St Brigid's host Western Gaels

ST Brigid's stand on the brink of a shock opening round elimination from this year's Roscommon Senior Championship - but hope to salvage their campaign when they play their second and final Group A game against Western Gaels at Kiltoom on Saturday (5pm). After surprisingly losing their opening group fixture to Roscommon Gaels in June (2-8 to 1-9), St Brigid's must defeat Western Gaels this weekend or else be dismissed from the competition at this early point. As each of the four groups consists of just three teams, defeat in the opening match leaves teams with an uphill mountain to scale. And St Brigid's must drag themselves back into this year's competition without the services of Karol Mannion, who has not played since damaging his ankle against Roscommon Gaels. Injury doubts also hang over Mark O'Carroll, Donie O'Connor, David Nestor and Darragh Donnelly, while Frankie Dolan's appeal against a three month suspension - handed down for alleged verbal abuse of a match official after the defeat to Roscommon Gaels - is unlikely to be sorted one way or another in time for this weekend's game. Goalkeeper Philip Martin was also recently struggling with an ankle injury but is thought to be okay to play on Saturday. Manager Eoin O'Donnellan - in his first campaign in charge of St Brigid's - knows its win or bust this weekend. "At this stage of the competition it's all or nothing for us," said O'Donnellan. "It just didn't happen for us in the first game against Roscommon Gaels and the injuries to the likes of Senan Kilbride and Karol Mannion, the latter of which happened about three minutes into the game, didn't help matters. I felt we had enough possession against Roscommon Gaels but didn't make it happen. We didn't convert our possession into scores and it cost us in the end. "There is an amount of pressure on us on Saturday but there's always a certain element of pressure involved when it comes to championship football. We will do our very best to turn this situation in our favour and hopefully we can overcome Western Gaels," he added. Even if Western Gaels are to lose on Saturday, their superior scoring difference over Roscommon Gaels would mean they are still in a strong position to qualify to the knockout stage. A draw would not be good enough for St Brigid's though and nothing less than victory will do for the South Roscommon side. Elsewhere this weekend, a draw will be enough for St Aidan's to qualify from Group B along with Clann na nGael. St Aidan's and Clann played out a draw last weekend (see page 35), leaving Clann qualified for the knockout phase and St Aidan's just needing to overcome Kilmore at the weekend to join them there. The St Aidan's and Kilmore match takes place at Ballyforan on Saturday at 7.30pm. A draw will also be enough to see Padraig Pearses into the knockout phase when they take on St Faithleach's in Group D at Ballyleague next Wednesday evening (7.30pm). Pearses opened their campaign in June with an eight-point win over Strokestown while St Faithleach's have yet to play.