Weekend GAA previews: Limerick's reserves will be key, Clare should test Kerry depth
All-Star midfielder Darragh O'Donovan is among those on the bench for Limerick against Waterford. Pic: Tom Beary/Sportsfile
The word from Waterford is the place is only buzzing after the All-Ireland champions were beaten last weekend. It’s been suggested by a couple of keen observers in the county that the six-day turnaround mightn’t be such a big thing for a county that, when it has a team to follow, it goes haywire.
Beating Cork in Walsh Park last year was a fine result but this latest one has come off a piece of silverware. “When was the last time Waterford won seven games in a row?” asked a Waterford journalist late last Sunday afternoon. Under Derek McGrath in 2015, Waterford won eight consecutive games between the league and championship when they reached a Munster final.
Save for Nickie Quaid (excuse the pun), there hasn’t been much said of the reigning provincial champions either before or after their draw against Tipperary. A couple of players may have had to go to hand-pass school over the past couple of weeks but Tipperary were always going to throw plenty at them seeing as it was the more winnable of their first two games.
If the Limerick team lines out as named with Kyle Hayes is in defence, there is balance. Limerick in recent times would not sacrifice their shape to follow Tony Kelly. Do they do the same with Jamie Barron here? It’s a fine bench Limerick have to call on but John Kiely only made two substitutes the last day. He will make more here but his reserves can see out a difficult win.
Limerick.
Down v Tyrone, Kingspan Breffni, 3.15pm (K. Brady, Louth) Live Spórt TG4.
Down.
Armagh v Monaghan, Kingspan Breffni, 1.30pm (M. Connolly, Sligo) Live Spórt TG4.
Armagh.
Familiarity breeds contempt in more ways than one here as Clare and Kerry clash for the third straight provincial final and Peter Keane comes up against the man who succeeded him on the Kerry throne.
For both the Clare team and management, there is plenty of motivation and Meath’s undoing of Dublin is bound to give them spirit. On paper, they are a better team than they were going down admirably to Kerry in Ennis 12 months ago. Eoin Cleary and Keelan Sexton illuminate the attack and if Jack O’Connor felt Kerry had it difficult physically in the middle of the pitch against Cork, there is unlikely to be much let-off here.
For all the claims about Kerry getting a handy All-Ireland draw irrespective of how this game goes, this clash will give us an indication of whether they have the resources that will be required later in the year to win tight matches. Kerry are without five men but possibly four starters and outside of Killian Spillane there don’t appear to be too many match-winners in the stand.
So do Kerry go bald-headed from the outset with the objective of not having to rely on a weakened bench? Keane will surely know that and look to restrict Kerry early doors. That might be difficult for a back-line that need no invitation to go forward but for the first quarter at least discretion will be the best part of valour.
Kerry will be thankful for what Cork did and showed them last Saturday week. That examination will make them too sharp for Clare who at home would have had a genuine chance of bridging the gap to 1992.
Kerry.
“We are no longer relying on one or two players anymore,” exclaimed Pádraic Joyce about Damien Comer and Shane Walsh after his Galway team dismantled Roscommon. “We have to develop the squad which we have done.”
There is a growing belief that Joyce is right. Speaking to Conor Mortimer this past week, the former Mayo forward thinks the attack is more fluid without them and each player is standing up on their own two feet without going looking for their elder statesmen. That’s not to say Galway will win an All-Ireland without at least one of them but if Galway are truly evolved, beating Mayo in Castlebar minus the two thirtysomethings should be within their capabilities.
Mayo’s form since the final round game against Donegal has tapered off considerably but you wonder if everything really was building up to this. The midweek draw doesn’t distract from the fact they need to win a Connacht title not for bragging rights but proving to themselves that they truly are contenders and ready to put the hard luck stories of last season behind them.
It wasn’t so long ago that Aidan O’Shea was talking about the provincial championship not being the be-all and end-all but he would love a ninth medal now. Winning a Nestor Cup sure would be a relief for Mayo assistant manager Stephen Rochford who is looking to claim it for the first time at the sixth attempt on the sideline.
Anything is possible with this Mayo team who will be nothing like the version of themselves that lay down to their neighbours in Castlebar in the league but more is probable for Galway.
Galway.
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