PREVIEW: Senior Tipp Club Hurling Championship reaching its group crescendo

GROUP 1

Toomevara V Kilruane MacDonaghs

A round of local derbies will take place simultaneously in group 1 and this one will have its own bite and intrigue.
No team are guaranteed a qualification spot yet, even Kilruane despite winning their opening two games.

In winning those games, the 2022 county champions have had to find different ways to get the points with a barnstorming, goal-laden performance against Drom in the first round, before digging out a second-half victory in an attritional game against Borris-Ileigh.

Like Borris-Ileigh, Kilruane have used the bare 17 or 18 players so far - with the status of the Peters brothers unknown - so they will need another big effort from the team again, but they have the muscle memory of winning tight games over the years.

However, in Toomevara they face a team that easily defeated them in the group stages last year, and the Greyhounds bounced back impressively in round 2 after their opening loss to Borris-Ileigh.

The loss of Jake Ryan hasn’t hindered them and with Darragh McCarthy one of the form forwards in the county at the moment, and with confidence in tow, this will be a game they will fancy given the recent history.

Verdict: Toomevara

Drom & Inch V Borris-Ileigh

It doesn’t get much tastier than this. A third round tie between bitter rivals with so much at stake in Group 1 is one of the most enticing games of round 3.

Borris-Ileigh have mixed it well in their games so far and will feel that if they were more clinical with their chances, they might have had two wins on the board after a one-point loss to Kilruane MacDonaghs the last day out.

JD Devaney will be available again after serving his suspension but an injury sustained by Kevin Maher in the clash with Kilruane MacDonaghs will rob them of another big player; something they can ill-afford given the thin nature of the panel.

Drom were poor in their loss against Toome and thoroughly outplayed for large swathes of the contest, and in reality, they looked completely rudderless, in the first half in particular.

Johnny Ryan made a good impact off the bench, as did Stevie Nolan so one or both could be in from the off this time around as it is crunch time in the group.

A win for either won’t guarantee anything for either side as results elsewhere will come into play but that will be an afterthought as they’ll both be desperate to get the local bragging right.

Verdict: Borris-Ileigh