Ramor and Gowna clash tonight in SFC

Kingspan Breffni 

Friday, September 13
Throw-in 8:15pm 

Ramor come into the knock-out stages with a record of inconsistency that belies their third place standing from the group stages. Three wins from four may sound relatively consistent, but a closer look at the 2016 Plunkett Cup holders record shows they have blown hot and cold when you least expect. How can a team that's lost to Killygarry - who only snuck into the quarter-finals in eighth place - one week, go out and inflict a four point win over championship favourites Crosserlough the next?
Part of the reason was the return from the States of Brian O'Connell and Killian Maguire who shored up their midfield in time for their stand-out performance against the amber and black. Neither man started in their final round victory however.
Their other two ties were against teams who are now out of the championship -Mullahoran and Lacken- and made hard work of those, winning by two points and one point respectively. The win over Lacken was scraped in the sixth minute of injury time. Having been six points behind at one stage late in the first half, the comeback was inspired by an awesome display of defending, keeping Lacken to just one point in the second half, and the thrilling denouement came with stylish playmaker Conor Bradley sweeping over a score.
In front of goals, they haven't exactly been red hot – their tally of 62 points scored the least of all the quarter-finalists, and their only goal so far has come from Adrian Cole. They don't have a marquee forward as such, they get share point getting across their attack lines. With James Brady on free scoring duties, the corner forward's their main point-getter with 19, (9f) this campaign Adrian Cole has hit 1-5 in just three games, Conor Bradley has contributed 0-7 while Cathal Maguire is guaranteed a point at least from his outings.
The counter arguement to Ramor's patchy form is to suggest that they will have been battle hardened by coming through tough games and in the 120 minutes-plus of championship football since letting in three goals to Killygarry, they have only conceded one goal since, and that was to Crosserlough who have been the championship's top scorers in the group stage.
Gowna's route to the last eight was equally up and down. A facile win over struggling Cootehill, got them off the mark after a three point defeat in miserable weather conditions in the opening round to Kingscourt.
Easily their performance of the campaign came in a seven point victory over Lacken in Round 3. With a quarter-final place already looking secure, they faced a Killygarry team fighting for their championship lives in Round 4 and came out on the wrong side of a high scoring entertaining encounter.
On +22, Gowna's point difference is the second best in the championship, after Crosserlough (+29). Having rattled the net 10 times in just four games, the green and red have more obvious attacking threats than Ramor.
The player who may give the Virginia contingent restless nights is Conor Madden, who has been in lethal goalscoring form bagging six goals in the last three games; 3-3 against Cootehill alone.
 He's ably assisted in breaching defences with the likes of Oisin Pierson (1-10) and Cian Madden (0-14).
Many informed football minds have tipped Gowna's young team brimming with talent, to lift the Oliver Plunkett Cup in the near future, but this year may come a little too soon. Whether Ramor is the team that will halt their progress is a toss of the coin. Ramor are prone to conceding goals, and Gowna have the forwards with appetites to score them, so much will depend on how the Magees, Matthew and Mark, and whoever joins them in the back line will cope with Madden et al.

Ramor's route to the last 8
Rd1 Ramor 0-13 Mullahoran 0-11
Rd2 Ramor 0-17 Killygarry 3-10
Rd3 Ramor 1-17 Crosserlough 1-13
Rd4 Ramor 0-12 Lacken 0-11

Manager: Ray Cole
Captain: Eoin Somerville.
Top scorer: James Brady
Potential game changer: (Brian O'Connell (back from the US)
Position in group stage: 3rd
Last season: Beaten Quarter finalists
Last championship title: 2016

Gowna's route to the last 8
Rd1 Gowna 0-9 Kingscourt 0-12
Rd2 Gowna 4-13 Cootehill 0-3
Rd3 Gowna 4-12 Lacken 1-14
Rd4 Gowna 2-11 Killygarry 2-15
Manager: Sean Hagan
Captain: Raymond Keogh
Top scorer: Conor Madden
Potential game changer: Robbie Fitzpatrick (back from the US)
Position in group stage: 7th
Last season: Beaten Semi-finalists
Last championship title: 2002