Galway likely to be waiting as Tipp and Waterford bid for final spot

SHORTLY before 5pm tomorrow either Tipperary or Waterford will book their place in the NHL final on May 9 — with Galway the likely opponents.

As Clare will have played Cork and the Tribesmen will have hosted Limerick before the ball is thrown in at Semple Stadium, Ken Hogan's side will know exactly what is required of them to progress.

A draw will suit Waterford, as they are unbeaten after two rounds in the second phase. Galway, Limerick, Tipperary and Clare have only one win to their credit and Cork are pointless.

Galway are certainly serious in their bid to qualify for the final and, based on their current standing, it's doubtful if Limerick have the capability to prevent the Tribesmen advancing.

Pat Joe Whelahan admits to having fancied either the Westerners or Tipperary to win the title and has seen little to change his mind. But, he will have a very different message for the Limerick players before the game.

"We're going okay at the moment, not too bad,'' he commented. "It's nice to be in the closing stages. Are we near getting a settled team, we've five weeks to the championship? We'll know after Sunday how we're fixed. "We're going down with a good chance. We got there (to the second phase) against the odds. Nobody gave us a chance.''

He acknowledges progress has been made, pointing out they had 'no work' done before they played Tipperary.

"We had no hurling, nothing, just training. We didn't concentrate on hurling until the evenings got long,'' adding that he is very pleased with the spirit shown by the squad, against Wexford and Antrim.

After recovering from a defeat in the first round, Galway suffered a chastening loss to Tipperary in Thurles last weekend. In the process, Tipp affirmed their League intentions are serious following suggestions to the contrary by Clare boss Anthony Daly.

Ollie Canning, Galway's Allstar defender, doesn't accept players or teams go out to deliberately lose matches. "Tipp were very good last week. I don't believe in that stuff about teams not trying. You go out to win. You don't want to get beaten any day you go out and I believe all players feel like that,'' he says.

Having got into a winning sequence after being 'caught' by Clare in the first game in Pearse Stadium, Canning admits the result in Thurles last Sunday was very disappointing.

"The second phase of the League is definitely a step up. Things are a little bit quicker.

"Our concentration will be on trying to beat Limerick and then we'll see how other results go. It's a good scenario if we can get to the final because we have a couple of weeks after that before we hit the championship."