Derrygonnelly and Roslea are set to battle it out for a place in the Quinn Building Products SFC Final under the lights at Brewster Park on Friday night.

The two teams with the most championship experience left in the competition, the duo have won seven of the last eight titles between them, are familiar foes and with the Shamrocks having started to hit top form at the right time of the season this promises to be an enthralling and tight affair.

The Harps are aiming for a third successive New York Cup but Roslea are hungry to get back to another final and it all points towards a close encounter.

“We know that it is going to be a very tough battle and Roslea have hit top form at the right time,” stated Harps attacker Paul Ward.

“They were four down at half time against Ederney in the last round and then they had a man sent off early in the second half but they still turned it around to win which was impressive.”

Derrygonnelly also had to dig deep to win their quarter-final tie as they eventually saw off the challenge of an Erne Gaels side who had been tipped by many as potential champions this year.

“There was a lot of hype surrounding that game and I felt maybe both sides were a bit nervous because of that but we were just glad to get through it and into the semi-final.

“However, I don’t think that the performance we produced against Belleek will be good enough to get us through on Friday night and we will be looking to improve on that game,” added Ward.

And he thinks that the semi-final will be a different type of game to the one against Erne Gaels.

“I think it will be a more open game. Listen, us and Roslea know each other inside out at this stage and we know exactly what we are up against. They have a lot of quality in their side and they are an experienced side too.

“We know that we can’t afford to give away frees as Sean Quigley has been banging them over for fun recently and we were on the end of one of his masterclasses a few weeks ago.

“We know too though that we have a good side and I think against Erne Gaels we showed that we have a good squad with the subs coming on making a big impact. We know we face a big challenge but we are hopeful that we can make it through to the final,” he commented.

Derrygonnelly have welcomed back Garbhan Jones in recent weeks which has been a big plus for manager Martin Greene while Conall Jones has returned from his travels and may well be included in the squad for Friday night’s showdown, giving the Harps another option of the bench.

However, Roslea, who have been in top form over the last month or so, have also been boosted by returning players with James McMahon coming back from America and Kevin Cosgrove also back in club colours.

And the experienced Niall Cassidy feels that they are the strongest they have been in a couple of years.

“We haven’t really had a full team out at all this year for a number of reasons but we have that now, we have everybody back out and I think that we are a stronger and better team than we were last year,” he said.

Casssidy also stresses that the Shamrocks are determined to get back to another championship final.

“We are hungry to to get back to another final and it is something that we have our sights set on.

“At the start your focus is on the first game but now that we are in the semi-final the goal is to make it into the final,” he commented.

Like Ward, Cassidy acknowledges that neither side will face anything new from their opponents on Friday night.

“We are both more than familiar with each other, we know exactly what Derrygonnelly are like and vice versa. We know we face a big test but at the same time Derrygonnelly will know that they too have a tough game ahead,” said the former Fermanagh defender.

And Cassidy, who is expecting a physical encounter, wouldn’t be surprised if the game went down to the wire.

“Derrygonnelly always bring a physical presence and I suppose we do as well. Both sides have big players in key positions and I think we are evenly matched so it may come down to who gets that bit of luck on the night and hopefully it is us,” concluded the teak tough Roslea defender.