TG4 All-Ireland Junior Championship Previews – Sunday June 2nd 2024 Group A Derry v London; St Treas, Ballymaguigan, 12pm Derry and London occupied the bottom two slots in their championship group last year and will be aiming for better this time. London were comfortable winners when the sides met in 2023 but the Exiles had […]
TG4 All-Ireland Junior Championship Previews – Sunday June 2nd 2024
Group A
Derry v London; St Treas, Ballymaguigan, 12pm
Derry and London occupied the bottom two slots in their championship group last year and will be aiming for better this time.
London were comfortable winners when the sides met in 2023 but the Exiles had home advantage on that occasion and the roles are now reversed.
Derry showed some good flashes in their Ulster final loss to Fermanagh but they conceded heavily too and will need to tighten up defensively.
Derry: E Conway; H Mullan, B Donnelly, J Corr (capt.); S Hargan, C McGurk, M Devine; C O’Kane, A Kilpatrick; Erin Doherty, O McGeough, A Martin; Emma Doherty, C Donnelly, D McKeever.
London: S Farrell; A Spain, A Ryan, M Jordan; C Flanagan, L Harrold, A Sexton; E Alcorn (capt.), M Adegbamiye; L Sheehy, A O’Neill, C McMenamin; E Clarke, A McLoughlin, D Doherty Skehill.
Sligo v Carlow; Tubbercurry
As the only Junior Championship side in Connacht, Sligo got some valuable game time under their belts when they played Leitrim and Roscommon in the Intermediate grade.
Sligo lost both games but they were much more competitive against Roscommon and will have taken some positives from that.
Carlow, the reigning Lidl NFL Division 4 champions, lost out to Louth in the Leinster Junior Final but they’ve been All-Ireland semi-finalists in 2021, 2022 and 2023.
Sligo: E McGuire; C Dunne (capt.), E McDermott, S Curley; A Molloy, A Morrisroe, T Breheny; S Cunney, S Regan; E Lavin, C Gilligan, J Lyons; M McCormack, L Normanly, N Brennan.
Carlow: N Hanley; A Carroll, A Roche, S McCullagh; R Bermingham (capt.), N Murphy, N Forde; E Hayden, R Bailey; B Nolan, R Sawyer, S Doyle; E Molloy, E Coogan, C Ní Shé.
Group B
Kilkenny v Louth; John Locke Park, Callan
Louth won the Leinster Junior Championship recently and will approach the All-Ireland series with high hopes.
The Wee County defeated Kilkenny too in the provincial group stages and will fancy their chances of another win on their visit to Callan.
Louth were All-Ireland Junior winners last in 2019 and after suffering relegation from the Intermediate grade last year, they’ll be anxious to bounce back at the first attempt.
Kilkenny: E Moran; A Ring, S Smith, S Dunne; H Brennan, A Galwey, A Ryan; K Comerford, R Roche; E Lawlor (capt.), S Corcoran, C Moore; R Phelan, R Roche, K Purcell.
Louth: U Pearson; C O’Reilly, E Hand, A Whyte; L Byrne, A Breen (capt.), C Nolan; A Halligan, C McDonald; M Duffy, E Byrne, A Russell; R O’Connor Leonard, N Rice, R Maguire.
Longford v Limerick; Glennon Brothers Pearse Park
Longford missed out on a Leinster Junior final slot after losing to Louth in the group stages but they did achieve wins against Kilkenny and Carlow earlier in the campaign.
Having suffered relegation from the Intermediate championship last year, the Midlanders will target an immediate return to the second tier but Group B promises to be extremely competitive.
Limerick were beaten All-Ireland Junior Finalists last year and will want to get back to Croke Park – and the Shannonsiders were boosted earlier this month by victory over Cork in the Munster B decider, while they also gained promotion from Division 4 of the Lidl NFL.
Longford: R McGrath; O Nevin, E O’Brien, G Kenny; L Shannon, C Mulligan, C McCormack (capt.); S Gallagher, E Farrell; J Whyte, K Burke, N Brady; K McKeon, G Shannon, A Hayden.
Limerick: S Hennessy; J McGuire, Y Lee, R Browne; G Lee, L Coughlan, G Mullane; R Ambrose (capt.), M MacNamara; K O’Leary, D Murphy, C Mee; E Woulfe, I Kennelly, C McGrath.
