ALL-IRELAND LEAGUE DIVISION ONE SEMI-FINALS: CONSTITUTION v CLONTARF Temple Hill (kick-off 2pm):THE HOLDERS, Cork Constitution, play hosts to the perennial Leinster standard-bearers come the play-off stages.
Indeed, despite this being the tightest scrap for the top four in the history of the AIB League, the semi-finals are a repeat of last year’s match-ups, with Constitution again welcoming Clontarf.
Constitution had seemingly hit the wall a few weeks ago following defeats to Ballynahinch in the AIB Cup final and a week later to Blackrock. They looked jaded after a long season in which their various Cup runs gave them little respite, and hit the crunch endgame of the series with injuries, notably at scrumhalf, where the gifted Duncan Williams has had to undergo an operation at the behest of Munster in a bid to see if his provincial career graph can finally start rising next season.
This was compounded by the injuries to Chris Nolan as well as outhalf Jeremy Manning in that Cup final, but Manning has since been restored to full fitness and John Stringer, younger brother of Peter, is back after a lengthy absence with an ankle injury.
Des Murray has also returned to the frontrow and Billy Holland has been moved to the secondrow in a bid to rectify the setpiece flaws, especially the scrum, which had undermined their campaign of late.
Finally, in the nick of time, came last week’s 54-23 win at home to Ballymena which secured today’s home semi-final, with the prolific Richie Lane also making a return to form with two of their eight tries.
Clontarf didn’t look the force of recent times earlier on in the season, notably when losing to Constitution, but they have also hit their straps in recent weeks, which is in stark contrast to this point last season when their form tapered off. In their last two outings against Ballymena and Dungannon they have scored 78 points without conceding a single one.
There wouldn’t appear to be much between the sides, though home advantage might help tilt things Constitution’s way.
CORK CONSTITUTION: D Lyons; R Lane, T Gleeson, E Ryan, C Healy; J Manning, J Stringer; T Ryan, G Murray, D Murray, M O'Connell, B Holland, B Cuttriss (capt), F Cogan, E Leamy. Replacements(from): L Gabriel, R Wilmott, D Kelly, J Moloney, P O'Mahony, B Nagle, C Nolan, P Broughan, T Kenneally.
CLONTARF: P Howard; M Keating, D O'Shea (capt), B O'Donnell, N O'Brien; M Dufficy, S Treacy/P O'Donoghue; A Clarke, A Dundon, N Treston, N Reilly, S Crawford, H Stride, N Carson, M Garvey.
SHANNON v GARRYOWEN Coonagh (2.30)
THIS IS another repeat of last season’s semi-finals, when some bloke by the name of Keith Earls was effectively signing off on the club game before moving on to greater things with a starring role in Garryowen’s 31-6 victory.
A more relevant formguide is probably their earlier meeting this season, when the sides drew 17-17 in a memorable game, attended by 4,500, under lights at Thomond Park, which has prompted a traffic plan in case of another sizeable turn-out to decide local bragging rights this time around.
Fiach O’Loughlin has been named to captain Shannon but has been injured and might not play; hence he is bracketed with Frankie McNamara. If O’Loughlin doesn’t play, Geoff Moylan’s side will be captained by David Quinlan.
Shannon haven’t been quite their customary force this season, eking out several narrow wins along the way, although whenever their nostrils get a whiff of silverware they become a different animal. Garryowen, by contrast, are seeking a place in their third successive final.
Both sides have pace to burn out wide and the hope should be that they will see some ball.
Garryowen’s Limerick Gaelic football flyer on the left wing, Seán Kelly, secured last week’s bonus point try which earned Shannon home advantage today, while Garryowen also have plenty of legs out wide in Ronan O’Mahony and Lorcan Burke, who scored five of their team’s eight tries in scoring 54 points against Galwegians.
Perhaps most significantly, the prolific Conor Kilroy maintained his 90 per cent place-kicking average by landing seven of the eight conversions, and his boot could give Garryowen the edge in another tight contest.
SHANNON: D O'Donovan; R Mullane, F McLoughlin, J Clogan, S Kelly; T Bennett, F O'Loughlin/F McNamara; C O'Neill, M Essex, K Griffin/L Hogan, P O'Brien, F Walsh, D Ryan/E McLoughlin, E Grace, D Quinlan.
