Senior Two race intensifies

Just to clarify what’s at stake this season, the team finishing top of the heap will go into a one-off showdown with the side finishing third from bottom in Senior One for a place in next season’s 8-team Premier League.

At the other end, The Nedd’s withdrawal from the senior ranks means just one club will be relegated to make way for the two teams dropping down from the league above.

Eglinton currently lead the table with maximum points from their six matches to date but the pre-season favourites are being kept honest by St Johnston who have won five from five.

The sides were due to meet in Donegal on Sunday but that one fell victim to the total weekend washout and could now be a very interesting T20 shoot-out over the next week or so. Burndennett had a really poor season in 2011 finishing bottom of the table with just a couple of wins but Mark Doherty’s men have been much more like themselves this time and currently share third place with Drummond.

Gordon Cooke’s side has threatened on occasion to get themselves into the title picture but three defeats on the bounce, albeit all of them against the leading pair has de-railed their challenge for now.

The Roe Valley side are co-incidentally scheduled to be playing at Burndennett in a three-night game starting last night (Tuesday) and although it is difficult to see either closing a six point gap with the top two, there will be no shortage of motivation for either with third place up for grabs.

The weekend games are spread over two days with Eglinton hosting Ardmore and Drummond at home to Killyclooney on Saturday, while Burndennett take on St Johnston on Sunday.

Karl O’Doherty’s table toppers will obviously start favourites against the Bleachgreen boys given their respective placings but they will be well aware of the threat of Adrian Murphy in particular.

Ardmore’s season has been staggeringly modest by their standards and a team thought by many to be genuine title challengers only has a win over the other two sides in the bottom three to their credit thus far.

Skipper Lee Brolly has been adamant from the outset that his side has no current ambition to ply their trade in the elite eight but even so you suspect that they have one or two big performances in them yet and Eglinton will need to be on their mettle.

Drummond have the chance to get their season back on track after a spate of league and cup defeats when they follow up this week’s appointment at Burndennett with a home game against Killyclooney. Gordon Cooke is expected back from holiday this week and they certainly need him to help stop the rot. Mind you they are crossing swords with a side that now looks odds-on for the drop after Sion Mills inflicted a seventh straight league defeat on Richard McMorris’ side last time out.

The fact that Sion posted nearly 350 is symptomatic of Killyclooney’s season so far, Drummond actually went over the 400-barrier in the reverse fixture earlier in the season as Killyclooney’s bowling woes show no signs of abating.

It is going to take something very special to lift ’Clooney away from bottom place even at this stage especially with Ardmore above them likely to win again before stumps are pulled.

Burndennett are back in action again on Sunday but not as scheduled in the fixture book. They were down to play Sion Mills this weekend however due to the Intermediate Cup Final being played at Burndennett this season the clubs agreed to pull the Sion game forward.

That match was supposed to happen on Sunday past but the weather intervened and forced an abandonment and will now go to a T20 replay, the date to be arranged.

Burndennett will instead now host the Saints in a match put back from the start of the month to accommodate the Donegal side’s involvement in the Senior Cup.

Similar to Eglinton’s situation the visitors will be favourites to claim the points here as well but just like the leaders, David MacBeth’s side can expect to be given a rigorous test by a much different Burndennett team.

Realistically both the league’s unbeaten clubs will be hoping to come through the weekend with their records intact but it would be no surprise at all if this was the week in which one of them gained the upper hand.