Hogan’s hopefuls

WITH Kilkenny and Clare taking full points from their two games to date, it looks like the NHL pairing is already set.

Clare are on something of a roll in recent weeks with consecutive wins over Kilkenny, Waterford, Tipperary and Cork and will be playing a demoralised Wexford this weekend.

Should Clare slip up, then Tipperary and Galway still have an outside chance of qualifying, provided they both manage to win their final round games. With Tipperary visiting Kilkenny however, and Galway facing a near full-strength Cork in Cork, Tipp manager Ken Hogan is taking a realistic view and accepts his team’s chances are slim.