After a bruising regular season of action, Bruff, Enniscorthy and Galwegians will look to make further steps for promotion to 2B this weekend while Dolphin are hoping to remain in 2B next season.
Dolphin v Enniscorthy, Saturday April 18th, Virgin Media Park, 2:30pm
Dolphin have it all to play for if they are to avoid another relegation, will home advantage play to their advantage as Enniscorthy look to jump right back up to 2B.
The Leesiders did well at the latter stages of the season to avoid the automatic drop but now have at the minimum two games to keep them up but they have to win this tie first. Dolphin won just five games this season, the last was on the final day and may give them that momentum this weekend.
Enniscorthy slipped up on the final day and now face a trip to Cork instead of Galway having finished fourth. Scorthy were a strong contender all year in 2C and will aim to push for a promotion final this weekend. The Wexford side are free scoring and will bring a huge threat with them travelling down to Cork.
Galwegians v Bruff, Saturday April 18th, Crowley Park, 2:30pm
It is not quite 12 months to the date that these two last played in the promotion/relegation play-off but once again Bruff travel to Galway looking to move up a Division.
Bruff fell short last season in the play-off final having toppled Galwegians 24-12 in the same stage last year which sent Wegians down to 2C this season. Since then these two have played two incredible fixtures, a 26-26 draw in Crowley Park and a 32-30 last minute win for Bruff. This will be another cracking instalment.
Galwegians finished second having fought Clogher Valley all season for the title they eventually finished five adrift. But that said they are hungry for further success and do want to be back in 2B next season. The Treaty men have proved to be a worthy opponent this season, can they finally get that win on the fourth occasion in 12 months.
Bruff ravaged by injuries finished third on the final day with a hard earned win over Clonmel. Certainly they struggled at times to ensure they would finish in the play-offs due to being run thin for numbers but they showed what they are capable of and will have a degree of confidence coming into this tie. They did it last year, can they repeat that showing this Saturday afternoon.
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.