Thurles clash first big test of young Offaly men's mettle

FOUR sides head to Semple Stadium, Thurles tomorrow with differing hopes and ambitions.

At face value, a place in the last four of the Allianz National Hurling League is on offer. But with the Championship on the horizon, Tipperary, Offaly, Waterford and Limerick will have more pressing thoughts to concern them at 5pm tomorrow evening.

First game on the card is the meeting of Offaly and Tipperary. Coached by John McIntyre, Offaly have been the surprise team of this campaign.

Beaten just once, by Clare, Offaly have earned their day in the April sun with an impressive campaign which included a comprehensive win over Waterford last Sunday. But a full strength Tipperary at home is a far tougher prospect for Mac's young side. And well he knows it.

"Having to go to Thurles makes a difficult challenge all the harder," reckons McIntyre, "but at least it gives Offaly big-match experience, in the best hurling venue in the country.

"It's an ideal opportunity to test the progress we've made.

"We're expecting to see a transformed Tipperary from what we've seen early in the league."

Transformed is an understatement. With Maher at full-back, Fanning in the centre, Paul Kelly back in his All-Star midfield slot, big John Carroll manning the 40, even bigger Michael Webster on the edge of the square, this is Tipperary in championship mode.

And then there is bang-in-form Eoin Kelly in the corner, who helped himself to a couple of goals in last weekend's challenge win over Galway.

"We tried a few things, tried a few new players and they worked," Kelly said of their upturn in fortunes.

"We want a settled team going into the Championship, Limerick have (their Championship opponents), so we're delighted to have qualified for the quarter-final of the league and give us another chance to tweak things."

He hadn't expected to be meeting Offaly, however: "I'd say everyone is surprised, but I saw them on television, they looked good. They're training since last November and they're fit and hungry.

"I am surprised, yes, but I'm very impressed with the way they're playing. You'd have to say they have better credentials than us; they've drawn with Cork, beaten Wexford, beaten Waterford and beaten Down.

"We've beaten Antrim, beaten Laois, drawn with Limerick. They'll probably be favourites."

No they won't, Eoin, the pressure will be on Tipperary.

"I wouldn't call it pressure," counters Kelly. "We've had a bad run with injuries and are just trying to get a full team together. Diarmuid Fitzgerald and Lar Corbett are coming back."

As for the Babs controversies, his colourful criticisms of his side?

"There's too much made of it," he laughs. "It won't matter on the day."

A loss will matter on the day, however, and more so for Tipperary. A big performance will do John McIntyre, even if wouldn't say so. The majority of this Tipp side has been there for several seasons now. This is a must win for Tipp.

The other semi-final sees Waterford trying to restore a lot of lost pride after their defeat to the Faithful County last weekend.

"I don't know what happened, or why, it just happened," says Michael Walsh. "Offaly are a good team. I was impressed with them, the young fellas like Joe Bergin (full-forward, hat-trick hero) especially. A bit like Limerick, they are flying at the moment. Kilkenny won't have it all their own way in Leinster anyway!"

Waterford simply can't afford a repeat of last week. Another loss here, a bad loss, and they really are in trouble. Problem is, Limerick are the form team - unbeaten in all competitions.

Walsh continued: "I've played against them already this year, with WIT (in the Waterford Crystal tournament) and I was very impressed. They are a very strong, physical team. Limerick will be hot favourites so we'll see now how good we are."

Limerick skipper TJ Ryan makes no bones about their ambitions. "We're really looking forward to this. With five weeks to the championship, a big match in Thurles is perfect preparation. We should be at full strength and we'll go all out for it."

Is he wary of a Waterford backlash?

"Conditions weren't ideal for them last week," admitted Ryan. "We've played in those kind of conditions ourselves, it's hard to hurl, things can go against you very quickly and they were unlucky to go down to 14 men.

"It's an important part of our preparations. We're not fooling ourselves, we still have a lot of work to do. We haven't been scoring huge amounts but we're getting there."

A couple of years ago, Waterford turned around after a whopping league final defeat to Galway, to trounce Clare in the Munster SHC a week later. This is almost as big a game for them. Can they do it again, especially without star forward Eoin Kelly?

It's a huge ask, perhaps too much.