NOW it gets serious. Already at the second weekend of October, we’ve reached the semi-final stage of the football championships. This is the business end.

SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh will play host to the two premier senior semi-finals on Saturday evening with Carrigaline taking on Nemo Rangers at 5.15pm and Clonakilty meeting St Finbarr’s afterwards at 7pm.

Interestingly, Carrigaline and Clon are the only two unbeaten teams left in the competition, but will both enter the games as underdogs.

Indeed, Carrigaline’s 100 percent group-stage record saw them straight through to the semi-final where they will play a Nemo Rangers team that started the championship slowly but have found their form just when they needed to. Based on their win over Castlehaven, few neutral observers are expecting anything other than another county final for the Capwell club. If they can repeat their first-half performance against Castlehaven, I think they will oblige.

Carrigaline’s main hope lies in their physical size advantage, however, if Nemo move the ball with the same speed and accuracy on the pristine, open expanses of Cork GAA HQ as they did in Clonakilty, they can negate that concern. Carrigaline will look to Cork senior and former Caheragh player Brian O’Driscoll to dictate the tempo for them in possession, and his main source of support in the midfield trenches will be the energetic Jack McCarthy.

Up front, they will look to the Coakley brothers, Brian and Niall, along with Kevin O’Reilly to convert that possession into scores, but Nemo seem to have a few more aces around the field. The old guard in defence of Martin, O’Donovan, Histon, Horgan and Stephen Cronin are backed up by the more youthful Mark Hill and Colin Molloy. It’s a similar story at midfield with Alan O’Donovan playing the old warhorse with the younger legs of Briain Murphy.

Up front, it was all about young tyros Bryan Hayes and Ross Corkery last time out and if Mark Cronin finds another gear, they will take a lot of holding. Carrigaline are a good side, in the semi-final for the first time on merit, however Nemo are coming good at the right time. I expect them to advance.

The bookies also have St Finbarr’s as clear favourites for the second game – 2/5, for the record – however I don’t see this one anywhere near as clear-cut as they do. Granted, the Barrs awoke from their group-stage slumber with an emphatic win against Carbery in the quarter-final, and more importantly got Ian Maguire and Brian Hayes back in the starting 15, but Clon have been far more consistent this season so far.

The Barrs also have a premier senior hurling final to think about with four players starting on both, and a couple more on both panels. The Barrs had their hands full with Kanturk last Sunday, so there will be some fatigue in those bodies this week. These two teams met in the final back in 2021 and Clon looked likely winners until late in the day when Steven Sherlock broke their hearts.

Clon look a better team now than they were back then, and have rivalled Carrigaline for the best team in the championship so far. An impressive second-half performance with 14 men against Newcestown was nearly spoiled by a late lapse in concentration, but they had enough of a cushion built up to hold on. Mark White had a superb second half in that game and his kick-outs are a serious platform for Clon to build from. He will need to be at his best picking out his targets to counter the Barrs’ size advantage around the middle.

If Clon are lacking anything, it’s fielders like Ian Maguire and Brian Hayes around the middle and a marquee forward to match Sherlock. Dan Darragh’s reprieve from suspension does at least mean Maurice Shanley will be free to continue at midfield, and he and Ben Ridgeway will cover every blade for the Clon cause. Thomas Clancy is their lynchpin at No. 6 and Sean White returned to form against Newcestown, but they will need a 15-man performance to take down the county champions. It’s not impossible, but if the big names produce for the Barrs, and they generally do, Clon will need their absolute best to beat them. The Barrs by a hair’s breadth, then, in what could be a cracker.

The senior A semi-finals will hold a good deal of my own attention as Éire Óg meet Cill na Martra on Saturday afternoon at 3pm in Coachford before Carbery Rangers face Kanturk on Sunday at 4pm in Macroom. These four teams would have featured heavily in the pre-season predictions, and Éire Óg have been the most impressive so far with three wins from three in the group stage. The Ovens men have a serious midfield duo in Colm O’Callaghan and Darragh Clifford, and bundles of experience in All-Ireland winners Daniel Goulding and Mark Griffin, which might give them the edge over the Gaeltacht side.

Ross snatched an unlikely direct route to the semi-final with a win over Newmarket in the last group game, while Kanturk have been active in both football and hurling since. With 12 players starting both hurling and football, it will be interesting to see if the hard championship games stand to the Kanturk men or whether the rested Ross team can take advantage of any weariness. Kanturk are backboned by the outstanding Walsh clan, while Ross are developing a nicely balanced side with forwards who are finding form in Daragh Hayes and Dylan O’Neill amongst others. You’ll have to forgive me for sitting on the fence, as I generally tend to do, but it should be close.

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We’re moving down the grades and I’m going to up the pace because I want to give some space to the Carbery junior A championship before I finish. At premier intermediate I’m going to pitch for Uibh Laoire and Kiskeam to beat Naomh Abán and Fermoy respectively, while there are two tough games to call at lower intermediate. I’ll back Kilmurry to prevail over Boherbue and I hope Adrigole can end their semi-final hoodoo against a coming Buttevant outfit, but they won’t have it easy. I’ll stick with Kildorrery to win the relegation replay against Glanworth in the same grade.

At premier junior, I expect Canovee to see off Inniscarra, while St Nick’s are in the same boat as the Barrs with a premier senior hurling final in the back of the minds of their dual players. If the likes of the Downeys are fit and available, they can make it a pair of finals to look forward to on the northside of the city.

Which brings me back home to West Cork and the Bandon Co-Op Carbery Junior semi-finals. Firstly, Tadhg MacCarthaigh will take on Barryroe for a place in the final on Friday evening in Dunmanway at 8pm, which is a rather more logical time than the quarter-finals. Caheragh were deserving winners against us last time out and have an organised defensive system where they use their 11 outfield players to protect the arc as best as possible, while being happy to go direct when attacking themselves. Luke Shorten is given the freedom of the park and was excellent against us, so he can expect plenty of attention from Barryroe.

Barryroe, though, would appear to have more attacking strings to their bow and an overall more balanced side, with Ryan O’Donovan and Olan O’Donovan the main scoring threats. Their win against Castlehaven suggests that, like the Barrs, they have shaken off their group stage sluggishness. The 2023 champions can make another final here.

In the other semi-final, last year’s beaten finalists, St Mary’s, face 2022 winners, St James. The Ballineen/Enniskeane outfit lost to Kilmacabea in the final last year, but were without the services of their main man Olan Corcoran. He is back fit and well now and is a big addition for the black and amber. St James gave a couple of years at premier junior before suffering relegation back to the divisional ranks, but they have been the form side in the competition to date with four wins on the trot.

The Ardfield outfit came through their group with ease before digging out a victory by a single point against Kilmeen in the quarter-final. St Mary’s, likewise, had the minimum to spare with their late winner against Goleen, so both teams are well sharpened for the battle in hand. This battle of the saints will likely go down to the wire, but we will go with the more consistent Ardfield to make it five wins from five and book the other spot in the final.

There is one other football match in Carbery this weekend, and I think Clann na Gael will beat Bandon in the junior B semi-final.

Best of luck to all involved.