PREVIEW: Kildare champs Sallins hoping to stop Kilbride's fairytale in its tracks

After a comprehensive romp through the opening round of the Leinster Intermediate Club Championship, Kildare champions Sallins are likely to face the much stiffer challenge of Meath champions Kilbride when the sides meet on Saturday, November 15. The game is set for Páirc Tailteann, Navan in likely the venues final before closure and throw-in is scheduled for 1:30pm.

Sallins emerged as 5-21 to 0-7 winners against Carlow champions Grange in a fixture that in truth was like an Intermediate side playing a Junior one, such was the chasm in quality. That being said, it was a great settler for Sallins to begin their Leinster campaign with tougher competition on the horizon. 

Their quarter-final opponents Kilbride are one of the stories of the year in GAA, a five-time Senior Championship winning team in Meath in the 60s and 70s, who fell to just six years ago losing a Junior ‘B’ Final. Fast-forwarding to 2023, they took their county Junior title (and were later eliminated from Leinster by Kildare’s Milltown) before this year’s astounding success. Former Meath player Anthony Moyles is now at the helm as they face Sallins after winning their first Meath IFC title since 1962.

Kilbride also came through their provincial opener in impressive style with a 2-19 to 2-8 win over Ardagh Mydow in Pearse Park. The Meath men didn’t have it all their own way and went in at half-time level with the Longford champions at 1-6 to 2-3, but after the change of ends they had a strong wind at their backs and made far better use of it than their Round 1 opponents.

The Meath champs were well tested in their own county and emerged victorious in what by all accounts was an exceptional county final with Castletown with an 0-20 to 1-16 win. Conor McWeeney, who grabbed two goals against Ardagh Mydow, and David O'Leary, a talismanic  scorer with 0-16 registered between their county final and Leinster opener, will be among the ones to watch for the Meath side.

This should be a brilliant game of football between Sallins, who have come powering out of Kildare, and Kilbride who are one of the sports fairytale stories of the last few years. For all the narrative and beauty in the Kilbride build-up, I think this may be a bridge too far against this mightily impressive Sallins outfit.

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