DERRY GAA: ​​The Road to Celtic Park begins this weekend with the Club Championship

Put simply, the better placed a team is come the end of the groups the better positioned they will be to fare well in the knockouts, but there is also relegation to consider. However, the aim of every club competing will be to be in Celtic Park on the last Sunday of October!

County players will be back with their clubs as the first round of the qualifying games begin on Saturday. With this championship being reduced from 15 to 12 teams in 2024 there will be plenty of bite in these round robin games. Glen are raging hot favourites to make it three county titles in a row and it’s very hard to see who will stop them. Two teams, Glen and Newbridge, have byes in the first round.

Bellaghy v Dungiven

League winners Bellaghy will have Paul and Declan Cassidy back from county duty and they have won the league without them. Dungiven had a poor enough league and have had managerial changes earlier in the year. It looks like Bellaghy’s to lose. Traditionally Dungiven teams do well against Bellaghy but this is a big ask.

Swatragh v Ballinascreen

Both these teams are seen to a certain extent as under performers in recent years. Ballinascreen will be boosted by their escape from relegation with that penalty shoot out win over Lavey recently. They have the pace while the tall Swatragh men are good in the air, Swatragh will have trouble beating the ‘Screen’s brilliant goalie Ryan Scullion but led by Conor McAtamney from midfield they might get enough points to get off to a winning start.

Eoghan Rua v Lavey

Lavey will travel to Agherton determined to wipe out the memory of that unlucky relegation defeat against Ballinascreen . Eoghan Rua had a decent league campaign but the championship is more competitive. The return of Liam McGoldrick has been a boost for the North Coast men. Lavey have had their troubles this year but when it comes to the championship they are ever dangerous and could upset the form book here now that Niall Toner is back from county duty.

Steelstown v Slaughtneil.

Both had decent league runs but when they did meet Slaughtneil won in a canter. They can welcome back five from the Derry panel including Shane McGuigan, Brendan Rogers and Chrissy McKaigue. The Brian Og’s will have Ben McCarron and Diarmuid Baker involved for the first time this season. Steelstown have improved a lot on last year but facing a team of Slaughtneil’s quality will be the biggest test they have faced this year.

Kilrea v Ballinderry.

Ballinderry will be minus their key man Gareth McKinless who was injured in the All Ireland semi final against Kerry. Like some other clubs they are in a rebuilding process and will not get anything easy at Pearse Park. Both are long shots for the title and a share of the points could well be the end result.