under their belts already with a hard working performance against Lisnaskea getting them over the line on a scoreline of 1-10 to 0-09, while in the quarter-final clash they were to completely over run a poor Belcoo side, winning 0-13 to 0-04.

The Shamrocks have also looked menacing throughout the league campaign and qualified for the semi-finals with two games to spare.

Roslea are backboned by sturdy no-nonsense footballers who have built up a winning mentality over the last number of years.

Goalkeeper Sean Boyle is as always steady and reliable and has still to concede a goal this campaign. In front of him is full back Niall Cassidy who is comfortable going forward as well as being an accomplished man marker.

However, Centre half back Peter Sherry has been ruled out of Saturday night’s clash with a broken bone in his hand and his absence is a big blow to the Shamrocks with the 32 year old one of the leaders at the back for Roslea.

At midfield Roslea are blessed with two instrumental players in James Sherry and Kevin Cosgrove, both have bags of experience and will make life extremely difficult for Ederney.

Up front is where Roslea really tick, Seamus Quigley is the stand out performer for his side and has thus far managed to hit a whopping 0-16 in just two games. When you think Quigley hit 1-18 in last year’s competition it looks a sure fire bet that he will break that this year.

Around Quigley he has had support play from the likes of Shane Lynch and Niall Cosgrove, while his own brother Sean has been pulling the strings from centre half forward and has settled into a talented orchestrator of the Roslea attack.

Ederney will look back to last year’s semi-final defeat to Roslea and think what if. Iggy Gallagher’s side started well and were two points ahead after only two minutes through Enda Ferris and Paul McCusker before Roslea slowly clawed their way back into the game to lead by five at the break. And the Shamrocks were to run out eventual winners 2-11 to 1-08.

Ederney were to take care of St. Patrick’s Donagh in the last round in a tight contest that saw the North Fermanagh outfit just hang onto the win by one point at the end.

Paul McCusker was to hit five points from play that day and once again Ederney will look to him and his brother Declan to contribute heavily to the Ederney scoreboard.

The loss of Stephen McElrone through injury has hindered Iggy Gallagher’s plans although the likes of Conor Cassidy, John Doran and Aaron McNabb have been making their mark in the senior ranks this season.

Goalkeeper Christopher Snow will know that he may well be called into action numerous times as Roslea have scored 26 goals in 18 league games this year to date alone.

The Ederney defence will be backboned by a sturdy full back line of Conor Maguire, Peter Gormley and Finbar Gillen while centre half back John Irvine will look to keep things tight and can be relied on to win his fair share of breaking ball.

In the middle, Ederney boast former team Captain and All-star Martin McGrath alongside Conor Keown. McGrath has been excellent this season and Keown has come into the side having been troubled with injury for most of last season and has looked accomplished around the middle section.

Declan McCusker, who would be more accustomed to wing half back for the County, takes the number 11 jersey for Ederney and will look to manoeuvre the moves to release his brother Paul in the full forward line, although a leg injury is currently holding the extremely talented Paul McCusker back and if he doesn’t make the Ederney side then it will be a massive blow. Ederney also have key forwards such as John Doran, Niall Maguire and Mark McCauley in their ranks.

In the two league clashes this season Roslea were to prove successful in both encounters, the first game was actually played on the first day of the season with Roslea winning 0-13 to 0-12 at a windy Ederney and the return fixture the Shamrocks again prevailing on their home turf this time 1-13 to 1-10. The big puzzle for Ederney to solve is how to stop the Quigley boys who will be expected to provide the bulk of the Roslea scores. Roslea are a talented side, especially in attack, and on that basis I just can’t see them being stopped. Roslea to win.