All to play for, as club football championships begin in Tipperary
Games will be played in senior, intermediate and premier junior football championships
Clonmel Commercials will be looking to continue their domination of the FBD County Senior Football Championship, which gets underway this weekend.
With 22 titles to their name, the Clonmel team are the most successful in the county at the senior grade. They’ve won eight championships in the last 14 years and proved too strong for Kilsheelan/Kilcash in last year’s decider.
Tommy Morrissey’s team had a close call against Grangemockler/Ballyneale in the South Senior Football Championship final in Kilsheelan last month, when they needed extra-time to secure a one-goal victory.
They did so without several players, including James Morris, Peter McGarry, Cian Smith, Rory O’Dowd and Oisín Forristal, who were all unavailable. They’ll be hoping that the return of that quintet will bolster their championship challenge in the coming months.
Commercials begin their campaign against old rivals Ardfinnan in Cahir at 2pm on Sunday.
Moyle Rovers will be expected to launch a strong bid to win their ninth title, and a first since 2018.
The confidence of the Powerstown/Lisronagh team received a timely boost following their 4-15 to 1-19 win over Golden/Kilfeacle in the County Football League Division One final at the beginning of June.
Their key men on that occasion were Richard Power, Brian McKeown, Rory Collins, Riain Quigley and Dean English.
Rovers make their debut appearance in this year’s championship when they take on another of the title favourites, Loughmore/Castleiney, in a crunch opening round tie at Boherlahan at 7.30 on Friday evening.
Loughmore are also the defending county senior hurling champions, although they suffered a setback when they were defeated by Moycarkey/Borris last weekend. However, raiding on two fronts has never been much of a hindrance to the McGraths and company, as their remarkable record of winning county senior doubles in 2013, 2021 and 2024 has shown.
Last year’s defeated finalists Kilsheelan/Kilcash will face JK Brackens in Gortnahoe at 7pm on Saturday evening.
Grangemockler/Ballyneale’s early season form was very encouraging. Not only did they come within 30 seconds of pulling off a shock victory in the south final, they also won the County Football League Division 2 final, withstanding a late revival from Moyne/Templetuohy.
They have a host of talented players, including Mark O’Meara, Manus McFadden, Paudie O'Shea, Sean Daly, Ben Comerford and Thomas Regan (who was man of the match in the south decider), and will be looking to continue their progress in the county championship.
They get their campaign underway against Upperchurch/Drombane in Cashel at 3.30 on Sunday.
This year’s championship has the novel inclusion of Thurles Sarsfields, who are appearing at this level for the first time in almost 70 years. In their first outing they are up against Ballyporeen in Dundrum at 7.30 on Friday evening.
In the other tie, Aherlow play Ballina in Drombane at 7.30 on Friday evening.
There’s also a full programme of games in the Intermediate and Premier Junior Football Championships this weekend.