Doneraile will challenge strongly for Barton Shield
THE 2009 men's season gets well and truly under way this coming weekend at Ballybunion's Cashen course where 13 clubs will battle it out in the Barton Shield.
The action begins on Saturday at 8am when Mallow play Killarney in the opening match. Ceann Sibeal and Dooks do battle in the second match with Doneraile and Bantry Bay clashing in the third.
In the second all-Cork clash of the opening round Kanturk play Glengarriff and Waterville take on Ring of Kerry in the South Kerry derby at the bottom of the draw.
Mallow are no longer the force they once were since David Finn and Tim O'Mahony defected to Doneraile so Killarney to win the first match. Ceann Sibeal have caused a few surprises in recent years at this level but as Dooks had their exchange day on the Cashen course last weekend I'll opt for them purely for that reason only.
Doneraile won out this section last year at Dooks and will be there or thereabouts again this time around so Bantry Bay to fall at the first hurdle. Kanturk should be too good for Glengarriff and the South Kerry derby is anyone's guess but I'll go for Waterville.
Tralee, Newcastlewest and Ballybunion all have byes and if my predictions are correct the afternoon line up should be Killarney against Dooks, Doneraile against Newcastlewest, Kanturk against Tralee and Ballybunion against Waterville.
I might as well go all the way now and predict the rest of it so for me Killarney to play Doneraile and Ballybunion to play Tralee in Sunday morning's semi-final with the likelihood of a Doneraile versus Ballybunion final in the afternoon. Mind you neither side will have it easy in the semis and there is also the possibility of a Tralee versus Killarney final but that is more a possibility than a probability.
Ballybunion will be all fired up to win on home turf and with the likes of Peter Sheehan, David O'Driscoll, Eoin O'Connor and John D. Guiney they must be in with a great chance but Doneraile will be tough opponents so it could be tight. However, I'll opt for a home win and we can deal with the repercussions if I'm wrong.
- Ger Walsh
