Hurling & Camogie

All-Ireland Club Hurling Sidelines

Ntahan Curry headshot
Ntahan Curry headshot Ntahan Curry headshot

All-Ireland Intermediate Hurling Club Championship semi-final: Kanturk (Cork) v Middletown Na Fianna (Armagh) (today, St Conleth’s Park, Newbridge, 2pm)

IT may seem to be a case of everything staying the same apart from the date, but there has been one big knock-on effect from last week’s postponed fixture between Middletown and Kanturk.

The delay means that Middletown manager Martin Curry and his sons Nathan and Odhran are set for a jam-packed weekend as they also form the management team of the Eglish camogs, who are in All-Ireland semi-final action tomorrow.

They are used to that though with Middletown and Eglish both claiming provincial titles on the same weekend back in October, and they’ll be hoping for another double delight.

The Na Fianna men hadn’t set off for Newbridge when the game was cancelled last week, so there were no major disruptions.

They would have spent another week analysing their opponents, a side some of their players know very well.

Kanturk hosted Middeltown during the 2001 Feile in Cork and some of the opposing players have kept in contact to this day.

The Munster champions were probably happy enough to get another week off.

Top scorer Liam O’Keefe had been touch and go for the original fixture with a hand injury, but his chances of playing would have increased.

Their goalkeeper Anthony Nash has been in the news in the lead up to the game after he was named in nets for Cork’s Division 1A opener with Kilkenny tonight. With that match scheduled to throw-in at 7pm it means two games in five hours for the shot-stopper, a situation that has raised questions about player welfare

“I think the chap should be left alone and left to concentrate on the club game,” said former Kilkenny star Richie Power, who was critical of John Meyler’s decision to name him on the Cork team.

The fact that a player has to worry about Kilkenny gives an indicator to the talent in the Kanturk squad.

They have class all over the pitch with the likes of Aidan Walsh and Lorcan McLaughlin also providing real threats to Middletown’s aspirations.

The Armagh side are noted battlers, but this looks a step too far.

All-Ireland Junior Hurling Club Championship semi-final: Ardmore (Waterford) v Setanta (Donegal) (today, Páirc Tailteann, 2pm)

A FINAL date with St Mogue’s, Fethard awaits the winners of this rescheduled All-Ireland Junior Hurling semi-final between Setanta and Ardmore.

The Donegal side had travelled to Navan the night before the game last week, so it would have been a real low point when news filtered through on the Sunday that the game had been called off due to the weather.

With that in mind, manager Paul Campbell’s main job this week would probably have been getting the team in the right frame of mind once again.

Johnny Carlin will miss out through injury while work commitments could rule out Ritchie Kee, Sean Anderson and Alan McConnell.

Ardmore will play in the Waterford Senior Championship later this year, so their class is evident.

They have been in free-scoring mode throughout this campaign and Setanta will find it hard to stop them hitting another big tally.