Minors face Meath in Peadar O Liathain semi-final

WICKLOW will have it all to do when they meet Meath in the Leinster Minor ‘B’ hurling championship semi-final this weekend, but are capable of putting it up to the Royals if they play to their potential, according to coach Owen Doyle.

Doyle’s young charges will welcome Meath to Aughrim on Saturday afternoon in the final four of the Peadar O’Liathain Cup, wherein they will be underdogs against a team that got to the final of the competition as recently as last year.

Owen is well aware of the odds and acknowledged that they will have it all to do if they are to win, although he insisted that they will be well in with a chance should they play as well as they are capable of playing.

‘Ah, look it, we will be up against it against Meath, he said. ‘Meath will probably be a slightly higher level than us.

‘The past two years, we have been playing Meath in the Celtic Cup and that was only their second team. We are hoping to give it a good lash. That’s all I can say to you. If all of our players played to their best or as good as they can, we would be there or thereabouts. Meath, over the past few years, are just a step ahead of us. Half of the panel that are training are under-age next year. It is just giving everybody a taste of it.’

Wicklow’s preparation for Saturday has been hampered somewhat by restrictions that have come part and parcel with the covid-19 pandemic.

Not only will this be their first competitive game together for the better part of seven months, but they have been unable to arrange challenge matches to warm up for this weekend because of a ban on such games at underage level.

In addition to this, they will also have to contend with managing and accommodating the dual players that are littered amongst the squad. Despite this, Owen has faith in the talent that is at their disposal and believes that they will have a chance, as long as the players show the belief and quality he said was on show during the club minor championship.

‘We got back together after the minor club hurling championship, so we have only had three weeks. We did not have a chance to play a match because minor and u-20 challenge matches were banned near two weeks ago. We haven’t had a match together; just training on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

‘We still have a panel of near 30 lads playing. There are some strong dual players in the county. The minor footballers, having won on Saturday, are playing again on Wednesday week. It is in effect (a new season). We started doing a bit of training back in February/ March. We hadn’t played any matches. Then, we were aiming to put two teams in the Celtic Cup, which is a step underneath minor. Then, the Celtic Cup was cancelled. It is a whole different scenario, now.

‘I saw all of the (clubs) at some stage. The other lads - Pat Brennan and Karl Cooke - are involved with us, as well, and Conor Ffrench.

‘They would’ve seen all the players as well, more than once. There’s some very good individual hurlers around the county through the clubs, but, as I say, we haven’t played a game together. If they all played well on the day, we could be in with a shout.’

Should they defy the odds and defeat Meath, Wicklow will set up a clash with one of Louth or Down in the decider.