For the second week running there are some vital clashes taking place in division one of the all-county league with Gaoth Dobhair having two important clashes.
The first of those takes place tonight at O’Donnell Park with Gaoth Dobhair making the journey to Letterkenny to face rivals St Eunan’s. A win for either side would move them a point ahead of current leaders Naomh Conaill.
But Gaoth Dobhair sit with an advantage of having one game in hand over St Eunan’s and two in hand over Naomh Conaill. Thursday nights encounter will play a massive role in deciding what team gets their name on the league trophy at the end of the season.
Then on Sunday Gaoth Dobhair make another away trip, this time a derby clash with Cloughaneely which is sure to be a tense battle. The sides haven’t met in the league for seven years with Cloughaneely spending most of that time in division two.
Sunday’s match will be the first time the sides have met this year and with a lot at stake for both, a tight match is expected. Cloughaneely fought back to secure a point last week against Milford and will be looking for more of the same resilience on Sunday.
St Eunan’s, like Gaoth Dobhair have two clashes in four days this week and they travel to Father Tierney Park to take on Aodh Ruadh who are second from bottom. The Ballyshannon men would have been disappointed at the weekend not to take all three points off Glenswilly but will look at every home fixture as an opportunity to get clear from the relegation zone.
For Dungloe who are also in the relegation zone, things are looking even more difficult. They sit on two points and make the journey down to Dunfanaghy this weekend to face St Michael’s.
It’s looking to be yet another difficult clash for Dungloe as St Michael’s secured a vital victory over Kilcar last weekend. Dungloe know that if they don’t start picking up points very soon that relegation will be looming.
St Michael’s on the other hand will be glad to have beaten Kilcar as it now moves them on to eight points with an easier run-in than most of their rivals.
Milford will go to battle with Naomh Conaill in Glenties with them too looking to get a few points clear of the relegation zone. After the draw with Cloughaneely, Milford sit on nine points but are just two ahead of Aodh Ruadh. Glenties are sitting top of the league at the minute but do have extra games played over their oppositions.
For them at this stage they know that the only way of putting the pressure on Gaoth Dobhair and St Eunan’s is to ensure that they keep winning. At the minute the side is in fine tune and after winning easily against Dungloe in their last two fixtures, confidence will be sky high.
Glenswilly and Kilcar are the two mid-table sides in the league this year and entering Sunday’s game the only one of the two that could really make a push for the title is Kilcar. Up until the defeat with St Michael’s they had been right in the mix but a fourth placed finish looks most likely now.
Glenswilly are in a comfortable position in terms of avoiding relegation and will know that if they continue to add on a few points between now and the end of the season that they should avoid the drop. This fixture is a replay of the county final from two years ago so a tight game is to be expected.
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