Preview 2 – county intermediate singles

Intermediate Singles semi finals

Keith Armstrong (Kilmyshall) v Noel Holohan (Templeudigan), Galen Riordan (Ballyhogue) v Paul Lambert (St. Mary’s)

The absence of the 2018 winner Peter Hughes from the knockout stages highlights the strength of the field this time around as the presence of both Galen Riordan and Keith Armstrong made qualification very difficult on this occasion writes AOB.

Galen Riordan took both the junior and senior championships in Wexford last year and while questions remain as to his current form, his overall pedigree suggests he has what it takes to continue his winning run. He will however be acutely aware of the danger posed by Paul Lambert in the semi final, where nothing less than his best will suffice for victory.

Keith Armstrong topped his group with a lot of authority and will be very difficult to beat from this point onwards. Great hands and terrific mobility make him close to being the complete package and he will start a strong favourite to dispose of Noel Holohan in his semi final.

Paul Lambert’s win over Peter Hughes cemented his semi final place in this year’s championship and he will be further encouraged by a series of fine performances in the senior grade where he defeated both Tommy Hynes and Barry Goff. He came up short against Riordan in the higher grade but did push the reigning champion to 21-20 in the first game.

Noel Holohan will be the outsider of the four semi finalists but showed eye-catching form early in the championship when he defeated Daniel Kavanagh. That performance puts him in the frame here and while it would be a surprise if he were to lower Armstrong’s colours, his strong serve and kill has to give him an outside chance.

Prediction: It’s hard to look beyond a Riordan v Armstrong final and if that is the case it could be one of the matches of the entire championship. Bolstered by his achievements in the past couple of years though I expect Riordan to continue the sequence.