HOLLYWOOD V BRAY

Aughrim, Friday, 7.30pm Hollywood suffered a bad loss to Coolkenno in round one and things didn’t look good for them for championship 2016.

They regrouped and surprised Annacurra the last day with a performance full of grit and in many people’s eyes they were shock winners.

The west men are made of sturdy stuff though and are always good for a big championship performance but can they string a couple together now?

The possible loss of Harry Wilson and Peadar Traynor to longterm injuries could stretch their squad further but they overcame these losses the last day to knock Annacurra out.

They have played two league games since and lost both so will need a good start to get the confidence levels up again.

Ciaran Tyrell was inspirational at midfield in that game and gave a performance of real leadership to a young team, the possible loss of Wilson and Traynor could see him having to go to centre back and they will miss his drive and scoring ability if this is the case.

Indeed, Hollywood would have one of the youngest squads left in the championship and couple that with the unavailibity of players like Mikie Healy, Cian Tyrell, Andy Corrigan and Joe Glennon this year and perhaps they are a team that could be a force in the coming years if all things fall in to place.

Getting back to Friday and they can ill afford to give Bray the start they let Annacurra have the last day after it took them so long to settle.

They struggle for size at the back and Annacurra profited from quick delivery and it wasn’t until Tyrell and company around the