Little divides Munchies and Shamrocks in Junior final

In recent years, there has been a sense that the Junior Championship was on steroids – artificially pumped up. No team from Division 3 of the league has got their hands on the Sean Leddy Cup since Templeport won the 2020 championship, albeit that final was not played until 2021.

The last two champions, Arva and Knockbride, had actually played Division 1 league football in the Spring; Arva comfortably stayed in the top flight and Knockbride were unlucky to go down after a drawn-out relegation series, having taken some big scalps.

Like water, things have found their level again this season and it has made for an exceptionally tight championship. Coming into the knock-out stages, we reckoned five of the last eight could potentially win it out – Belturbet, Kill Shamrocks, Munterconnaught, Shannon Gaels, Swanlinbar, Templeport (in no order other than alphabetical).

That analysis was proven off the mark when Drung, who had limped into the quarter-finals and suffered a 19-point loss to Munterconnaught in round four, upset the Gaels with a stunning performance.

Swad, powered on by attacker Cillian Murray, sank the Rorys, who were diminished by the loss of talisman Enda Henry. Munterconnaught put the game to bed early with a brilliant start against a talented but callow Templeport and were never really challenged thereafter; they could afford to score just once in the final 16 minutes of that game and won pulling up.

Kill played Redhills in the first of the quarter-finals; the border side had already been beaten three times in the group but Cavan’s championship structure is the opposite of do-or-die (think a harness, a mattress and a safety net) and they advanced. The game, a repeat of the group fixture between the sides, was one-sided; Kill did a professional job.

That left Kill versus Swanlinbar and Drung against the Munchies in the last four. One of these matches was expected to be close but, as often happens, the opposite proved the case.

The Shamrocks were impressive in defeating the west Cavan side by 2-11 to 1-7, scoring the first four points and last four points of the match in an impressive performance highlighted by a stunning goal from Liam Gaffney which is surely a goal of the season contender across the three grades.

Meanwhile, there was an 18-point swing in the space of a month between Drung and Munterconnaught. In injury time, Drung levelled it and the Ryefield men, who hadn’t played well, were staring down the barrel – but veteran Sean Nolan showed composure to fist over the winner.

So, Munterconnaught v Kill Shamrocks it is, the former in their first Junior Championship final since 2011 (a defeat), the latter since 2013 (win).

What makes this an appealing game for the neutrals is that it’s hard to call and also the fact that there is some history there. The sides drew in the league and then met again in the semi-final, which doubled as a promotion play-off. Kill were aggrieved at some officiating in that game, which Munterconnaught won narrowly, and appealed; the appeal is still ongoing at the time of writing.

So while there may not be bad blood as such, there is added motivation for both sides, not that it will be needed in a final. Both teams have clearly worked exceptionally hard in the last couple of years and their respective management teams have done outstanding jobs.

They match up well, too. Both have a core of experienced players – Barry McMenamin, the Gaffneys, Gary Tiernan, the McIntyres et al have soldiered for many years with Kill while Munterconnaught can call on cool heads like Danny and Sean Nolan, Tadhg Morrissey, Stephen Sheridan and poacher-turned-goalkeeper John McCabe.

Augmenting that in both camps are waves of young players; the McAuleys have brought energy and pace to the Kill attack while the athletic Ryan Nwaneri and Nathan DeKleer are among the brightest young talents on the Munterconnaught side, who lean heavily on the class of the three O’Shea brothers too.

Munterconnaught have had more ups and downs in this campaign and did pick up a loss in the group (against Swanlinbar). Their highs have possibly been higher than Kill’s but the Shamrocks have been steadier.

The aggregate score in the three meetings between the teams this year stands at 4-34 to 3-35; the margins seem wafer-thin. All else being equal, then, it will likely come down to who handles the occasion better.

Munterconnaught were probably under-cooked for their semi-final after two one-sided wins and they will have learned lots about themselves from that game; they’re battle-hardened at this point, having also had a tough game against Kildallan in the group.

The Shamrocks have ticked along nicely and know their system of play inside out; their over-riding principle seems to be strong defence and that could go a long way in a final, especially when one considers no team, not even All-Ireland champions in waiting Arva, has scored more than 0-17 (cumulatively) in a Junior Championship final since 2019.

The winner will be a popular one among the neutrals no matter who it is; the teams met in the Junior Championship Shield final just two years ago and deserve huge credit for how they have hauled themselves up since then.

Someone has to win it, though, and Kill get the nod, barely.