By Niall Gartland

CARDONAGH will be hoping to avenge their narrow defeat in last year’s Junior Championship final in Donegal.

They lost by only two points to Letterkenny Gaels in a frenetic contest and they certainly have the ability to go one step further this time around. They have some really good players in their ranks, none more so than forward Conor O’Donnelll, and perhaps their biggest contenders for the junior crown this time around are Rossa, who reached the Division Three final.

Rossa lost that particular game to St Naul’s, a Senior Championship team in Donegal, but there were only three points between the teams at the final whistle so they’ll really fancy their chances of an elongated championship run. Rossa players to look out for include forward Aidan McHugh, who chipped in with four points in the league final.

Other teams to watch out for include St Mary’s, Convoy, who were relegated from intermediate last year, Naomh Colmcille have a strong record in the competition, last coming out on top of the pile back in 2017.

It’ll be a long enough trek to the final for whoever makes it to the final two. The action gets underway with round one of the group stages this weekend, and once the group stages are done and dusted, the quarters are playing on the weekend of September 2324 with the semis a week later. The final will take place on October 14 so it almost takes two whole months to run off the competition.