De La Salle up for a battle

De La Salle selector Barry Murphy knows Sunday will test the Waterford county champions to the limit.

They travel to Sixmilebridge to face Clare kingpins Newmarket-on-Fergus in the Munster Club championship, but is Murphy worried they didn’t get much of a challenge in what was a one-sided Waterford county final against Dungarvan?

“We had a very tough quarter-final and semi-final before that,” countered Murphy. “That stood to us in the final. In fairness to Dungarvan in the county final, they’re a young side and the occasion might have got to them a bit. Whatever about the county final, we’d have put it in to get over the two previous rounds, the semi-final against Mount Sion in particular. That was a derby and we wouldn’t have beaten them in a knockout game for a while.”

The weekend after that win the De La Salle management pointed the car west to take a look at who their next opponents would be. Murphy says Newmarket seized control of that Clare decider early nd never relented.

“We went up to the Clare county final and Newmarket were very impressive,” said Murphy.

“They never gave Cratloe, their opponents, a chance, they blew them out of it really. Newmarket were 1-1 up after a couple of minutes.

“I was very impressed by Enda Barrett at centre-back, he was very good on the day and so was James McInerney at full-back. Shane O’Brien was very dangerous up front and Colin Ryan came roaming out the field for them as well, he was man of the match.

“They’re well organised, they’re probably a bit like ourselves in that they’re a big, physical team. Liam Sheedy was up with them and you could see his mark on how they played, they were very well drilled.”

On Sunday De La Salle face Newmarket in Sixmilebridge. It’s a good journey from Waterford city to the Banner County, and overnighting nearby was considered. Murphy describes the distance as “a factor” but points to his own side’s advantages.

“It’s a long bus journey from Waterford to Clare at the best of times, and to be honest we weighed up the option of staying overnight, but we felt that it would be too unsettling for lads to be in a strange bed.

“We’ll head up on the morning and it’s tricky enough, we’ll have to get grub into them along the way as well. The way they played in Ennis in the county final we thought they might want to go back there, but it’s Sixmilebridge instead. The one thing is that we have experience in Munster. We’re hoping that’ll stand to us. Our fellas are still hurting over the way they went out to Clarinbridge in the All-Ireland semi-final a couple of years ago. There’s no shortage of motivation.”

Hurling in the winter isn’t always a matter of touch and artistry, either. Attitude plays a part, as Murphy and company know well.

“Every game’s 50/50 at this time of the year, and it’s not always the most skilful team that wins.

“Other people might be looking ahead to the Munster Club final, but we’re not. Our focus is totally on Newmarket.”