Dual star Fox firing on three fronts

THE GAA dual player may be considered a dying breed but Brian Fox is doing his best to buck that trend. Three months into the season and the Éire Óg-Annacarty man has been dividing his time in a three-way fashion.

A couple of weeks ago he was busy in Fitzgibbon Cup action, right corner-back on a UL team defeated by UCC in the final. For the Tipperary senior footballers he has nailed down a half-back spot as John Evans seeks to orchestrate a second successive promotion. And this afternoon he captains the Premier U21 footballers in their Munster semi-final showdown against Clare in Cooraclare.

“It’s been a hard few months”, he admits. “You’re training almost every day, but all the managers have been very understanding. The dual thing is hard to do and you couldn’t do it at county level. I suppose it was easier for me because the Fitzgibbon and the U21 are both over so early in the year. Being from Tipperary the hurling is the number one, but I love the football and I want to keep both going.”

This batch of players reached a Munster MFC final in 2006, beating Cork along the way, while last year, Tipperary reached the U21 decider before losing to Kerry.

“We’d a great chance last year, playing Kerry at home in Ardfinnan. It was a bit of sickener to see Kerry going on to win the All-Ireland afterwards. But we’re raring to go this year. Training’s been good and we had a couple of good challenge games against Drom-Broadford and Laois as well.”

Tipperary have seven senior panellists starting today. Matthew O’Donnell in goal, Ciaran McDonald, Christopher Aylward and Fox in defence, Brian Jones at midfield while the attack features Sean Carey and Timmy Dalton. Clare had a good win over Limerick last week but Tipp look strong enough to advance.

In the other Munster semi-final, Cork will be heavily tipped to follow up last weekend’s quarter-final destruction of Kerry with success against Waterford today in Páirc Uí Rinn. Coach John Cleary expressed his satisfaction with last week’s performance.

“We played well last week, there is no getting away from that. We made a good start and that set the tone. This week has been about trying to get their feet back on firm ground. We don’t know what Waterford will be like, but they’ll have pride in their jersey and will tear into us. We’ve got to be on our guard.”

Waterford manager Dave Robinson admits his team face a daunting task. “We’ll find it very hard to win but we’ll be trying our best. We’re under pressure and it’s been hard to get the team together. We’ve eight lads away in college and only two players on the age. We’re under no illusions.”

Waterford’s challenge will be spearheaded by senior players Sean O’Hare, who starred in CIT’s Sigerson Cup success, Stephen Enright, Conor McGrath and Brian Phelan. But Cork looked exceptional last week and in Shane McCarthy, David Goold, Colm O’Neill and Ciaran Sheehan, they have the firepower to win.

Meanwhile, Dublin and Westmeath will be bidding for a place in the Leinster final against Laois when they clash in Parnell Park today (2pm).

Dublin welcome back captain Cian O’Sullivan at midfield, with his Kilmacud Crokes All-Ireland winning teammates Kevin Nolan, Rory O’Carroll and Barry O’Rourke included among the subs. Dublin were narrow victors last time out over Meath while Westmeath had an emphatic opening round success over Offaly in early February, followed by a facile victory over Kilkenny. Senior players Neil Kilcoyne, Conor Lynam, Thomas McDaniel and John Connellan will front their charge, but Dublin get the vote.

In Connacht, defending U21 champions Mayo aim to follow up last week’s narrow victory over Galway when they face Roscommon in Charlestown this afternoon. Last year’s minor stars Aidan O’Shea, Kevin Keane and Cathal Freeman will be to the fore for Mayo but Roscommon, All-Ireland minor winners three years ago, have big ambitions. The other Connacht semi-final between Leitrim and Sligo is on in Carrick-on-Shannon today at 2.30pm.