Irvinestown and St. Pat’s meet in the first of the Kevin Courtney Garage Intermediate semi finals as both teams go in search of some silverware this season.

Both teams will be hoping for improved performances from their quarter final victories to get them over the line and book a place in the final.

Donagh had to dig deep to get past a tough Lisnaskea challenge winning by four points in this local derby, gaining revenge for their semi final defeat in last year’s competition. While it was a bit more straightforward for Irvinestown as they had seven points to spare against Newtownbutler.

The sides have met twice in Division One this season with Donagh coming out on top in both encounters and will go into the game as favourites.

For Donagh, the evergreen Eamon Maguire believes that the all Division One affair will be a tight encounter.

“I suppose Irvinestown, like ourselves, they are holding their own in Division One, they are one of the steadier teams. I’d be expecting a tough game from them,” explained Eamon.

With a solid victory over local rivals Lisnaskea in the last round where they scored 2-14, Maguire hopes they will have enough to get to the final.

“There was bit of pressure on us after beating them in the league to put a performance in. Once we got going and started to play the way we can I thought we played fairly well in the second half and if we can bring that against Irvinestown hopefully it will be enough to see us over the line.

“It helps when you have a few lads scoring. When you only have one or two it’s very easy to mark and control it and if you have other lads getting on the scoresheet it helps.”

Irvinestown forward James Duffy, who recently returned from a foot ligament injury, was glad his side were able to get a long sought after championship win in the quarter final, but knows they must improve to have any chance of beating Donagh.

“I suppose the fact that we hadn’t won a proper championship game in about three years, it was good to get back to a win.

“Hopefully we can improve from the Newtown game. There are different things that you want to do better and will have to do better to have any chance of winning.

“Donagh, considering they got promoted last year, they have come up and had a solid season so far. They beat us twice this year and we know we have to do a lot more.”

Duffy is aware of the threat the six Donagh forwards carry and knows that they will take a lot of watching and that Irvinestown’s defenders will have to be at the top of their game. And if they do this, Duffy’s teammate Ronan Ormsby is in red hot form and will cause St. Pat’s problems.

“He is playing very well in recent games. We have been looking to him so hopefully he plays well the next time out and we will not be too far away.”

With plenty of firepower in both sets of forwards, the stage is set for a high scoring, entertaining battle.

St. Pat’s and Irvinestown throws in on Saturday, September 8 at 4.30pm in Derrygonnelly.