All-Ireland Club Junior Hurling Championship semi-final: Eoghan Rua (Derry) v Conahy Shamrocks (Kilkenny) (today, Inniskeen, 1.30pm)
FOUR years on from narrowly losing to Kilkenny opposition in the All-Ireland Junior final, Coleraine will once again face opposition from the famous hurling heartland for a chance to return to Croke Park.
In 2016 it was Glenmore with Eoghan Rua making a mockery of their massive pre-match odds as they came up just short by two points. They are underdogs once again as they prepare to meet Conahy Shamrocks in Inniskeen this afternoon.
They will care little. In an interview back in October before their Ulster semi-final with Inniskeen, defender Pearse Dallas mentioned the possibility of another stab at the All-Ireland title. Clearly the belief is there.
And why shouldn’t it be? Sean McGoldrick and Brendan McNicholl’s side produced a series of great results to reclaim the Ulster title and they will be full of confidence.
They hammered Mulalhoran and Inniskeen although they were pushed hard by Newry Shamrocks in the Ulster final before the Down champions went down to 14 men.
An All-Ireland quarter-final win over English outfit John Mitchel’s sent them into the Christmas break in good form.
They had little bother in accounting for the British champions with Ruairi Mooney (2) and Sean Leo McGoldrick finding the net in a 3-19 to 0-7 win at Celtic Park.
Those two have been in superb form throughout their run to the last four while others like Dallas and Ciaran McGoldrick have also really caught the eye.
Eoghan Rua may have a scoring sensation in Sean Leo McGoldrick but Conahy Shamrocks have their own in the form of James Bergin.
A hamstring injury kept the team captain out of the Leinster quarter-final win over Fingallians but Kieran Mooney (1-7) and Tom Phelan (1-3) stepped up in his absence while Davy Healy kept a good handle on multiple All-Ireland winner Paul Flynn.
Bergin also missed the Leinster semi-final but it again made little difference as they eased past Clonguish after more good scoring contributions from Mooney and Phelan.
He wasn’t going to miss the final though and he hit 2-4 in their Leinster final win over Réalt na Mara.
It is likely that he will be picked up by Barry McGoldrick or Ciaran Lagan while Sean Leo McGoldrick could have Healy for company.
Those are the two battles that will go a long way to deciding this contest but it just seems that the Kilkenny side have a few more options in attack. More Kilkenny heartbreak for Eoghan Rua appears the most likely outcome.
