The fixtures
Dublin v Laois Sunday 3.30 pm
Clare v Waterford Monday 3pm (Live on RTE 2)
The previews
Clare v Waterford
In his third year in charge of the Deise, the day that Davy Fitzgerald must have privately been dreading has finally arrived. On Monday afternoon, he will manage a side in direct opposition with his native Clare, the county with which he won two All-Ireland titles, three All-Star awards and made a record 60 championship appearances.
However steeped he and indeed his family are in Clare hurling, there will be no room for sentiment in Thurles on Bank Holiday Monday, even if Davy Fitz will be going up against his old mate Ger ‘Sparrow’ O’Loughlin, who is in his first year in charge of the Banner.
O’Loughlin has performed an admirable job in his debut season, topping Division Two of the league and narrowly losing out to Wexford in the final. The gulf in class between the top two divisions is particularly pronounced in hurling, however and although Waterford didn’t set the world alight in the top tier, they did enough to suggest that they’ll be sniffing around the business end of things later in the year.
Eoin Kelly was in fine form throughout the spring while Fitzgerald will hope that his decision to rest some of his senior players such as John Mullane and Tony Browne for the majority of the league campaign will pay dividends during the summer months.
Teams:
Clare: (To be announced)
Waterford: (To be announced)
Odds: The bookies aren’t giving Clare much of a chance and we tend to agree with them. Waterford to win by five points or more.
Clare 7/2, Waterford 1/4, Draw 12/1
JOE Prediction:
Dublin v Laois
If Dublin’s league form is anything to go by, Anthony Daly will have his work cut out trying to emulate the achievements of his debut season with Dublin’s hurlers, when they overcame Wexford in Leinster and gave a good account of themselves against Kilkenny in the provincial final. Had Limerick hurling not been in such a sorry state this year, it could well have been Dublin and not Limerick that dropped out of the top tier this spring.
Despite that, they should have enough to overcome Laois in Kilkenny on Sunday. Niall Rigney’s men did just enough to get over the challenge of Christy Ring champions Carlow last time out and were impressive during the league, but do not look strong enough to meet a far bigger challenge in the shape of the Dubs.
Conor Dunne comes in for the O’Moore County in place of the suspended Eoin Costello and Neil Foyle replaces Colin Delaney at full forward. JJ McHugh is kept on the bench despite recovering from injury while Brian Stapleton is not yet fit to return.
Teams:
Dublin: (To be announced)
Laois: E Reilly, JA Delaney, D Maher, C Healy; B Campion, M Whelan, M McEvoy; C Dunne, J Walsh; J Fitzpatrick, Z Keenan, W Hyland; T Fitzgerald, N Foyle, J Brophy.
Odds:
Dublin 1/6, Laois 4/1, Draw 14/1
JOE Prediction: Dublin should have too much for a battling Laois side. Anthony Daly’s men to come out on top with six or seven points to spare.
