PREVIEW: Can the favourites be toppled in the Kildare IFC Semi-Finals?

The 2025 National Electrical Wholesalers Kildare Intermediate Football Championship has arrived at the final four stage with Sallins, Milltown, St Laurence’s, and Two Mile House left in the mix.

Milltown vs Sallins
First on the docket is Milltown v Sallins on Friday, October 3 in a potentially incredibly exciting encounter. Milltown are yet to be in a boring match in this year’s Championship and their blend of swashbuckling attacking often comes at the expense of conceding a decent amount of scores too.

Championship favourites Sallins eventually pulled clear of Suncroft after a surprisingly tight first half in which Sallins showed some of the knockout football nerves that have put them out in previous seasons. They did however kick on and leave with a comprehensive 2-19 to 0-9 win but such a lacklustre opening will likely see them suffer a lot more against a better team and a more potent attack like the one in which Milltown possess.

Milltown, despite a win by the narrowest of margins, also had to produce a second half surge to progress past Leixlip. However, instead of pulling clear in a tight game like Sallins, Milltown had to mount a huge comeback after trailing by nine points seven minutes into the second half of proceedings.

Late goals from Paddy Donoghue and Ronan O’Shea set up the dramatic finale where a breach of the 3v3 rule dictated things with Alan Dignam popping over after infringement. Leixlip were incensed at the decision while Milltown got their revenge after getting one over on the opponents that sent them out in the Semi-Final stage in 2024.

The quality of these two sides being much closer may in fact suit Sallins, with their forecasted win over surprise Quarter-Finalists Suncroft being tricky to navigate with the weight of expectation on their shoulders. That feeling won’t have subsided just yet with most still assessing that they are the team to beat in this year’s IFC, but Milltown present the toughest challenge that the favourites have faced yet.

Sallins’ James Dalton remains the top-scorer from play in this year’s Championship with 5-19 to his name, with green flags doing the heavy lifting in a mightily impressive tally. Colm Dalton and Cian Grimes have amassed considerable scores too and the variety of Sallins’ options in attack has yet to be contained in this Championship so far. They are putting an average of 25 points on the board across their four games.

However, Sallins’ defensive output deserves huge credit too with their softer section seemingly having hardened up in the last couple of years. Sallins are yet to concede more than 0-10 in a Championship game proper this year and have not yet conceded a goal, with their lowest scoring tally being a still fairly positive 0-20 against Round Towers. It is the simplest recipe for success you can think of, scoring plenty and giving up very little.

Milltown on the other hand have conceded 18 points on average across their four games so far, but are well able to put an impressive tally on the board too. They are an unpredictable and dangerous force for any team and exactly the sort of nightmare task for any fancied side.

Despite the obvious dangers, Sallins will likely have too much for the 2023 Leinster Junior Champions. Both have a brilliant variety of scoring options with Paddy Donohue, Ben Curran and Alan Dignam all well able to contribute from the front for Milltown. The difference from this game may come at the back and defensive differential highlighted above.

Sallins’ glamorous attacking this year has been propped up by sharp organisation and a command of possession. In the face of their toughest challenge in the final four, this writer is picking them to pass a stiff Milltown test.

Prediction: Sallins

St Laurence’s vs Two Mile House
Last year’s relegated side from the SFC, St Laurence’s, have got themselves back to within two wins of the big time but they must first tackle the surprise package of this year’s IFC, Two Mile House. These teams face off on Saturday October 4 at 2pm in Manguard Park, Hawkfield.

There is an easy place to start in this analysis, with these sides’ first meeting in this year’s IFC in Round One of the group stages. St Laurence’s emerged as 1-19 to 0-14 victors on the day as they bounced back from their surprising Preliminary Round defeat to Ellistown.

That being said, Larries haven’t been overly impressive and, like their semi-final opponents, have lost a Championship proper game, coming up short to a Kilcullen side that Two Mile House made light work of with a 1-16 to 0-8 win. Nevertheless they are getting the job done so far. Conversely, Two Mile House have vastly improved since that opening day and, whether the result is the same or not, the dynamics and unfolding of this fixture will be very different this time around with Semi-Final pressures and a seemingly buoyant underdog outfit.

Larries beat Castledermot last time out and needed extra-time to do so with Larries struggling to score from open play in this game. TJ Nolan and Felix Lawlor set-pieces did much of the heavy lifting on the scoreboard as they got over the line against a patchy at best Castledermot outfit. Larries’ lack of standout showings in this Championship will be viewed in one of two ways depending on their result in this Semi-Final. If they exit, the chatter goes that ‘this was always coming’ given their meagre showings and if they win unremarkably ‘they are still getting the job done’.

The reality is that they are a hard team to pin down in terms of quality, their presence in a losers group perhaps lightened their load in group stage action but they were still met with stiff challenges in Group C.

One in the positive column is that they are averaging just shy of 20 points (19.75) a game in the Championship proper. That gives them a slight edge over Two Mile House with their opponents popping over an average of 17.6 across their five games and conceding an average 14 points a game, slightly less than Larries’ 14.5 points concession average. Key to success for both sides in this game will be discipline with each outfit bringing in major returns from their set-piece activity.

Two Mile House reached this stage with a commanding win over perennial dark horses Rathangan, who topped a tricky Group A. It was all about goalkeeper Didier Cordonnier in their Quarter-Final win, who knocked over 0-13, including five two-point frees, of their 0-20 tally. The House conceded just 1-10 against a previous electric Rathangan attack whose lowest Championship score prior to their meeting was 2-16. A result which came directly after reducing Round Towers to 0-10.

Neither of these sides have a singular outstanding scoring outlet but this writer’s instincts say that Cordonnier will need to be in fine sharpshooting form once again if The House are to reach the final with their attacking output. Likewise at the other end, TJ Nolan will be Larries’ best foot forward and him showing up in this final four clash will be a huge part of their success or failure.

Perhaps a redundant assertion, but a game of this magnitude could come down to who can hold their nerve in the big moments

This game is tougher to call with no certainty surrounding either side’s Championship credentials, but Larries should have enough to progress past The House in this one, having done so already this year.

Prediction: St Laurence’s

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