Clara aim to extend season against fancied Kildare side

WITH their big objective of returning to the top flight in Offaly football secured, Clara will be aiming to extend their season into December when they travel to Newbridge next Sunday to face Sallins in the Leinster Club Intermediate Football Championship semi-final.

Clara would normally expect to compete very well and they should give it a real go but they are up against a very highly rated Sallins side, who have been favourites to win this competition from the start.

If the word of mouth is to be believed, then Sallins won't be beaten here but Clara won't be reading that script and their form and the quality of players they have suggest that they can win.

The results, however, do back up the favourites tag that Sallins possess. Clara were the better team when beating Round Towers of Lusk, 0-18 to 0-16, in their first game but they weren't entirely convincing.

Sallins have been excellent so far, absolutely destroying the opposition in their two games. They beat Grange of Carlow by 5-21 to 0-7 in the first round and blew Meath's Kilbride out of the water in the quarter-final, 3-18 to 0-6.

These results shows the extent of the challenge facing Clara and they have it all to do. Clara are in bonus territory now and while they would love to win a first ever provincial title, the repercussions for not doing so are fairly minimal. They are way less than if Ballinagar had beaten them in the Offaly senior “B” final and it is a free shot of sorts for Clara.

They will, however, want to be competitive at the very least and not experience the same outcome that Grange and Kilbride endured.

Clara have enough good players to suggest that they will give Sallins their toughest test yet. They have been very dominant in the second tier in Offaly this year, winning both league and championship and their confidence is high.

They have a couple of players with a lot of mileage up and Sallins will certainly test the legs and fitness of this team. You would normally expect Clara to have a very good chance of winning this grade but the form of Sallins means that this is shrouded in doubt.

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The form book certainly points towards Sallins winning and it will take one huge Clara performance to upset these expectations.

Verdict – Sallins.