As the second part of the season gets under starters orders this weekend, the race for promotion and to avoid relegation heats up, plenty of interesting clashes this weekend notably UCC and Garryowen who played out a cracking stalemate before the Christmas break.
Buccaneers v Blackrock College, Saturday January 13th, Dubarry Park, 2:30pm
Will 2024 prove a more fruitful year for Buccaneers as they look to avoid relegation, another win over Blackrock would go a long way to securing their future.
The Pirates were 26-19 winners in round nine and will be confident they can get a result on home soil this weekend. Just a second win in five games for the Athlone men and it may just be the turning point they needed to start climbing the table. Stuck on the foot of the table, momentum will be key for them going into this second part of the campaign.
Blackrock will want to make up for that defeat a few short weeks ago and keep very much on track for another shot at promotion. Since moving up to 1B at the start of the season Blackrock have won four of their nine games thus far, taking five defeats in the process, tied with Highfield in fourth spot, they do not have much of a gap to the chasing pack and will want to take points this weekend to avoid dropping out of the top four.
Highfield v Naas, Saturday January 13th, Woodleigh Park, 2:30pm
Narrowly winning their tie with Naas a short time ago, will Highfield take the points once again or can Naas stop them in their tracks.
It took fighting until the very end for Highfield to snatch a win away from home last time out, having had a varied run of results in their last five outings, Highfield will now want to nail down a solid winning streak to keep on course for a shot at the play-off places. Certainly capable of that but this is such a competitive Division that every point is vital to how the table will look come early April.
Naas had been motoring well until the defeat last time out and will be out for the points to get them into the top four places. A side who have certainly been impressive this year and will want to make further strides at fighting at the top half of the table. Naas are so close they can almost smell fourth place or even higher in the table, victory here and they have achieved that and can build on in the coming weeks.
Old Belvedere v Old Wesley, Saturday January 13th, Ollie Campbell Park, 2:30pm
A battle of the Dublin heavyweights at Ollie Campbell Park, Old Belvedere looking to further their hold on second spot.
Belvo narrowly got over the line in a low scoring 10-9 win over Wesley last time out, enough to keep them on a winning run and build a gap to lock down second spot in the standings. The Ollie Campbell faithful will have their home support to give them an extra loft however performing well on the field they will have confidence ahead of this contest.
Wesley sat in eight spot need a result here in hopes of making the gap greater between them and the relegation places. Prior to that one point defeat Wesley had done well with armstrong results clawing them out of the drop zone, now they need a strong of results to keep them on track to survive this year and with six points separating them from the play-off spots, they have the chance at a strong finish.
St Mary’s College v Queens University, Saturday January 13th, Templeville Road, 2:30pm
Leaders St Mary’s start 2024 hopeful they can continue to set the pace and claim the 1B title in the latter stages of the year.
Mary’s have set the division alight this year and will look to continue that for the remaining nine games of the season. The Dubliners had a tough game when they headed to Belfast in their last outing winning 22-17, showing their class and experience to get them over the line. It could well be the same story in this repeat in Templeville Road, Mary’s will be favoured to take the result.
Queens are looking to escape the relegation places and after the defeat last time out they need to find their feet once again. The Ulster men have lost their last six games in a row and desperately need to end that losing streak if they are to remain in 1B next season. While they still are a quality team and bring a lot to the table, it just has not clocked for them to get that result despite some narrowly close games.
UCC v Garryowen, Saturday January 13th, The Mardyke, 2:30pm
A Munster derby day on the banks of the river Lee as UCC and Garryowen could well play out another classic encounter.
UCC struck late on in their December meeting with Garryowen and came within a post’s width of winning that day, in the end it was a 35-35 stalemate and now they go again in search of retaining their spot in the top four. Relegation has not been something on their mind and despite being seventh they have a seven point gap between them and ninth spot, just three points separates them from fourth. With many other teams inside the top four facing tricky tests, can they defeat their Limerick foes and move further up the standings.
Garryowen will also be thinking of jumping up the table and make it back into 1A via the play-offs, the competitive nature of the Division has five teams separated by a couple of points all fighting it out for two coveted places in the top four. The Dooradoyle men are three games unbeaten after that draw and will bring confidence with them down to Cork hopeful they can take the points and a winner be named in this meeting.
More Info on Division 1B here.
Diarmuid Kearney
Diarmuid Kearney is a freelance Sports Journalist based in Co Kerry. He has more than 5 years experience covering domestic and international soccer for different media organisations, while also working for local and national print and digital organisations covering GAA.