Ballymaguigan to defend their Derry Junior Championship against favourites Craigbane

The previous two champions of the Derry Junior Championship will square off in the 2024 final on Saturday afternoon.

Current title holders Ballymaguigan will face the 2022 champions Craigbane. 

The lilywhites may be considered slight favourites as they have breezed through the competition with only one fright, a last gasp victory against Slaughtmanus in the group stage.

This game demonstrated their winner mentality, as they fought to the end to find a way to win the contest.

Since that narrow victory, Craigbane have gone from strength to strength and waltzed through the quarterfinal against Moneymore before expertly winning the semi-final against Ballerin.

In the last two matches, Craigbane have masterfully demonstrated how to attack, as they have moved the ball quickly through transition and clinically taken their chances.

An impressive part of their approach has been the ability to exploit the space in behind teams on the counter once they have overturned the ball.

Seven goals in the knockout stages is impressive, and if Ballymaguigan want to have any chance of winning, they will need to ensure they deny any goal-scoring chances as they look to deny the favourites for Saturday’s final.

Ballymaguigan have found it more difficult to overcome the sides they have faced in the knockout stages. 

The Loughshore men needed to dig deep to defeat Magilligan in the quarterfinal, trailing throughout the game until the final moments, and then defeating Lissan in a close-fought match in the semi-final.

However, this may have been the perfect preparation for the final, as they will be in for a battle at Celtic Park and help them edge out their opponents in a game set to go right down to the wire.

Ballymaguigan may have found it tougher to reach this point, but now that they are in the final, they will be determined to retain their title and make up for the last time the two sides faced off against each other in the championship.

In 2022, Craigbane easily swatted the Ballymaguigan challenge away in Swatragh, a memory that lives in the heads of all that were there that day.

A youthful Craigbane will look to secure this trophy after a great season in the intermediate division to allow them to kick on, using a championship victory for next season and build to establish themselves as an intermediate powerhouse in Derry. 

Ballymaguigan aims to overcome any sceptics and win consecutive Derry Junior Championships.

The two finalists would have been favourites to reach this stage at a canter, but while they have faced their struggles, they have proved they were levels above their championship opponents. 

Now that they are in the final, neither will want to give an inch, making for quite the spectacle.