Underdogs look to land club shocks

While we don’t have National League hurling this weekend, perhaps the stakes are a little higher again in the All-Ireland senior club semi-finals.

Our good friends from TG4 will be at Parnell Park and Thurles to bring us the clashes between Liam Mellows and Cuala and Na Piarsaigh and Slaughtneil.

The bookies would have us believe that defending champions Cuala will stroll through in Semple Stadium, while Munster champions Na Piarsaigh will also have it easy in Dublin against the Derry dual stars.

Odds on

How easy? Na Piarsaigh are at priced 1/5 while Cuala are 1/6. Those odds are slightly insulting to both the Connacht and Ulster champions.

We can’t blame Cuala or Na Piarsaigh for the weight of their favourite tags and neither will like to be reminded of the odds leading up to the games because in a two horse race, one horse can always fall.

Unlikely as it might be, I fully expect one of the two games to be a lot closer than the bookies suspect.

It could be in Parnell Park.

Slaughtneil were in the last four in 2017 and that experience must count for something.

For all of the challenge matches Na Piarsaigh have lined up in the previous few weeks there will still be some rust.

Hurling in early February is a completely different game and the forecast isn’t offering much encouragement for good hurling.

The Limerick champions appear to have plenty of big guns, proven and future stars like Kevin Downes, David and Adrian Breen, Peter Casey, Ronan Lynch and the possibility of a fit again Shane Dowling.

Imperious through Munster, of course they should win and with something to spare, but they will not and won’t be taking that for granted.

Their opponents will be dogged, they will play with the spirit that has made the Slaughtneil story of the past few years a most remarkable one.

They will not go gently into the gloom that may permeate Parnell Park. Na Piarsaigh to win, but they’ll be amde to earn it.

Mellows

Liam Mellows were the surprise package of Galway club hurling last winter.

While basking in the glow of Liam McCarthy, the championship was played off in a slight hurry, as is often the case for All-Ireland champions.

Their county final was played on the first Sunday in December and it might be worth noting that there were no current Liam Mellows hurlers in action with their county on the first Sunday in September.

In winning, the city side bridged a gap that stretched back to 1970.

Still there is know-how in the Mellows side.

Aonghus Callanan and David Collins have big match experience, while Mellows’ manager is the wily Louis Mulqueen from Clare, a man who has the happy knack of being on the sideline when the biggest of trophies are being won.

Louis has been at the side of Davy and Ger Loughnane with county teams, including 2013 and a minor All-Ireland as far back as 1997.

All the talk of an imminent heavyweight final between Na Piarsaigh and Cuala will suit these underdogs too.

Outmatched as they may look on paper, with Con and Cian O’Callaghan, the Shutte’s and Treacys to contend with, Mellows too have little to lose.

Once again, the impressive Cuala are clearly the team to beat and are in search of a second consecutive Tommy Moore Cup.

But games still have to be won, squads have to be primed and underdogs can’t be encouraged.

Football

The National Football leagues continue this weekend, the third weekend in a row that county squads take the field.

Any players lucky enough to be still in college are also likely to have played a Sigerson Cup quarter-final earlier this week too. That kind of work load can have an effect.

There are no games at the must win stage yet, except for those that look on relegation as a significant setback.

As luck would have it, Kildare and Tyrone meet in Newbridge this Sunday – neither has any points to date.

The winner of this will no longer be in the bottom pair because we all expect Dublin to beat Donegal in Croke Park (not a certainty!), so if Mikey Harte is thinking about a decent league run, his time is probably now.

Monaghan and Kerry could be a proper contest in Iniskeen because the Kingdom have won their first two outings, while the home side could nearly start to relax if they grabbed the points and put relegation in the rear view mirror.

Galway and Mayo has its own song so that’s a match that always means something.

The Tribesmen have started life in the top tier excellently but the higher level of competition will probably get to them soon.

They too could exhale with a win on Sunday in, but I fancy Mayo.

The real battles of course are just below the top division.

The second flight is tight already, although Louth and Clare already look in difficulty. Meath and Roscommon are just two making the right noises for advancement, while Tipperary could be the dark horses yet.

Whatever happens this weekend, it will not provide proof that your county is going to win the All-Ireland in 2018. Neither will it tell you for sure that your crowd ‘are gone’ either.

Ireland’s resilience in Paris while staring defeat in the eye was heartening.

It is only the really exceptional teams that can show such patience and ruthlessness, going through that many phases before getting the job done.

We can play better and will play better. That knowledge helps our cause as well because three games at home will build us to the necessary peak needed on St Patrick’s Day.

Schmidt won’t look past the Italians and, neither will the team, but it’s set up for us now.

While pundits are already identifying the Welsh as a real threat, this weekend might lay their ambitions bare.

While the English and aforementioned Welsh have bonus points in the bag, the real winning of this championship will not be decided by extra bonus points.

Arrive in Twickenham unbeaten and it doesn’t matter. That game will be for a Grand Slam and by then, that’s all that will count.

A lot must happen between now and then. England will beat Wales this weekend but Eddie Jones’s side still have to go to Paris, where that French team will make them work. Murrayfield mightn’t be too hospitable either.

In the meantime, we get to put the scoring threat back in our game at home on Saturday and enjoy a week off ahead of Warren Gatland’s inevitable ball-hopping.

The loss of Josh Van Der Flier for the season, while of course desperately disappointing for him, Leinster and Joe Schmidt, is not in an area where we lack depth.

After week one we are in a good place. By week three or four we might be thinking about Sean O’Brien or Andrew Conway as additions.

The Italians will bring some game to Dublin but I have a feeling that we’ll cut loose. Much as we really and truly enjoyed Sexton’s last gasp heroics, they won’t be needed this time.

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