ST Patrick's, Maghera have been in three of the past four Danske Bank Edmund Rice Rannafast Cup finals, but they face a stiff enough route back to the decider following the announcement of the quarter-final line-up last night writes Séamas McAleenan.
They have to play St Macartan's Monaghan on Friday (1pm, Garvaghey) with the winner then taking on competition favourites Omagh CBS in the quarter-final scheduled for the first week of November.
The team that loses must play off with St Patrick's, Armagh for a quarter-final place against another of the group-toppers St Mary's, Magherafelt, winners of the Brock Shield last year.
The other quarter-finals are fairly straight-forward with Abbey CBS favourites to oust St Patrick's, Cavan, another side that has made an impact at this level over the past couple of seasons. Finally, St Colman's Newry, beaten narrowly in last year's decider, have topped their group and would be tipped to beat St Pius X at the start of November Danske Bank Edmund Rice Cup quarter-finals: St Mary's, Magherafelt v play-off winners, Abbey CBS v St Patrick's, Cavan, St Colman's, Newry v St Pius X, Magherafelt, Omagh CBS v St Patrick's, Maghera