Battle of unbeaten Keeldra Gaels and Fenagh one to savour in LGFA Junior Final

It may be coming in under the radar with two Senior Finals, a couple of Minor Finals, the Men's Intermediate and Junior deciders all on this weekend but next Saturday's clash of Keeldra Gaels and Fenagh in the Gotham DryWall LGFA Intermediate Championship Final promises to be a thrilling encounter.

Mohill's Philly McGuinness Park hosts the clash on Saturday at 12 noon with both teams justified in thinking that this will be their year. Both are unbeaten in this year's competition although neither faced off against each other in the group stages and both have very healthy scoring differences.

Keeldra Gaels have a scoring difference of plus 163 which kind of puts Fenagh's impressive difference of plus 116 into the shade but it is clear that both these teams are capable of running up big, big scores.

Question will be which defence can halt the march of the opposition forwards? 

For Keeldra Gaels, winning the Junior title has become something of an obsession after some heartbreaking defeats in recent years. Last year, they marched through the group phase unbeaten and easily accounted for St Mary's in the semi-final. But in the final, they came up against an Annaduff team they had beaten by ten points in the first game of the competition only to fall to an inspired display from Annaduff who won out 2-5 to 0-9 as a succession of misses cost them dearly.

Two years ago, they topped the table after the group stages, unbeaten once again, but then fell victim to Annaduff in the semi-final, losing out 5-6 to 1-6. So it is fair to say that motivation won't be a factor for Keeldra on Saturday.

For Fenagh, they won the Junior title in 2021 so they've been in the winners' enclosure at least but they were relegated the following year and lost out in the semi-finals after a group stages campaign where they beat everybody but Keeldra Gaels. But no more than the Gaels, they fell victim to an Annaduff ambush, losing out 2-8 to 3-11 after they had won the group game 3-13 to 0-10 as Annaduff ruined more than one team's dreams of glory on their way to the title.

Both teams were convincing winners of their semi-finals - Keeldra Gaels beat St Mary's second string 3-16 to 0-4 while Fenagh scored a 3-16 to 4-1 win over Glencar Manor's second string, having beaten them just a week before by virtually the same scoreline, 3-15 to 4-3.

Leitrim Gaels would have been considered a threat but Keeldra beat them 6-18 to 0-4, a bit slight bit more convincing than Fenagh's 6-12 to 2-6. Not sure how much that tells us with the drawn out and hectic nature of the Junior grade but all the signs appear to be that Keeldra Gaels have a bit more scoring power than Fenagh. 

They have struggled to convert that power into victories in finals in the past but if they do next Saturday, Keeldra Gaels look set to take the title.