McCann and Griffin look favourites in Kerry but don’t rule out Wyley

DAVID McCANN and Paul Griffin, team mates with the Giant Asia professional team, are the men likely to dictate Credit Union Rás Mumhan in Kerry over the weekend, but they won’t have it their own way when they join forces on the Earl of Desmond team.

McCann, winner of last year’s FBD Insurance Rás, will arrive after a string of races including the Tour of Thailand and the Tour of Lankawi.

This is a race Griffin would dearly love to win and he also has the credentials. Apart from McCann, the Tralee man will have the support of his Earl of Desmond clubmates, Vinnie Gleeson and the Lacey brothers.

Tralee will also enter a B team.

But Timmy Barry feels that Rory Wyley might just about upset the odds following the Dungarvan man’s performance in the Des Hanlon Memorial Classic in Carlow last Sunday when he rode away from the field.

Barry, a mate of Wyley’s on the Dan Morrisey Carrick Wheelers team, finished third in the event and while he dismisses his own performance, he was in awe of Wyley.

“I was away with Rory and Philip Cassidy but Rory was doing 90 per cent of the work into a very strong wind.

“When we got the wind on our backs, he just rode away from us.”

Barry will be rowing in behind Wyley in his quest for glory. The team will also include Martin O’Loughlin, the Manager of the Irish Olympic team, John Dempsey and Brian Truman, who has taken three months off from his studies in Canada to ride the FBD Insurance Rás.

Martin O’Loughlin was unlucky to have missed the break on Sunday and, with Wyley and Barry up the road, his hands were tied from then on. But he has the qualities to mastermind an upset over the weekend.

Overall victory, however, is likely to come down to Sunday morning’s 10k time trial and, if it does, then McCann has to be the winner, for time trialling is one of his specialities.

With an eye on the Rás in May, a number of riders will be watched for form. Michael Hennessy from Fermoy appears to be one of the most improved riders in the country and he will be watched carefully.

Barry, too, will be building on last Sunday’s performance but conceded that the yellow jersey won’t be his priority over the weekend. He is looking towards the Tour of Ulster which he has won twice and then the Rás.

A strong field will assemble in Kerry for the first big stage race of the season. Philip Cassidy’s Cycleways team will include two winners, Stephen O’Sullivan and Eugene Moriarty from Listowel, the last Irishman to win the title.

The race gets underway on Good Friday at 2pm, with the Killorglin Credit Union Stage around Killarney, Castleisland, Tralee, Sliabh Mish and back to Killorglin.

Saturday’s 94 mile Conor Pass stage will also start and finish in Killorglin, taking in Sliabh Mish once again, Tralee, the Conor Pass, Dingle, Annascaul, Gleann a Gealt, Tralee and Sliabh Mish again.

Sunday morning’s 10km time trial will be from Beaufort to Killorglin followed by a 60 mile Skellig Ring Stage (3.30 pm) starting in Killorglin and finishing in Cahirciveen.

The concluding Monday morning stage will be over three laps of the Killorglin, Beaufort, Killorglin Circuit followed by four laps of the Donal McKenna Circuit.