Saturday’s double header in the Athletic Grounds concludes with the intriguing tie of Belleek taking on Tullysaran.
Garreth Thornton’s Belleek side made it through to the quarter finals when they eventually saw off Forkhill last weekend.
Their victory, after a replay, proved to be their first ever at Intermediate level. With that, they’ll bring a huge amount of confidence with them.
They may not have reached the heights they aspired to in terms of performance, but they scored two goals which was enough to get them over the line.
Scoring Threats
Mark McParland’s positioning at full forward as been a bright spark of their championship campaign so far.
He scored 2-4 across both games against Forkhill while talisman Sean McCreesh hit a combined 0-17.
Their the two main attacking threats Tullysaran will have most concern with, while they’ll also be mindful of Drew McVerry.
The speed at which Belleek can break from the back through the Boyle brothers Gary and Sean Og, is another string to their bow.
The last day out they demonstrated their strong defensive structure. They conceded no goals and 0-9 from open play.
That backline will be severely tested on Saturday. They come up against the scoring exploits of Eddie Mallon, Gavin Conlon and Mark McKeever.
Sean Finnegan is Belleek’s best man-marker and he’ll shadow Mallon. But who picks up the other two won’t be known until the day.
Eoghan Daly will be another Tullysaran player that needs watched, as will James Madden who will burst forward from the half back line.
Tullysaran, under John Devine and Davy Harte, didn’t get it all their own way against Cross IIs in the opening round.
They eventually pulled away after the turnaround, when they trailed by two, and ended up winning by nine.
They’re one of the teams to beat and have made the semi-finals in the last two seasons and should have enough to book their spot once again.
