Dubs are off Laois Just grin and Birr it
they can’t afford to pick and choose their moments.
“I think what Davy is doing is using the League as a basic dress rehearsal for the Championship.
“I’m sure Kilkenny and Tipp and all those teams are training hard, you always worry that maybe there’s a saturation point there but really at the moment, we’re enjoying the spin and I think we can’t look too deeply into it because we’ve had some bad years and if things start to stall a little bit we just have to deal with that.
“The big thing we have to do in Wexford overall is to make sure that those gaps don’t appear again over the next four or five years that maybe appeared over the last four or five years.
“I’m not saying we’re going to win silverware but we’ve got back a little bit of parity from some of the bigger teams.”
1A: Waterford Clare Tomorrow, Walsh Park, 2.30pm
v
WATERFORD will have to end their Walsh Park drought if they are to give themselves any chance of avoiding a relegation play-off.
The much maligned venue hasn’t hosted a home victory since February
2016, when Waterford opened that year’s League campaign with a four-point win over Kilkenny.
Realistically, however, it would take a highly unlikely combination of results for
Waterford to avoid a play-off given their poor scoring difference.
The only two teams they can catch are Kilkenny and Tipperary, both of whom hold a head-to-head advantage over them.
In the event of all three finishing on four points along with Cork, Waterford’s current scoring difference of -19 is hardly going to overtake two of Kilkenny (+3), Tipperary (+9) or
Cork (-10) tomorrow.
Still, with Clare already through to the quarterfinals, Derek Mcgrath’s (inset) men should be able tee themselves up for the play-off with another win.
1B: Galway Limerick Tomorrow, Salthill, 2.30pm (TG4)
v IF the last few years are anything to go by, we could well be looking at the eventual Allianz Hurling League champions in Salthill tomorrow.
Although, in theory, Division 1B houses those outside the top six, it oddly contains reigning League and All-ireland champions Galway, as well as producing the two previous League winners in Clare and Waterford.
A quirk in the competition structure meant Galway went on to win it last year despite missing out on promotion, which clearly didn’t damage their summer prospects either.
So, while both themselves and Limerick are making all the right noises about coming out on top in what is essentially a promotion play-off at Pearse Stadium, it must be difficult to convince themselves of its true importance.
After all, three of the four quarter-finals last year were won by Division 1B sides.
“I know,” says Galway’s standin captain Johnny Coen (below, after All-ireland win with Padraid Mannion), “but when you talk about the latter stages of the League they talk about the moving stage where you want to be trying to get a bit of form, a bit of momentum then as well.
“So we’re looking to win every single game that presents itself and Limerick will pose a huge challenge for us and we’re looking forward it.
“We came back there after the Christmas break, it was very early on we hit the League on the 28th of January.
It was against Antrim and we’ve kind of gone from strength to strength.”
Galway’s form certainly has been patchy since they resumed competitive action after their All-ireland success, but the four wins they’ve gathered stretches their winning streak to 15 games.
There’s no doubt tomorrow’s game is the toughest they’ve faced since last September’s Allireland final win over Waterford, however.
Coen added: “The conditions will dictate the standard of matches, but your own attitude to certain games really has to be up to the level otherwise you are going to be flat on the day.
“I think our passing and shooting has improved over the last number of weeks but it will have to go to another level otherwise we could find ourselves in a spot of bother.”
Having been outside the top flight of the League since 2010, Limerick are understandably keen to break back in though wing-back Diarmaid Byrnes says it’s important not to get too bogged down by the consequences of the outcome.
“Not a disaster,” Byrnes acknowledged. “Long-term we have been aiming for this. We knew if we put in the performances we would have been where we are now, getting over the first stages and getting to
this stage.”
Laois Dublin
Tomorrow, Portlaoise, 2.30pm
v PAT GILROY indicated that his Dublin side may have turned something of a corner even in defeat to Galway last time round.
The work rate was something he identified as being closer to where he wanted it to be after a number of uninspiring performances right from the opening round 13-point loss to Offaly. So to suffer a loss to Laois in this fixture would be disastrous.
A win for either side would see them through to a quarter-final, while condemning the other to a relegation play-off against Antrim. Given their scoring difference, a draw would be sufficient for Laois.
Traditionally, Dublin hold no fears for Laois, who certainly won’t be cowed by them, but Gilroy’s side should have enough.
Offaly Antrim Tomorrow, Birr, 2.30pm
v
LEAGUE hurling returns to St Brendan’s Park for only the second time in 11 years as Offaly welcome Antrim to Birr tomorrw.
It’s an ongoing source of frustration for those in the hurling strongholds around the south Offaly town that the county’s home games have been played in Tullamore since 2008 for a variety of reasons, amid fanciful notions of Birr being some sort of fortress in yesteryear.
Antrim, who are without talisman Neil Mcmanus (inset) left there victorious on a couple of occasions in the 80s and 90s.
That’s unlikely to happen this time with Offaly going well under Kevin Martin.