60 Minutes from the Biggest Day of the Year

For some today will be the day when their dreams move a step closer to becoming reality while for others it is the day that their season comes to a shuddering halt just as they could sense that Championship glory was a possibility.

Tickets for the games including the newly available Weekend Pass are available via the link:  Football Championship Tickets

Across the Fairyhouse Steel Senior Football Championship, Meade Farm Intermediate Football Championship and the Balreask Bar, Restaurant & Guest Accommodation Junior Football Championship we have the first semi-finals down for decision, with the remaining games being played on Sunday.

The Senior game is a mouth-watering encounter between neighbouring Ratoath and Donaghmore/Ashbourne in Devenish Park, Dunganny.  When these sides met at the Quarter-Final stage twelve months ago, the ‘Moors saw their handsome lead in the second half of normal time whittled down by Ratoath as they kicked seven of the last nine points to force extra-time before the men in blue and gold pulled away in that final twenty minutes to win out by six points.

A year on, Ratoath once more come into the game as warm favourites but that performance last year coupled with their recent form will give Donaghmore/Ashbourne great cause for optimism.

Since they won the Intermediate Championship back in 2007, they have been one of the clubs that will feel they haven’t quite achieved what they are capable of, with no Senior title to their name and a few final defeats the best they have mustered.

This year the club have the added incentive of hosting the Fairyhouse Steel Senior Football Championship Final and how they would love to be running out in two weeks time on their home turf.

On their path to today’s encounter, Donaghmore/Ashbourne have averaged scoring twenty-one points per game which is the lowest of the four semi-finalists but they have been utterly miserly at the opposite end of the pitch, conceding an average of twelve and a half points per match which is also the lowest of the last four sides in the Championship.

Since their opening round defeat to Gaeil Colmcille in Walterstown, the form line has been on an upper trajectory, kickstarted by a brilliant seven point win over Dunshaughlin in the second round before clinically despatching Simonstown Gaels by sixteen points on the last day of group stage action.

That set up an encounter with Trim in the Quarter-Final and it was here where they turned in arguably their best performance of the season when winning out by 2-20 to 1-09.

Timmy O’Regan will have been bitterly disappointed in the manner of the end game twelve months ago and will be hoping that this year they are able to push on if they have Ratoath on the ropes and finish them off as opposed to allowing them the opportunity to find a way back into proceedings.

The likes of Shane Melia, Oisín Daly and Sean Curran will form a key part of the defence that has been so resolute in this year’s Championship and it always of massive comfort to a defensive unit when they have a top quality goalkeeper behind them and in Andy Colgan, Donaghmore/Ashbourne have just that.  Colgan is an excellent shot stopper but in addition to this, his kickouts are out of the top drawer and he is always capable of clipping over a few long range frees.

In Bryan Menton and Jamie Browne there is a fine blend of experience and youthful vigour around the middle of the park and Menton is playing as well as he has ever done.  Menton missed the 2025 Championship through injury and his return has been a major boost for O’Regan’s charges.

Another of the wise elder statesmen in their ranks is Andy Tormey and the recently married forward has had a new lease of life this year and is playing some of the best football he has done in many moons.  Fresh from kicking seven points against Trim, he will be looking to replicate that showing today but he will need plenty of assistance from the likes of Sean Tyrrell and Stephen Carton, both of whom have been among the goals this year.

The humour will have been dark in Ratoath early in the week after their defeat to Kiltale in the Ted Murtagh Clothing & Footwear, Trim Senior Hurling Championship Semi-Final and how easily their dual players park that loss could well have a big role to play in determining the outcome of this encounter.

Bouncing from week to week when winning is one thing, but getting the mindset freshened up six days later for what promises to be a titanic tussle is quite another.

A major question that they may have to answer is where they will get the scores from to defeat Donaghmore/Ashbourne if Daithí McGowan is closed down by the men in green and white for McGowan is their top scorer in this year’s Championship by a country mile with 3-20.  The next closest to him is Glenn O’Reilly who has 1-07, a differential of nineteen points.

When the going was tough against Dunshaughlin, McGowan put their forward line up on his back and carried them before they got a great press off the bench, led by Bobby O’Brien who pilfered 1-02 to break the hearts of their neighbours to the west.

Despite winning a clutch of Keegan Cups in recent years, there are plenty around Ratoath who feel that they left a few more behind them and this year represents a great opportunity to add one more to their collection.

The side has been freshened up this year with the addition of Devon Burns in goals while Paddy White and the lightening quick Adam Ducie have come into the forward line.

Ducie in particular has been a breath of fresh air in the attack and while Bryan McMahon has seen all there is to see at top of the right, Ducie brings a youthful innocence and vigour to the play at top of the left.  In between them is Cian Rogers who probably hasn’t reached the heights this year that he is capable of, there is no doubt that there is a big performance in him on the edge of the square.

