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Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Daly’s Dubs come to town
WITH the Waterford Crystal trophy tucked safely away after a hugely successful opener to the new season by Davy Fitz’s men, the next big test the National League commences on Sunday with a hugely inviting home tie against Anthony Daly’s Dublin in Walsh Park.
It’s the second managerial head to head for Davy and one of his All-Ireland winning colleagues of those heady days of the 1990s, and having already seen off Ger “Sparrow’’ O’Loughlin’s Clare in the “Crystal’’ semi-final Fitzy will be hoping for an equally positive outcome to next Sunday’s managerial showdown with the man who had the honour of captaining the Banner on one of those All-Ireland final winning glory days.
In bygone days this league opener would have been regarded as a Deise banker, especially with the game being played in our own back yard. But times have changed big time and for the better where the Dubs are concerned, and since Daly’s appointment it has been upwards and onwards for the sky blue brigade.
Last year’s achievement in reaching the Leinster final was significant by any yardstick, and while the outcome was pretty much as expected they still gave Kilkenny a decent enough run for their money before going under by half a dozen points. All the pointers since then suggest strongly that they are continuing to build on the progress of 2009, and for sure they’ll be coming South on Sunday buoyed up with a fair measure of justifiable confidence.
As the time of writing there’s no definite news on the Waterford lineout, but given all of the headaches confronting management the certainty is that the starting fifteen won’t be nearly as strong as they would like it to be.
We always knew that John Mullane, Tony Browne, Ken McGrath, Eoin Murphy, Seamas Prendergast, and Dan Shanahan wouldn’t be there as they continue with their own specific fitness programmes, but their unavailability has been considerably aggravated by the absence through suspension of the two Eoins, Kelly and McGrath.
The former is out because of his straight red card against UCC in the “Crystal’’ final last Sunday week, while McGrath suffered the same fate in the semi-final against Clare a week earlier.
Filling the gaps won’t be easy given the strength of this present day Dublin outfit, and it really will be something of a feather in everyone’s cap if we manage a winning start to this league campaign.
So far this season several of the newcomers have shown hugely encouragingly promise defender Jerome Meagher of the Geraldines springs most readily to mind in that regard. But the really searching questions are likely to be asked of everyone on Sunday and how positive a response we come up with will most probably determine the outcome of the game.
Certainly we will all be looking to Michael “Brick’’ Walsh inspirational in every game to date to come up with another five star performance and send a confidence booster throughout every other sector in the side. Big games too will be needed from experienced campaigners like the Ardmore duo of Declan Prendergast and Clinton Hennessy, and if big Gary Hurney can continue in his good form then that Dubs defence might find itself stretched and even over stretched at times.
Its not at all paramount that we win this one on Sunday, but it certainly would be nice if we can manage against the odds to do so. There’s an even stiffer test to come next away to Galway so the cushion of a Walsh Park win would be a huge morale booster going West.
I have to be honest and express a doubt about our ability to garner the points in this league opener because of how understrength we will be, but it’s a challenge nonetheless that will reveal a whole lot more insight into where we really stand right now. Good luck lads, let’s give it a lash.
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