WE enter into the semi-final stages of the Ulster Club Championship this weekend with two very interesting contests to look forward to.

First up on Saturday, a hotly fancied Kilcoo take on Fermanagh champions Erne Gaels with a spot in next month’s final up for grabs.

Without being disrespectful to the Fermanagh champions, I think that everyone will agree with the fact that it will be a big ask for Erne Gaels to turn the Down champions over.

Leaving their natural footballing ability aside, there are a number of reasons why this Kilcoo team are so hard to beat.

Unlike the majority of clubs, they actually plan to be at this stage of the competition year on year. Their experience is invaluable and once they get to this now, their season only really begins. They would have trained the minds to deal with that they already, giving them an edge on a lot of club teams who make it through.

Once you win a county title, the body can be drained and especially the mind because you have gone through so much to get there.

Once the Ulster campaign swings around, sometimes it can be difficult to maintain those high standards but Kilcoo have this perfected to a tee. They have been doing this year after year so it is now just second nature to them.

They are experts at taking one game at a time, but, as I mentioned over the last number of weeks, there is no doubt that they will be taking a look across the rest of the country.

They will realise that there is a massive opportunity here for whoever can come out of Ulster. With this in mind I expect Kilcoo to get the job done this weekend.

I will travel to Healy Park on Sunday afternoon to cover the other semi-final between Scotstown and Newbridge for TG4.

This game is so much harder to call for a number of reasons. Obviously in order to win their own county title, they must have serious quality within their squads.

Coupled with this, on both sides, they now have experience at this level. Scotstown have been here on a number of occasions and they will carry some pain from the defeats suffered in this competition. That in itself should help them a lot this weekend.

Last year these Newbridge players tasted Ulster Club action for the very first time and having gained that experience it will definitely stand to them as they head into this weekend’s clash.

In preparation for Sunday’s game, I have looked at how Scotstown play and I have to say that I was really impressed with their approach against the Donegal champions in their last game.

They played the perfect mix of football. It was varied. They ran the ball hard when they needed to do so but they also moved the ball quickly with the foot pass into to Jack McCarron.

By mixing both styles they simply tore Naomh Conaill apart and that will be a worry for this Newbridge team.

Newbridge themselves have serious pace and power but I’m sure they will have looked at how Scotstown swallowed up the Glenties men in attack when they tried to run the ball. We may see something different from Newbridge this time out.

I think the second game will be a lot harder to predict but here goes. I just think that Scotstown are on a mission this season. For me, we will get the final that everyone expects us to see, which is Kilcoo against Scotstown.