Good Counsel begin quest

The first step in revisiting the All-Ireland glory of last year begins for Good Counsel on Thursday, and in travelling to Maynooth for their opening round of the Leinster colleges senior football championship, they encounter a side in the opposite strands of development.

Last spring, the New Ross school brought the first schools' football title to Wexford - completing their rapid rise through the ranks of colleges GAA. But for Maynooth, competing in the Senior A championship for the first time, such rewards will probably have to await further fermentation.

Right now though, the memories of last year are still strong around Good Counsel. "We had a dream run all through the championship, no doubt about that," says Kevin Kehoe, who along with Aidan O'Brien, has been joint manager since 1993 when the school made the breakthrough at national level by winning the B title.

They picked up three Leinster titles in the remainder of the decade, yet Kehoe admits that the groundwork for this year's campaign hasn't quite been so solid.

"We're hopeful that we will still be in the shake-up for the Leinster title," he says, "but for this game at least, we're certainly going to be short a number of first-choice players through injury. Still, Leinster has never been as open as this year, and we've been waiting a long while now for this game."

For a start, Good Counsel are set to start without Shane Cullen, Eric Bradley and Thomas Ely - three key players in last year's All-Ireland win over Connacht champions St Jarlath's. Both Cullen and Ely have been carrying long-term injuries, and Bradley aggravated a recurring injury last weekend. There are another five players back from last year's panel, yet hints of a confidence slip in the champions does tend to creep through.

For Kehoe, however, there's no lack of motivation, and a win here could set them up with a quarterfinal meeting with Colaiste Eoin, provincial winners two years ago. "It's meant so much to have the Hogan Cup in the school this year," adds Kehoe. "We're in a bit of a corner coming into this game, and missing our three starting players from last year is a big blow. We're certainly not going to moan about it, but we could do with another week or two."

Elsewhere, Marist College of Athlone, last year's beaten finalists, are at home tomorrow to St Mary's, Mullingar. They have 13 players of their panel of 22 back from last year, and are regarded by many to have one of the strongest challenges in the province.

Ulster will meet next Monday night to finalise the quarter-final fixtures of all five competitions, which will begin the last weekend in January. Connacht, meanwhile, have concluded the league stages of their competitions and are ready to enter the quarter-final stages next month.