Belfast as important to hurlers’ fate as Tralee this Sunday

NATIONAL HURLING LEAGUE DIVISION 2A

Kerry v Mayo

Sunday, February 17 Austin Stack Park, 1pm IT’S a big weekend for the Kerry hurlers’ ambitions of reaching a league final and, probably, it’s fair to say what happens three hundred miles away up the other side of the country will have as much if not more of an impact on those hopes as what happens in Tralee.

Of course, Fintan O’Connor’s men will need to beat Mayo, but we would expect them to do so as long as they play to something like their best. What happens between Antrim and Westmeath (which gets underway an hour after the Kerry match) is going to tell us a lot more about this title race.

Kerry will be hoping that Westmeath continue their recent run of results and beat Antrim as it would put them in the best position of reaching the final. All they’d have do is win their remaining games (starting this weekend) to be certain of a final berth.

If Antrim were to win, however – and they’ll probably welcome back some of their Cushendall contingent after last weekend’s club semi-final defeat – that would make reaching a final that little bit more complicated.

Under those circumstances it would come down to score-difference. Still in Kerry’s hands to a certain extent, but not fully either at the same time.

“We can only control our side of things and I think if we can win our three games that will give us a chance of getting to a final and there’s no guarantee we can win our three games, but if we win our three games it will put us in with a fair chance of getting to a final,” O’Connor explains.

“Score difference will be what counts if Antrim turn over Westmeath this weekend. We’ll see what happens. There’s very little between any of the teams and I think Antrim were very lucky to beat Meath last week so I think anyone can be anyone and that’s the way it’s going to be right down to the end.”

Overall Kerry have to be pretty satisfied with where they are right now. They’re playing good stuff and they’re in a strong position to challenge for a place in the league final. For all the disappointment of the way it ended there was plenty to be encouraged about last time out.

“Disappointed maybe with not getting over the line against Westmeath, but Westmeath are a very good team,” O’Connor says.

“I heard one of their players after saying you make your own luck by staying at it and keeping going and that’s probably what they did in fairness. Hats off to them and we have to try and get a win at the weekend against Mayo to try and get back onto winning ways and that won’t be easy either, because their first game against Meath they were very competitive.

“Maybe it’s a bit of a disadvantage to them to travel to London last week when we were playing Westmeath and the match was called off. It was very unfortunate for them, but we’ll have to try and be at our best again this weekend.”

Kerry look set to be without Brandon Barrett for this weekend’s game – he’s adhering to a return to play protocol after suffering a concussion against Westmeath – while Shane Conway’s participation mid-week in the Fitzgibbon Cup semi-final will be keenly watched by the Kerry management team.

Mayo’s performance against Meath in the first round, as O’Connor suggests, was hugely encouraging for the green and red, who this year don’t have Keith Higgins available to them. After their relegation from the Christy Ring Cup last year it was felt they’d struggle in the higher division after their league promotion.

“I think in fairness the Christy Ring was maybe a false reflection on them,” O’Connor says.

“They had a very good league campaign last year and had some very good results. We actually played them last year in between the league and championship phase and we thought they were very good. I don’t know what happened in the Christy Ring, but it definitely wasn’t a fair reflection on them.”

Still it’s hard to see how Kerry aren’t good enough to win this match. As long as they play to something like their best and make fewer mistakes than they did against Joe Quaid’s Westmeath they should be okay.

Verdict: Kerry