Who can get over the line and finally end a couple of years of hurt? Both St Paul’s and Shane O’Neill’s have been on the end of heart-breaking final defeats in recent years, although in much different circumstances.
In 2019, the Camlough men had one hand on the Atty Hearty Cup as they led by one point against Grange in the dying moments.
But two late points from the eventually winners dashed Shane O’Neill’s dreams.
For St Paul’s, they were last here in 2020 and it was a forgettable day. They faced a fancied Clan na Gael side in the showpiece and Clans dominated the game from start to finish.
Shane O’Neill’s carry the favourites tag into this one but that’s nothing new for Patrick Gregory’s men.
They’ve held it throughout the duration of the campaign and handled it brilliantly.
They eased past Whitecross in the opening round and didn’t have to hit top gear to defeat St Peter’s.
But Culloville asked serious questions the last day out and the Shane’s passed that test with flying colours.
Quality
The three county men of Greg McCabe, Connaire and Ciaran Mackin are obvious big game players, but the quality doesn’t stop there.
Up front, Paul O’Rourke dazzled the Culloville defence and recorded an incredible personal tally of 2-6.
Youngster Ruairi O’Brien has burst on to the scene and is a real threat up top.
He’s accumulated 2-11 in three games while Aodhan Conlon is a fantastic playmaker in the half forward line.
St Paul’s will be well aware of the talent they face but will have huge belief in their own ability.
That is something driven into them by manager and club legend Shane McConville.
McConville was on the line the last time the Lurgan lads captured the championship crown back in 2014. He’ll hope to inspire his team to victory once again.
In Andrew Murnin they have a brilliant target man and St Paul’s will aim to keep him as close to goal for as long as possible.
Nobody has more individual scores than St Paul’s, so they offer a scoring threat from all angles.
Eoin McConville was in top form in their semi-final win over Tullysaran and chipped in with some outstanding scores.
Niall McParland, captain Niall McCorry and Peadar Nash are others that Shane’s will be keeping an eye on.
It feels like this season belongs to Shane O’Neill’s. They’ve already got the league title wrapped up and should round off their promotion to senior football with championship gold.
