Will it be a brand new day or the same old story in eagerly anticipated Connacht Gold Leitrim SFC Semi-Finals?

The possibilities ahead of next weekend’s Connacht Gold SFC Semi-Finals almost seem limitless at this juncture - it could be the start of a brand new dawn if Leitrim Gaels and Fenagh St Caillins prove victorious or it may be the same old story if Mohill and Ballinamore Sean O’Heslins win their way back to the big day of Leitrim club football.

Fenagh St Caillins and Leitrim Gaels represent the new era -  Fenagh haven’t been in a Senior Final since 2003, a remarkable stat considering that only four clubs have appeared in more County Finals in the history of Leitrim GAA but it has been over 90 years since they lifted the title and their desire to bring the Fenagh Cup home is almost palpable.

Leitrim Gaels are attracting loads of attention, the county’s newest club even garnering national interest with an article in last Saturday’s Irish Examiner on the impact of the Jones brothers on their season but, right now, that is all  outside noise as they seek to reach their first ever Senior Final.

If the Gaels & Fenagh can be pitched as  upstarts, then champions Mohill and last year’s finalists Ballinamore Sean O’Heslins are very much the established order, the clubs with the most County Final appearances between them, going all the way back to the very first Leitrim SFC Final in 1890.

Maybe  the reduced eight team format has heightened  interest, the derby factor for Ballinamore and Fenagh, the impact of the Jones brothers or the return of David Bruen & Shane Quinn but I can’t remember the last time the Semi-Finals generated so much excitement among neutrals and if the games live up to the growing hype, fans  are in for a treat. 

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Before we  take a brief look at the games, a disclaimer! I've debated these games in my head over and over, changing my mind far too often and while I'm giving my nod to two teams, my opinion will probably change before a ball is kicked - the two games could be slogs or classics, blowouts or barn burners. Right now, this is my gut feeling but, as I'm sure so many of you can point out, I've been wrong before!

MOHILL V LEITRIM GAELS

Normally a team looking to complete a three in a row, a team who have appeared in each of the last five finals, and nine of the last 12, would be raging hot favourites but it is a measure of the impact Leitrim Gaels have made this year that Mohill go into Saturday’s clash (5 pm throw in) as marginal underdogs.

The reasons for this are varied - Eamonn O’Hara left the champions after their epic 2024 triumph and the champions have been missing a host of players due to injury and emigrations but come the business end of the championship, there is nobody quite like Mohill to get the job done.

Their quarter-final win over Glencar Manorhamilton amply illustrated their reservoir of championship DNA, a few more cracks than they’d like appearing in their armour at times but when the game was in the melting pot, Mohill lifted themselves to secure a comfortable victory.

Jordan Reynolds' return offers another weapon but, and it’s not the first time it has been said, much will rely on what impact Keith Beirne can make. In the Group game between the teams, the Gaels were cruising to an easy win before Beirne was brought on at halftime and he almost brought the champions back, the Gaels eventually winning by two points.

I'd imagine that the Gaels’ brain trust will detail Donal Casey to watch Beirne - Casey is one of those marquee players that can bend a game to his will or blot out a rival's attacking star. But the challenge for the Gaels is not to cough up frees because Beirne is unerringly accurate from anywhere on the pitch.

What the Gaels do have is a well-drilled, focused outfit where everybody knows their job - Ryan Jones is the quarter back on the field, directing his teammates and I'd envisage Mohill will try to come up with ways to disrupt the former Fermanagh star because he is their metronome, setting the pace of their performance.

Conor Quinn, Keith Keegan and Domhnaill Flynn did a great job in limiting the influence of Barry McNulty last day out but the feeling is that Jones has more support around him with his brothers, the Flynns, Casey and maybe even David Bruen there to boost them.

That is another fascinating sidebar to this game - Bruen and Shane Quinn are back in situ after spells in Australia. Bruen has been back a little longer than Quinn, lining out with the Gaels’ second string but the former Leitrim captain has been out in Oz much longer than his Mohill counterpart.

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Quinn is only back since Monday but of all players, integrating him back into the team won’t be too difficult. Of course, there is a conundrum of whether or not to start the returned duo or introduce them off the bench - squad dynamics and the optics of ‘parachuting’ a player into a starting line-up can cause grief and it is a difficult call for management to make.

My sense is that Leitrim Gaels have an edge - Mohill creaked mightily against Glencar Manor but still got the job done and if there is a team to upset the odds, the champions are it. But at the moment, I think the Gaels have a slight edge and should reach a first ever Final.

BALLINAMORE SOH V FENAGH ST CAILLINS

Derbies always add to the drama of a championship but this clash has more than most with both clubs now playing together at underage level under the Naomh Eoin banner. But that means nothing next Sunday (4 pm throw-in) in what is expected to be a white-hot clash between two evenly matched sides.

These two live side by side, go to the same schools and socialise in the same areas, making the rivalry all the more intense, familiarity not breeding contempt but rather a burning desire to get one over on the neighbours.

Ironically, you could make the case that these teams are mirror images of each other with highly rated attacks with outrageous scoring power, a huge physical capacity where burgeoning youth talent is mixed liberally with wise old heads in a potent mix.

Some will opine that the pressure is on Fenagh with a 93 year wait to win the championship but that also applies to Ballinamore, their status as all time leaders in Leitrim not sated by just one title (2021) over the past 30 plus years - yes, pressure is on both teams and O'Heslins may feel it a little bit more after losing last year's title in a penalty shootout following a two game epic.

Some will be tempted to say this will be a battle of the forwards - Ryan & Riordan O'Rourke, Oisin, Fergal & Daniel McLoughlin with the Gilheanys and Donal Wrynn are a potent forward line for Fenagh but Ballinamore's mix of Paul Honeyman, Tom Prior, Michael McKiernan, the Moran brothers and Wayne McKeon is equally prolific and dangerous.

Maybe it will come down to a battle of the defences - Fenagh conceded one point more than Ballinamore in the group stages but had a better scoring difference by just one point so how much do we learn there?. Interestingly, of the last four teams still standing, both their defences are marginally the best ahead of Leitrim Gaels and Mohill!

Maybe we look at teams they've both faced - they each played Mohill, Melvin Gaels, St Mary's & Aughawillan  but, even here, the evidence is patchy. Ballinamore are a different prospect now to the team that  lost their opening round game to Mohill by three points but Fenagh beat the champions by five points in a must win encounter.

Fenagh beat Aughawillan by ten points; O'Heslins crushed them in the quarter final but there is a school of thought that the sheer scale of victory did Ballinamore no good whatsoever, maybe even leaving them undercooked - they certainly won't get the time on the ball and space against Fenagh that they enjoyed the last day out.

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Ballinamore put 11 points on St Mary's, Fenagh could have beaten St Mary's, could have lost but got a draw while their Melvin Gaels' outings were one-sided  victories so probably we don't know a lot. They did meet last year in the group stages, Ballinamore winning an epic by a point but Fenagh had six points on them a year before that.

There is a sense that Fenagh's need is greatest and sometimes that can inhibit a team but they've displayed a bit of steel this year in tough situations. O'Heslins are in ominous form and nothing would surprise me here but if pushed, Fenagh gets the dreaded nod here.