DEISE DOWN IN DUMPS WHILE OTHERS SOAR..
GIVEN that there are nine established hurling counties, there were always going to be a couple of high profile casualties with the top flight of the League being slimmed down to seven teams for 2025.
And so Waterford’s defeat to Wexford, their third on the trot, means that they will not be playing in the top tier of the League for the first time since 2015, when they actually went on to win the competition after topping Division 1B.
That avenue won’t be open to them next year as Division 1B will be a standalone competition, with the top two teams competing in the final and also winning promotion to 1A.
But, as manager Davy Fitzgerald was at pains to point out, their season will ultimately be judged on how they fare in the Championship, where they desperately need to improve on their poor Munster record.
Wexford in rude health
KEITH ROSSITER appears to have got an early bounce as Wexford manager having won the Walsh Cup and gone unbeaten in the League so far, securing their spot in the new Division 1A with a game to spare.
That he’s done it while down a host of key players makes it all the more impressive.
Working off tight numbers, Rossiter
(above) has used only 24 players.
Tipperary, for example, have
used a whopping 37.
Limerick developing alternatives
IF there was one point of weakness with Limerick since their All-ireland in 2018 it was that the team hadn’t evolved greatly, with 11 starting survivors in last year’s final win over Kilkenny from that breakthrough success in the absence of Sean Finn and Declan Hannon through injury.
Cathal O’neill was outstanding at centre-back against Tipperary last weekend, while Colin Coughlan also caught the eye and Donnacha Ó Dálaigh continues to impress up front, among others, with Kiely having used 35 players across four League games.
Antrim depleted
AND this is how the other half live. Antrim manager Darren Gleeson brought just 21 players to Mullingar for their sevenpoint defeat to Westmeath on Saturday as a result of injuries and a clash with the Ulster under-20 final.
Gleeson suffered a spate of retirements and defections ahead of the season and is in the thick of an unenviable rebuild.
Callum Brown lights up AFL
EX-DERRY underage starlet Callum Brown is shaping for a big
season in the AFL after kicking five goals in the GWS Giants’ victory 114-82 over champions Geelong. Wouldn’t Mickey Harte love to have the Limavady man among his suite of attacking options?