Ainst league champions
at our peak and have everyone on board and need a bit of luck as well.
‘We don’t know what team they will come with - we played them in the league and then in the final their panel was totally different, and because of that we’re at a little bit of a disadvantage.
‘It’s easy being manager of Tipperary or Kilkenny because they have the numbers to pick three teams, and even in Meath they have more players to pick from.
‘We don’t have the numbers in Louth hurling and it’s tough. We need everyone there and to have everyone right, but a couple of students pulled out of the panel because of exams and that’s understandable because their career is important to them.
‘We have a few injuries here and there as well and we won’t know until later in the week who we have, but it’s not looking great for some of them.’
O’Brien wouldn’t be drawn on the identities of his chief concerns, but he’ll be especially keen to have Clare brothers Niall and Gerry Arthur available, with the former finishing as the NFL Division 3A’s top scorer by a proverbial mile with a remarkable 7-50 to his name despite missing the first game.
A little bit of rustiness can be expected in the opening minutes on Saturday, with Louth not having played a competitive match since that final back in March, but they’ll take confidence from that draw earlier in the campaign which denied Warwickshire a 100% record in the league.
‘It’s been mainly in-house games for the last two weeks,’ revealed O’Brien, who struggled to find teams available for friendlies at this time of year.
‘But we did have a challenge against a strong club from Meath and beat them well.
‘Now it comes thick and fast and it could be all over in three weeks, but I think it’s a good format to have at least three games guaranteed.’