Higher Education Senior League Division One Group B: St Mary’s, Belfast v Ulster University (tonight, St Paul’s, Lurgan, 7pm)
ST MARY’S manager Gavin McGilly is expecting to face a step up in quality as the Ranch continue their Senior Football League campaign against Ulster University in Lurgan tonight.
Although ‘home advantage’ is usually a bit of a misnomer for St Mary’s, there will be a strong Armagh tint to their team with McGilly indicating that the side will not differ much from last week’s win over Queen’s - so plenty should be familiar with the wonderful Taghnevan pitch.
Kyle Mallon (Killeavy), Jarly Og Burns (Silverbridge) and Ryan McSherry (Whitecross) all started while Aaron Boyle (Dromintee) and Cathair McKinney (Killeavy) came in off the bench.
“Hopefully we can go with the same squad of last time,” said McGilly ahead of the game.
That squad was more than capable of seeing off the Queen’s challenge, Burns starring with 2-1 to his name. Clonduff native Stephen McConville also posted seven points, six from play, in the 3-14 to 0-13 win.
Kilcoo’s Miceal Rooney may return after his club’s Down final loss to Burren on Sunday, but McGilly is likely to give him the week off if he wants it.
Like Queen’s, Paul Rouse’s UU also suffered a 10-point loss as they went down 2-14 to 1-7 to Dublin City University.
Despite the heavy defeat for their opponents, McGilly believes that this will be a much stiffer examination as the university teams attempt to get into their stride.
“We don’t really know where we are at, last week was our first outing of the season,” said the Annaghmore native.
“Jordanstown will definitely be a step up in quality. We only have two survivors from the Sigerson squad left so it’s pretty much a new team.”
Even at this early stage, Rouse will be expecting his players to sharpen up defensively as DCU got in for far too many handy scores.
Top of the list were the goals scored in each half, although the first should have been disallowed with the referee missing a clear double bounce in the build-up.
As usual Rouse will have some star quality to call on with Michael McKernan one of their more noted players this season, but he will likely use this match to experiment.
Rustiness is still very much in play for all teams at this stage but St Mary’s appear to have come out of the blocks fast and they can make it two wins from two in Lurgan.
Queen’s, meanwhile, will be hoping to bounce back from last week’s loss when they welcome DCU to the Dub (8pm).
Shane Mulholland’s side were second best for most of their encounter with St Mary’s but there were some promising performances from Niall Keenan, James McMahon, Daniel Guinness and James Smith, who top-scored with six points. Ruairi Campbell also caught the eye as he kicked two points when pushing up from the back.
Queen’s are likely to be without key player Che Cullen.
The Fermanagh man came off the bench for the final 17 minutes last week but with his club Belnacleck facing Banagher in Saturday’s Ulster Intermediate preliminary round clash, he’ll sit this one out.
This could be another tough night for the Malone Road men, but nobody will be panicking at this very early stage.
HIGHER EDUCATION GAA FIXTURES
Today
Senior Football League
Division One
Group B: St Mary’s v Ulster University (St Paul’s, Lurgan, 7pm); Queen’s v DCU Dochas Eireann (the Dub Arena, 8pm)
Division Two
Group A: Dundalk IT v University of Ulster, Coleraine (Dundalk IT Grounds, 7pm)
Division Three
Group C: University Ulster, Magee v Ulster University (UU Magee, 2pm)
Group D: Magherafelt NRC v Southern Regional College (Magherafelt NRC, 2pm); NWRC v South West College Enniskillen Campus (Templemore Sports Complex, 2pm)
Division Four
Group D: Monaghan Institute v DIFE (Monaghan, 2pm)
Senior Hurling League
Division Two
Group A: Ulster University v Queen’s (Jordanstown, 7pm)
Intermediate Football League
Group B: St Mary’s v Ulster University (St Mary’s, 2pm); Queen’s v DCU Dochas Eireann (the Dub Arena, 6.30pm)
Fresher Hurling League
Division Two
Group B: IT Tallaght v Queen’s (Bohernabreena, 2pm)
Fresher Football League
Division Three
Group A: Ulster University v Queen’s (Jordanstown, 3pm)
Tomorrow
Fresher Football League
Division One Group A: Queen’s v St Mary’s (Woodlands, 4pm)
