Ruairi Corrigan is enjoying his time on the football pitch over the past couple of weeks. He has seen his side overcome Enniskillen Gaels in the Intermediate Championship quarter final after a replay before getting the better of St Pat’s in the semi final.

Belcoo stand in the way of Kinawley securing a title and Corrigan believes that they present a significant challenge:

“It is nice to get a run of games and preparing for a final is always where you want to be and there is a good buzz around the squad but we know we have a very tough test on Saturday night,” he said, adding:

“Belcoo are a very good team and if you look at their semi final with Irvinestown they completely controlled the game. They have a really good mix of youth and experience. You can see that in the likes of Ciaran Flaherty, Shane McCabe back, Brian Cox; they know what they are doing and are very well set up as well.”

Turning his attention to his own team Corrigan says that they have got stronger as the year has gone on and he has been delighted in particular to welcome big brother Tomas back into the fold after his travels:

“We have got some players back, obviously Tomas is back which is a big boost. I would say for both ourselves and Belcoo the focus has been on the championship all along. It is very important to get up into senior and both teams will be wanting to do that.”

Kinawley were Intermediate Championship winners in 2016 but came straight back down after just one year at senior level. Belcoo suffered a similar feat having won the Intermediate Championship in 2017 but after three losses in 2018 they found themselves relegated from senior.

For Corrigan he has been pleased with the way that the team has improved of late and he says the titanic struggles against the Gaels have stood to them:

“I think we have been playing a bit better. Both the games against the Gaels will have stood to us and we produced some good football in the semi final as well. But I suppose when you get to a final both teams will be confident. We just have to try and go out and produce a good performance”

The second tier in championship football within the county has been hugely competitive in the last number of years and this final looks like it will be another tight affair with Corrigan acutely aware of the difficulty in winning it all at this level:

“The Intermediate Championship is very very tough. Most people probably fancied the Gaels to win it this year but the other teams all fancied their chances too and there is very little between the teams.”

Concluding, Corrigan turned his attention back to a similarity he sees between Belcoo and Kinawley and he thinks that in terms of league football neither side showed their full hand:

“We were up and down a little bit in the league. Had some good performances but we had some poor performances too. I think league and championship are very different however, and you can see the same in Belcoo; they are a very different team compared to what played in the league. It should be a very good game for the neutral.”

Corrigan is right about that. Both teams will be going in to the game with confidence and with so many quality operators on show it has the makings of a real classic.