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You are > Home > Hurling race back on after seven week wait
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Thursday, July 29, 2010
Hurling race back on after seven week wait
SEVEN WEEKS after the last batch of first round games, the Pettitt’s county senior hurling championship is put back on the boil this weekend, with a number of regular quarter finalists from the last few years needing to repair a bit of damage from their round one escapades.
Indeed, Buffers Alley went down by 15 points to Ferns St. Aidan’s, while St. Anne’s lost out by five points to reigning champions Oulart-The Ballagh, and Shelmaliers were surprised in a one-point loss to newcomers Askamore, leaving them all with some ground to make up.
Okay, with the exception of the ‘Alley’s sizable negative margin against Ferns, the deficits otherwise can be bridged quite easily as all 16 contenders seek to get closer to achieving this season’s twin goals of (a) avoiding been sucked into the relegation dogfight, from which three teams will eventually be demoted; and, (b) making the quarter-finals.
Only five of the 14 sides which have made the last eight over the past five years recorded wins in May’s first round matches.
But, it must be pointed out that two of those 14 teams, St. Patrick’s and MonageerBoolavogue, are no longer operating in the top-tier, while another, Faythe Harriers (quarter finalists in 2006 and 2008), drew in round one with Oylegate-Glenbrien.
Regardless, the opening results indicate how intense the battle to make the grade in 2010 could be, and there are some juicy matches in prospect this Saturday and Sunday, including Rapparees against St. Martin’s Ferns St. Aidan’s versus Blackwater, and St. Anne’s against Shelmaliers among others.
GROUP A
Rathnure are clear favourites here to top the group.
Although they got it tough in the first round against neighbours Cloughbawn, the black andamber are back in good form and, fresh from winning the Premier A League title, they will be expected to see off Faythe Harriers in round two and effectively secure their passage with two wins from two.
The ‘Harriers and Oylegate played out an uninspiring draw in round one, but Oylegate are expected to improve and seriously test Cloughbawn this weekend.
Still, Cloughbawn should get through – although should Oylegate manage to repeat the outcome of the sides’ last championship clash (a 2-12 to 0-9 win in 2007) then Cloughbawn will be doomed to the relegation battle. But I seriously don’t think that will happen.
GROUP B
St. Martin’s and Rapparees made early profit in this section at the expense of Glynn-Barntown and Marshalstown respectively.
The Martin’s-Rapps confrontation has lots of potential to be a humdinger, although the Martin’s had a comfortable 3-16 to 3-10 win over the Rapps last season after also beating them in 2006 (0-16 to 0-8). The only thing going against the Rapps is their lack of real firepower.
But the Martin’s will be without the Lyng brothers, ‘Gizzy’ and Ciarán, who are gone to America for a while.
Still, with Barry Lambert more than capable of taking over the scoring burden from ‘Gizzy’, the Martin’s should get one foot in the quarter-finals this weekend by seeing off the Rapps, while Glynn are expected to have too much quality for Marshalstown, who the Killurin men beat by 0-16 to 0-11 in a ‘B’ quarter-final two years ago.
GROUP C
The focus here is on Hollymount next Sunday as Buffers Alley try to repair the damage of their heavy loss to Ferns when they take on RathgarogueCushinstown, while Ferns will be looking to build on their good early deeds when they lock horns with Blackwater.
On the basis of the absolutely error-ridden 3-10 apiece drawn first round encounter between Blackwater and Cushinstown, those sides really appear likely to be only making up the numbers in this group.
Buffers Alley are most certainly fancied to get the better of a Cushinstown side that they eased past in their last championship clash (in 2008, by 5-18 to 0-12, after also beating Cushinstown in a quarter-final in 2007, by 0-16 to 0-10).
Blackwater, meanwhile, won’t have any fears of a Ferns side they last met in championship in intermediate back in 2005.
Back then it took three games to separate the sides, with Ferns eventually prevailing by 1-6 to 0-7 before falling to Shamrocks in the quarter-finals.
Ferns have struggled for consistency, so it wouldn’t be wise to stake any big money on them winning here, although they should make it two wins from two and make the quarter-finals.
GROUP D
One of Oulart-The Ballagh’s most successful managers, Willie Sunderland goes up against them this weekend as a consequence of masterminding Askamore’s somewhat surprise 0-14 to 1-10 win over Shelmaliers.
Askamore have built on last year’s county intermediate title success by challenging strongly in this year’s Leinster League (eventually losing out in a semi-final to eventual Division 1 winners BallybodenSt. Enda’s). But they did go under to HWH-Bunclody in the recent Premier B AllCounty League final. Oulart too suffered league final hurt, when losing out to Rathnure in then Premier A decider.
The current senior title-holders haven’t sparked yet this year, and they absolutely failed to inspire in the first round win over St. Anne’s (1-15 to 1-10).
They should start to find their true rhythm against an Askamore side which won’t be lacking for effort but might fall short on quality. As for St. Anne’s game against Shelmaliers, it’s really anyone’s guess who’ll win this one.
A loss for either could be very costly, so the pressure to deliver could actually inspire a brilliant battle, and one I’d fancy the Anne’s the win.
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