Coppinger set for tough title defence against Murphy

Martin Coppinger was handed a difficult route to defend his Munster and All-Ireland senior titles at last Wednesday’s Munster championship draws.

If returning from injury was not a sufficient challenge he also drew European Moors champion Aidan Murphy in Pool B and they’ll slog it out for the only direct quarter-final slot in the group. The winner would hope to beat both Willie O’Donovan and Brian Wilmot, leaving their head-to-head to decide the pool winner.

Sport rarely follows such a neat pattern though. O’Donovan and Wilmot are capable of taking down their big name opponents, but it is unlikely that either would beat both. O’Donovan lives in Mayo and does not have regular top-level competition but Wilmot has a penchant for getting results against the odds.