Allianz Hurling League Divison 2B final
Derry v Tyrone (Saturday, Owenbeg, 5.30pm)
DERRY were convincing ten-point winners over Tyrone when the two near neighbours came up against each other in the opening round of the Division 2B league campaign and will once again be favourites heading into today’s league final.
Tyrone will be buoyed by their semi-final victory over Donegal but will know they face another step up in class at Owenbeg. Barring their round four slip up against Wicklow, where they only earned a point, Derry’s campaign has been flawless.
They have the scoring stats to back up their place at the top of the league table as well. The Oak Leaf County have rattled off an impressive 7-117 in five outings and hit the net in all of their games apart from that Wicklow draw.
Cormac O’Doherty remains the star man for Johnny McGarvey’s side while he’s certainly helped up top by the scoring power of Corey O’Reilly and Ruairi O’Mianain. Darragh McGilligan also gave a man of the match performance the last day out against Roscommon.
Tyrone’s scoring rates haven’t just been as high, but they head into the game hoping to land a third win on the trot following recent victories over Wicklow and last weekend’s entertaining semi-final with Donegal.
Five different players rattled the net for Tyrone as they reached the league decider, with Lorcan Devlin, Sean Og Grogan, Cormac Munroe, Tiernan Morgan and Joe McToal all raising green flags in their pulsating 5-9 to 3-14 triumph.
High flying Fermanagh will hope to end their league campaign with a trophy as they take on Warwickshire in the Division 3B league final and the Erne County will be fairly confident of getting the job done.
Fermanagh won four from four in their league campaign, including victories over Leitrim, their final opponents Warwickshire, Lancashire and Longford, with the latter two posing much more problems than the first two.
Warwickshire didn’t offer much resistance when the sides last met at the end of February as Joe Baldwin’s men eased to a comfortable 1-19 to 2-5 win with Tom Keenan and John Duffy doing the bulk of the scoring.
Warwickshire won just once during the opening five rounds and that was on the last day against Longford, but they did enough in the league semi-final against the same opposition to compete in the decider.
Like the first day out, Fermanagh should be much too strong for their opponents and that should lead to a league title for Baldwin and his team.
Down and Armagh lock horns in the All-Ireland u20 B Championship at Downpatrick today with the Mourne men hoping to recapture the crown having earned the title for the very first time in 2022.
Tyrone take on Wicklow in the same competition and will enjoy home advantage as will Donegal, who welcome Mayo to Letterkenny. In the All-Ireland u20 C Championship, Fermanagh host Louth while Monaghan entertain Longford.