Jack Flynn made his return to the side against Dunshaughlin and having missed the group stages of the Championship, will undoubtedly improve for the game and he along with Ben McGowan form a very imposing midfield pairing.  Their battle with Menton and Browne will be liable to be measured on the Richter Scale.

When it comes to full back lines, there are few better in any county than the one Ratoath can field with Conor McGill flanked by Liam Kelly and joint captain Ben Wyer.  This trio are all excellent performers and keep and eye out for the bursts from deep which Kelly has made his trademark this year.

Ratoath deservedly wear the tag of favourites based on the performances of the two sides over the last 6-7 years but with the carrot of the final being played on their home turf, will Donaghmore/Ashbourne have what it takes to book their place at the big show?

The Meade Farm Intermediate Football Championship Semi-Final on today’s menu is a repeat of the opening round in August where St. Patrick’s came through to defeat Navan O’Mahony’s in Walterstown.

Today, they meet once more but this time in Dunsany and both sides come into this encounter off the back of excellent showings at the Quarter-Final stage as St. Patrick’s turned on the style to comprehensively defeat Moynalvey and O’Mahony’s downed Meath Hill in Boliden Tara Mines Park, Simonstown.

Oisín Black and Luke Whearty missed out on that Quarter-Final win and while their absence wasn’t overly felt given how the game panned out, Colm Nally will be hoping to have them back at his disposal today.  Another player who was a big injury doubt two weeks ago was Jamie Murphy and he came through unscathed in what was a big boost to their aspirations.

Nally of course knows what it takes to win this Championship, having been at the helm for St. Colmcille’s when they brought the Mattie McDonnell back to the East Coast ten years ago.  A decade on, can Nally once more concoct the right potion, this time a few kilometres down the M1?

Despite starting the last day, Sean Emmanuel is once more named among the replacements for St. Patrick’s but it would be no surprise to see him announced before the throw-in as a late addition to the starting XV.

Ben Sullivan whose uncle Peter is a selector alongside Nally is one of the more underrated young talents in the county and he is a tricky customer in their forward line, kicking a brace of points against Moynalvey and linking the play effectively.

Will St. Patrick’s repeat their opening round win over O’Mahony’s. Photo is courtesy of Brian Mulligan.

Navan O’Mahony’s endured a most difficult year in 2025, requiring a Relegation Play-Off Final victory over Curraha to stay at the Intermediate grade but this year their form has been much more in line with that of 2024 when they were so unlucky to lose the final to Meath Hill.

Niall Higgins and Aodhan Mallon were key to that win over Meath Hill a fortnight ago with their showing at midfield and between them they clipped over five points to supplement the attackers.

Darragh Maguire, Niall McGrane and Sean Betson form an impressive half back line and it is great to see Betson getting a run of games after picking up a few injuries in 2025 and earlier in 2026.

Up front, Robbie Keelaghan remains a key operator but watch out for Evan Coffey who will line out with the number fourteen on his back but he will drift all over the forward line and offer a kickout option on the wings for Jamie O’Reilly.

The evening offering under floodlights is a repeat of one of the greatest games in 2025 as Ballinlough and St. Vincent’s once more face off at the penultimate stage of the Balreask Bar, Restaurant & Guest Accommodation Junior Football Championship.

If we rewind the clock back fifty-three weeks, it took extra-time to separate these two sides in what was a mesmerising encounter in Dunganny.

Michael McIvor it was who ultimately proved to be the difference between the two sides as the towering young star ended up with a personal tally of 3-06 over the eighty minutes. On the flip side Daire Shine ended up with twelve points for Ballinlough and who knows, this year’s encounter could well turn into a shootout between two of the best young talents in the county.

But it would be unfair to say that either side is a one-man band with Ballinlough boasting the likes of Oisín McDermott, Eoin Briody, Tom Shine and Darren O’Higgins amongst their ranks and St. Vincent’s with the players of the calibre of Davy Tallon, Nigel Hand, Adam Tuite and Conor O’Brien lining out.

Don’t rule out extra-time being required to separate the sides once more.

Fairyhouse Steel Senior Football Championship Semi-Final

Ratoath vs Donaghmore/Ashbourne.  16:00.  Venue:  Devenish Park, Dunganny.  Live on Clubber.

Meade Farm Intermediate Football Championship Semi-Final

St. Patrick’s vs Navan O’Mahony’s.  13:30.  Venue:  Dunsany.  Live on Clubber.

Balreask Bar, Restaurant & Guest Accommodation Junior Football Championship Semi-Final

Ballinlough vs St. Vincent’s.  19:30.  Venue:  Cortown.  Live on Clubber.

Friday’s Result