AIL Preview: Division 2B Promotion/Relegation Play-Off Semi-Finals

We enter the business end of the AIL season, 18 rounds come to this as Bruff, Skerries and Tullamore all fight for promotion, as Galwegians look to win consecutive relegation play-offs.

Galwegians v Bruff, Sat April 22nd, Crowley Park, 2:30pm

Galwegians could be over 80 minutes away from saying goodbye to life in 2B, as they face a Bruff side who fought hard to make it to this stage.

Wegians earned the spot to fight for their safety after a strong home win over Dungannon last weekend, just their fourth win of the year but some of the most important points they scored, as Enniscorthy lost a bonus point proved enough but they grafted well to trump Dungannon, with two wins in their last five, this is the biggest fish of all, a game they need to win.

Bruff looked like they would miss out on promotion as the results just were not coming, but on the final day, a big win in Omagh along with Midleton shocking Clonmel, has seen them now have a chance at moving up the divisions, last weekend is one thing but now they need to show up, a real dog fight against Accies, they had to fight until the end to secure the points, they had lost their previous two fixtures before that encounter, both to sides also in these semi finals, just their second win in five is that late form going to be the difference as they head to Galway.

Skerries v Tullamore, Sat April 22nd, Holmpatrick, 2:30pm

The two heavyweights meet at Holmpatrick, as the two sides who fought tooth and nail all season to finish second, fight once more to get one step closer to promotion.

Skerries edged Tullamore on the final day, as Instonians proved a test for both in the final weeks, but Skerries with one extra win had enough in the tank, a stern test however from Ballina on the final day could have caused some jitters, but in the end they showed their quality and after last season, they will know the pain that will come once the final whistle sounds Saturday afternoon, they have the talent and will feel like favourites to win this tie.

Tullamore had their  second loss in their last five rounds of fixtures at the weekend, as the men from Belfast, Instonians just proved too strong, to follow them to 2B however, Tullamore need to shake off that 39 point loss at the weekend and focus on what’s at stake, Tullamore toppled Skerries 18-16 earlier in the season when they met at Spollanstown, while Skerries won 14-6 in the reverse tie in January, it is tough to call this tie.

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.

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