| Heavyweight ties for Tuam as championship reaches quarter-final |
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| Written by Declan Rooney | |
| Wednesday, 12 August 2009 | |
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This weekend sees the resumption of the Claregalway Hotel senior club football championship, with two double headers taking place in Tuam Stadium on Saturday and Sunday. The undoubted match of the weekend sees defending champions Corofin play the 2007 champions Killererin in Sunday's battle of the Galway heavyweights. Each side is littered with county stars, but the champions have slightly stuttered their way to the last eight. Defeat to Michael Breathnachs sent shockwaves around the county, but the luck of the draw handed Corofin a bye into the second round, where they defeated An Cheathru Rua by three points to set up this mouth watering clash. Similarly, Killererin lost their opening encounter to Salthill-Knocknacarra but recovered to beat St Michael and Moycullen in the qualifiers. Killererin will rely mainly on Nicky and Padraig Joyce for the bulk of their scores, but with Galway captain Damien Burke and Garry Sice keeping things tight, some key battles are likely to develop. First up at the North-Galway venue is St Brendan's and Salthill Knocknacarra, which throws in at 5.15pm on Saturday. St Brendan's fell to An Cheathru Rua in the opening round but recovered from their five-point defeat ans secured a back-door victory over Kilkerrin-Clonberne. The Ballygar side then followed that victory up with another one-point over Glenamaddy in the second round to clinch a quarter-final spot. Jimmy Heverin's side had an altogether smoother route to the last eight and clinched victories over Killererin and Miltown in their first two clashes. With county stars such as Finian Hanley and Sean Armstrong – who has been in flying form – to call on, the city side look likely to progress to the last four. In the second of the evening's matches Caltra face the challenge of Tuam Stars (7pm); two sides that remain unbeaten in this year's competition. With Michael Meehan in fine fettle up front Caltra overcame Cortoon Shamrocks by one-point and cruised to a two-goal victory over Claregalway in the second round. Tuam on the other hand needed extra-time to get past Annaghdown in round one and beat Connemara side Michael Breathnach's in the second round. It promises to be a cracking match with Tuam being mentioned as many people's dark horses and Caltra keen to claim their first title since their sole victory in 2003. On Sunday, Tuam Stadium hosts the third and fourth quarter-finals with Annaghdown facing Mountbellew Moylough at 5.15pm before Corofin play Killererin in the later throw-in. Annaghdown overcame their opening round defeat to Tuam Stars with an impressive result over last-year's beaten finalists Cortoon Shamrocks in the first qualifier and garnered a six-point win over Bearna to qualify for the quarters.Mountbellew-Moylough have a 100 per cent record so far with wins over Kilkerrin-Clonberne and Caherlistrane and enter the clash as favourites to progress further. |
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