Preview- Shamrocks more vulnerable than ever as chasing pack eye big chance

In many ways the shadow boxing is at an end as the St Canice’s Credit Union senior hurling championship gets set for take off on Saturday evening.

Rather aptly it’s defending champions Shamrocks that are first up as they take on Danesfort in Callan.

The Shamrocks are looking to back up their record breaking season last term that saw them become the first Kilkenny club to win five senior titles on the trot and it’s certainly not been plain sailing for them since they defeated in Dunloy in last January’s All-Ireland final.

The defending champions have lost Brian Cody, Ronan Corcoran, Joey Cuddihy, Joey Holden and Colin Fennelly who have all gone off travelling in recent months but don’t be surprised if one or two of those players are back for Saturday’s game.

The clash with Danesfort doubles as a relegation semi-final and round one championship game and whatever the teamsheet says, it’s almost impossible to look beyond Shamrocks advancing to the quarter-finals.

Adrian Mullen is captain of the Shamrocks team this term and he knows their form will have to improve if they are to retain their title.

“You are probably listening to people writing us off a small bit and maybe they do have the right to but we’ll just go out and try to prove to ourselves that we can achieve great things again,” he said, speaking at the championship launch.

“When you’re representing a parish like ours it’s not hard to keep the motivation going, you want to do everyone in the club proud and we love playing hurling so we enjoy every single bit of it.”

The other relegation semi-final involves Erin’s Own of Castlecomer and Mullinavat and while ’Comer were among the favourites to be in this situation, it is a bit surprising to see Mullinavat at this stage.

While they won’t enjoy it too much ’Comer have been able to find a way to safety over the last few years so they know what’s coming and Mullinavat need to be ready for that test.

’Comer’s Conor Fogarty picked up an injury during Kilkenny’s All-Ireland final defeat to Limerick but he’s back now and he feels that Erin's Own can be a threat to anyone in the county.

“If we can perform we are confident that we can put it up to any team and it’s just trying to get that consistency going forward.

“It’s important to have lads coming through and knocking on the door to get onto the team and we feel like we are in a good place.”

As well as the relegation semi-finals, there are also two big round one games this weekend with Graigue -Ballycallan facing Clara and Tullaroan meeting Bennettsbridge.

Not many people would have predicted that both Clara and Ballycallan will have avoided the battle to stay up at the start of the season but credit must go to the two teams after they put in some very decent showings in recent weeks.

It’s very much a 50-50 game and with a few talented youngsters in their ranks, it will be interesting to see how Ballycallan cope with a more experienced Clara outfit.

The other opening round game looks a real cracker on paper with the last two league winners Bennettsbridge and Tullaroan coming face to face.

The reality is that the loser of this clash will look back on a disappointing season while the winner will hope it kickstarts their campaign.

After reaching the last two county semi-finals, Tullaroan will start slight favourites but it’s a game that could really go either way.

For Bennettsbridge and Kevin Blanchfield, taking a scalp like Tullaroan is a big aim for the squad.

“We’ve done well in the league recently but we’ve still been knocked out of the championship in the first round the last three years so we’re chasing that big victory and every game in Kilkenny is tough anyway so we just have to get ourselves in order and hopefully we can get into the quarter-finals.”

Away from the big championship clashes, the weekend starts off with the league and shield finals in UPMC Nowlan Park.

City neighbours James Stephens and O’Loughlin Gaels will face off in the shield and while every local derby is fiercely competitive, you would expect the two sides to make a number of alterations ahead of the quarter-finals in the championship.

The league final takes place afterwards as Dicksboro look to maintain their 100% record against a Glenmore team who have taken the step up in their stride over the last two seasons.

If the ‘Boro go with their strongest available team, you’d expect they’ll be too strong in the end but Glenmore are certainly in with a fighting chance.

Dicksboro are captained by Bill Sheehan and he acknowledges that championship is still their main aim.

“I don’t think anyone will look too much into league form as teams are looking to peak for the business end of the season come September or October and we are no different in that regard.”

Overall a cracking weekend of action lies in store!

Weekend Fixtures

SATURDAY

Shield Final
O’Loughlin Gaels v James Stephens in UPMC Nowlan Park at 1pm

League Final
Glenmore v Dicksboro in UPMC Nowlan Park at 3pm

Relegation Semi-Final/Round 1 Championship
Shamrocks v Danesfort in John Locke Park, Callan at 4.30pm

SUNDAY

Round 1 Championship
Graigue-Ballycallan v Clara in UPMC Nowlan Park at 1pm
Tullaroan v Bennettsbridge in UPMC Nowlan Park at 3pm

Relegation Semi-Final/Round 1 Championship
Mullinavat v Erin’s Own in Danesfort at 4.30pm