Weather forces double venue change for Carrick CS and Leitrim Hurlers

Two Leitrim teams have been handed late venue changes for their games on Saturday with Carrick-on-Shannon Community School and Leitrim hurlers seeing their venues switched due to the poor weather conditions.

Carrick-on-Shannon Community School take on Dunmore Community School in the Mezzino Connacht PPS Senior B Championship Final on Saturday at 1 pm in at the Connacht GAA Centre of Excellence. The game had originally been fixed for Fr O'Hara Park in Charlestown.

Leitrim hurlers were looking for their first win in their Allianz NHL Division 3B campaign but when Avant Money Pairc Sean Mac Diarmada was ruled out due to the bad weather, their clash with Fermanagh has been switched to Pairc Sheain Ui Eslin in Ballinamore with the same throw-in time of 2 pm.

Carrick CS go in search of a rare Provincial Schools title when they take on Dunmore Community School. The Leitrim school have been winning Corn Breifne titles with regularity in recent years but a breakthrough at this level has eluded them so far, their last big final appearance back in 2011 when Carrick   went down to a star studded  Roscommon CBS in Elphin in 2011 in the League Final.

Connacht success for Leitrim schools team in boys competition has been rare enough with Ballinamore CS, previously St Felim's, leading the way. A team that boasted the talents of Mark Plunkett, Ryan O'Rourke, Pearce Dolan and the McGovern brothers famously won the Senior D title ten years ago while a Paul Honeyman inspired team won a  Junior title last year.

Interestingly, Dunmore CS denied  Ballinamore in the Senior C Final last year, winning out 4-12 to 1-7 in Strokestown, the Galway school going on to reach this year's Senior B Final. Of course, ladies teams from Leitrim have a rich history with St Clare's CS and Ballinamore both reaching All-Ireland Finals while Carrick CS and Mohill also won provincial crowns.

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Unlike their 2011 version which featured about eight starters from Roscommon clubs, this Carrick CS  team is backboned by players from Leitrim clubs with St Mary's Kiltoghert and Leitrim Gaels providing quite a few starters for Saturday's final.

 St Michael's provide team captain Ruadhán Henry  and Cormac Regan with Henry playing for Roscommon minors last year.

Dunmore's rise through the ranks has been spectacular and they'll go into this one confident, especially after  their victory in the semi final against Roscommon CBS, coming from nine points down to record a 4-15 to 2-18 win.

VENUE CHANGE

The https://t.co/pG3bbaOwd6 Connacht GAA Post Primary School Football Senior B Final between @DunmoreCS and Carrick-on-Shannon CS will now take place in the Connacht GAA COE on Sat 10th Feb at 1pm!@LeitrimGAA @LeitrimG @Galway_GAA @CoachingGalway

— Connacht GAA (@ConnachtGAA) February 9, 2024

Padraig Martyn was their chief scorer, hitting 3-3 in the semi-final victory while Colm Costello hit eight points - both were big scorers last year against Ballinamore.

Yet Carrick will go into this game with a building sense of confidence. Their 2-15 to 0-9 victory over unbeaten  St Muredach's of Ballina in the semi-final suggests a team hitting confidence at just the right time.

Intriguingly, Dunmore are the only side to down Carrick in this year's  competition, the Galway school winning out 5-14 to 2-11 in the very first game of the group stages.

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Carrick have also shown real resolve, beating Presentation Headford by two points in their final group game to qualify for the knockout stages while they had three points to spare against Calasanctius Oranmore in the quarter final, winning 2-17 to 3-11.

Dunmore are a well drilled team who score goals - if a Carrick team who have improved immensely game on game can hold out the Galway school, they'd have a great chance of claiming the Connacht title. It will be tough, both teams know each other well but there is certainly the talent to claim a Provincial crown.