Will six-week delay hamper Mountmellick’s drive for a final place in the final?

THE long awaited second Premier IHC semi-final will eventually played in Trumera this afternoon featuring Rathdowney/Errill and Mountmerllick.

It is two week’s since this game was due to be played but as a result of the confusion at the end of the Rathdowney/Errill v Colt-Shanahoe resulted in a long, drawn out saga.

At the centre of the mix-up was whether or not referee Patrick Phelan had blown up the quarter-final a few minutes early. Mind you, given the fact that Colt-Shanahoe were ten points in arrears when the final whistle was blown, you really would question if they could have overturned that deficit in a few minutes.

Anyway, after a number of meetings, the authorities decided that the quarter-final should be replayed, game Rathdowney/Errill won by 11 points. Ah well.

Rathdowney/Errill began their campaign with a 12-point win over Clough/Ballacolla. They then lost to Clonaslee/St Manman’s by three before next beating Ballyfin in Round 3.

Mountmellick have blazed into the semi-final winning all their games.

They started with the defeat of Camross (2-16 to 0-17), next Abbeyleix (1-18 to 1-14) and then Colt-Shanahoe (2-16 to 1-15) to top their group and advance to the semi-final.

They have been hampered by the fact that they have had a six week break and you have to wonder how that will affect them.