Massive weekend ahead for Limerick District League sides

For the junior soccer enthusiast, there will be plenty of entertaining games taking place involving Limerick sides this weekend to keep you interested.

Pike Rovers and Geraldines are in Munster Junior Cup semi-final action while Janesboro face Fairview in the Lawson Cup semi-final on Sunday morning. Also, depending on the outcome of Regional’s appeal to the Court of Arbitration, there could be an all Limerick semi-final in the FAI Junior Cup.

Regardless, Aisling Annacotty will be facing either Regional or Sheriff this weekend in the semi-final. Before all of that, Ballynanty will be looking to bounce back from their league defeat to Fairview last week when they travel to Regional for a league game tonight. Also, Aisling host Fairview in Annacotty.

Firstly, the 1A O’Halloran Cup final will take place tomorrow evening at Jackman Park with Moyross facing promotion hopefuls and league leaders Mungret Regional. With just seven points separating the two sides in the league, a tight contest will be expected.

Pike Rovers will be aiming to win the Munster Junior Cup for a third year in a row when they face Clare outfit Newmarket Celtic on Saturday. The time for the clash at Crosagalla has yet to be confirmed.

Pike defeated Carrick United in the quarter final while Newmarket beat Regional in Dooradoyle. Both sides also met in last years FAI Junior Cup with Pike emerging as 3-2 winners.

The Limerick public will be hoping for an all Limerick final as Geraldines host high flying St. Michaels at the Markets Field on Sunday (2pm). The Garryowen club were delighted to secure the local stadium for the tie, being just a few yards from the clubhouse.

Geraldines and Michaels met in the 2014 final at Jackman Park and the Tipperary side earned victory thanks to a solitary Jimmy Carr strike.

Five years on and Michaels are again battling on all three fronts including their own domestic league and will contest an FAI Junior Cup final at the Avivia Stadium.

It will be an extremely tough task for Derek Hannon’s Geraldines sides to overcome their rivals. The likes of Bobby Tier and Christy O’Neill are still present from the side who lost the final and will be key to any chance the Dines have of progression.

Michaels have former Limerick District League duo John Connery and Olly O’Driscoll among their ranks.

League leaders Janesboro will be hoping to reach another final to go with the Oscar Traynor Trophy final when they entertain Fairview Rangers at Pearse Stadium on Sunday morning (10.30).

‘Boro will be slight favourites for the game but will face stiff opposition. Fairview were very impressive against title chasing Ballynanty Rovers last week in a 1-0 victory. Jason Purcell’s men are extremely composed on the ball and play a good brand of football.

Coupled with the fact that they have experience with the likes of Barry Ryan and Jeffrey Judge among their ranks, one may wonder why the Fairgreen outfit did not challenge for domestic or national honours other than the Lawson Cup.

Ross Mann and Robbie Kelleher will be a handful for the Fairview defence while it was also very encouraging to see recent Limerick Oscar Traynor Youths winner Scott Kirwan start the game against Ballynanty at right-back.

Arguably, the biggest talking point is the FAI Junior Cup saga which see’s Regional take their appeal against their expulsion from this year’s competition to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

If Regional are to win the appeal, they will face Aisling Annacotty at Jackman Park on Saturday evening (7pm) in all Limerick semi-final. If the appeal is unsuccessful, Annacotty will travel to Dublin to face Sheriff YC in the AUL Complex on Sunday (2pm).