Mullinabreena/Coolaney start their campaign for 2001 with a home fixture against St Michaels in Nace O'Dowd Park at 3pm this Sunday. This is a Kiernan Cup Match. 

Both sides will be rusty after the winter break but early season lack of sharpness should not detract from a keenly anticipated encounter. St Michaels had a relatively poor season in 2000 by their own high standards. They are a young fit team with some experienced scoring forwards. In recent years the results have been evenly distributed between both clubs with home advantage proving significant. However last year in the corresponding fixture Mullinabreena went down on a scoreline of 1.7 to 3.8. Click here to read that match report

Mullinabreena had a relatively good season last year reaching the knock out stages of the league. Mullinabreena haven't fared that well in the last few years in the preliminary cup competitions - the exception being 1991 when they won the Benson Cup. The early season competitions are useful to lose the rustiness and lack of sharpness as a result of the winter recess. A good cup run can be the catalyst for a decent season so this game will be an important scene setter for the remainder of the season.

It is also an opportunity for the new selection team of Tom O'Donnell, Michael Gorman, Frank Gilmartin, James McDonagh and James Gormalley to test their skills at team selection and tactical awareness for the forthcoming season. A warm welcome is extended to James McDonagh and James Gormalley to active team participation. Both were former greats with the club in the eighties and early nineties. Hopefully they can inspire the current crop of players to achieve great things.

As for the website, I hope to bring unrivalled coverage of all matches regardless of competition throughout the year. If you would like regular email match reports or notification of site updates please emaildavid@mullinabreena.com