By Michael McMullan

BALLINASCREEN have won both championship games to date but now face their toughest game of the season.

That’s the take of joint-manager Brendan Herron as they prepare for Sunday’s visit to Banagher knowing a win will clinch top spot and a semi-final berth. After their win over Eoghan Rua, Ballinascreen hit Swatragh in the last game with three Reece McSorley goals.

The final round of group games take place on Sunday with Ballinascreen’s fate in their own hands.

Lose and a complicated score difference equation comes into play.

Should Ballinascreen fail to make the semi-finals, they will compete in the Derry Junior Championship but, as current Ulster Junior champions, cannot advance in the provincial series.

“The management and the players have no appetite to be going through another Derry Junior campaign,” said Herron, who manages the team alongside Gabriel O’Kane.

“If we were to win over Banagher, we’d sitting in a county (senior) semi-final, we’d be too of the group and really improved from your position last year.”

That’s the fine line and Ballinascreen can take confidence from the result against Swatragh.

By his own admission, Herron said his side came into the championship after a poor run of league form, including a rare defeat at the hands of Na Magha.

“The win over Swatragh, on one hand it was a great win built on the intensity, hunger, aggression and physicality,” he said, pointing to stats making for grim reading.

“Our shots to score ratio was poor, our scores from play rate was poor, three of our forward line that didn’t score from play.

“It really gave the boys a lot of confidence, but on the other hand, when you look at the actual stats and the facts from the game, it was poor. Swatragh probably had poor stats as well.”

Six Ballinascreen wides zapped the belief in the third quarter as they tailed by two points. It took three points from Ciaran McBride to pull them back. Then, when Swatragh hit a late goal, two goals from McSorley shot ‘Screen to victory.

Looking into this weekend, Herron looks at Banagher coming down the tracks, after getting to last season’s senior final.

“From my point of view, it’s going to be probably our toughest game of the year so far,” he said.

“You’re playing the team that were the second best team in the county behind Sleacht Néill and you’re going to play them away from home in their own backyard.

“We’re going to be underdogs probably again, just like we were against Swatragh.

“The boys and the management are under no illusions how tough the game’s going to be, because there’s massive high-stakes game.

“If you get beat, you could be playing junior hurling.

“If you’re trying to build a bit of momentum and trying to bring the team forward, you don’t want to be playing junior hurling two years in a row.”