All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship quarter-final: Laois v Tipperary (tomorrow, Croke Park, 4pm)
TEN teams started out in this year’s All-Ireland Hurling Championship. Laois, not one of the 10, will tomorrow attempt to cause perhaps the biggest shock in GAA history by moving into the last four at the expense of Tipperary.
Eddie Brennan’s charges are already the story of the summer and while the bandwagon will be standing room only at Croke Park, it had been pretty full even before their famous preliminary quarter-final win over Dublin last weekend.
The O’Moore county enjoyed brilliant support home and away during their successful Joe McDonagh campaign and also against Dublin. The fact that they are playing in the main event after the Cork and Kilkenny clash tomorrow will make the occasion all the more special.
All-Ireland quarter-finals are, of course, familiar territory for former Kilkenny ace Brennan and his experience in big encounters has obviously rubbed off on the side as shown in their 1-22 to 0-23 victory last week.
“We have to push ourselves to go out of the comfort zone yet again and have a go,” Brennan said this week.
It’s 15 years since the sides last met in the Championship and Tipperary won that encounter by 24 points. In truth, if Laois could halve that deficit then it would be a pretty good achievement – the handicap is 15 points for a reason.
The message in Tipperary has been one of avoiding complacency, about delivering the sort of performance they would aim to if it was Kilkenny or Cork or Galway standing in their way. Liam Sheedy will want this game killed stone dead within 20 minutes.
The Premier county are aiming to bounce back from their Munster final loss to Limerick, but their path to the All-Ireland final is blocked by Laois and Wexford as a result while the Treaty men will face Cork or Kilkenny. Better losing?
Tipp defender Cathal Barrett didn’t feature in their 12-point provincial final loss but he has a chance of featuring at Croke Park. Patrick ‘Bonner’ Maher is out for the season.
Laois’s impact on this year’s Championship has already been felt. Their journey will come to an end against Tipperary, but what a journey it has been.
