Inside Track: Repeat of league form would see Mitchel’s go close

There’ll be lots of attention focused on John Mitchel’s when the junior championship takes off this weekend. Westerns will also come in for attention.

Mitchel’s were always to the fore in the league, wrapping up the title long before the final series of matches.

READ NEXT: Dundalk target experienced left-back to replace Keogh

If they have the same to offer in the championship, then the Johnny Carter-coached side must have a great chance of eradicating all the disappointments they’ve had in recent years.

There might have been more merit to Mitchel’s defeat to Wolfe Tones in last year’s final than first thought.

The winners had been operating in one of the league’s lower divisions, but since moving up a grade, they have more than held their own, taking second spot behind Mitchel’s in the league.

As Louth teams blazed a trail in recent months, it was said more than once how strong Westerns would be if they had on call the number of county players who had worn their jersey at one stage or another.

Tommy Durnin, Jack Martin, and the Maguire brothers, James and Tom, all learnt the game’s rudiments in Reaghstown. Together, they’d give Westerns a real chance of winning the Christy Bellew Cup.

But as is known by now, Durnin is to play with St Mary’s, having transferred back to the county from Inniskeen Grattans, while the eldest of the Maguires, James, has taken the reverse cross-border trip, recently signing up with Carrickmacross Emmets.

No-one would begrudge Westerns a good run in the championship, though, given their recent league form, it’s hard to see them being involved at the business end.

O’Connell’s will be buoyed by their recent McGahon Cup triumph, Naomh Finbarra can be expected to be thereabouts, and Glyde Rangers and Lannleire always come into the reckoning.

First matches are scheduled for this weekend, and as is the case in senior and intermediate, there’s a league format to get things going, with the top two in each of four groups contesting the quarter-finals.