Quarter final place to play for

The change in the hurling championship format this year means that in addition to having a chance of winning the title, there is also a place in the quarter finals of the championship proper at stake for the teams listed to compete for the senior B title.
There are eight teams, divided into two groups of four, in the race for the Ryan-Hannon Trophy. The top team in each group will contest the final that is to be played before the quarter-finals in the Hamilton Cup title race.
Dr Daly Park in Tulla will host a double header with last year’s intermediate champions Éire Óg facing Whitegate and Wolfe Tones taking on Scariff.
Éire Óg have had a good run in the Clare Champion Cup and have qualified for the semi-final, earning promotion to Division 1A in the process. Meanwhile, Whitegate finished bottom of Division 1A and have been relegated for the coming season. They have been somewhat unlucky in some of their games but they will need to step up a gear if they are to overcome Éire Óg on Saturday.
The Ennis men will be looking to Marc O’Donnell, Kevin Moynihan, Danny Russell, Davy O’Halloran and Mark Fitzgerald to give them an edge against a Whitegate outfit that will need top class displays from Andrew and Ian Fahy and Brendan Bugler, if they are to cause an upset.
The return of Brian O’Connell after a year in Australia is a big boost to Wolfe Tones, who showed mixed form in the league. O’Connell with his brothers Gary and Daithi, the McPhillips brothers, Barry Loughnane and Aaron Cunningham will be hoping to inspire a Shannon outfit that recently lost team manager Patsy Keyes to emigration.
Scariff, another of the clubs that have been hit by emigration, have also shown mixed form in their league campaign. Darragh Kelly, Conor and Kenny McNamara and Diarmuid Nash will be hoping to lead the way and give them a winning start. It’s likely to be a close affair which Wolfe Tones may edge.
Tubber have threatened a breakthrough in recent years and the Pat O’Connor managed side will be fancied to get their campaign off to a winning start when they face Smith O’Brien’s at Shannon. The Earleys, Conor, Mark, Clive and Blaine, Patrick O’Connor, Ronan Taaffe and the experienced Eamonn Taaffe have all won inter-county recognition at different times.
Smith O’Brien’s have shown glimpses of exciting play but, for the most part, have failed to deliver on the promise shown.
In Trevor Howard, Shane O’Brien, Pa Vaughan and Seamus Gleeson, they have experienced players and these, together with Liam and Kevin Walsh and Micheal Ryan, can make things difficult for any opposition. However, Tubber look the more settled side and this experience should see them off to a winning start.
The remaining game in the senior B campaign sees Ballyea, recent winners of the U-21 A title, take on O’Callaghan’s Mills, who narrowly missed out on promotion from Division 1B of the Clare Champion Cup.
Ballyea put in a very strong finish to the league campaign, which ensured their survival in Division 1B. In Paul Flanagan, Jack Browne, Gearóid O’Connell, Niall Deasy, Cathal Doohan and Tony Kelly they have excellent players who shone in the U-21 success. Add in the experience of Paddy O’Connell and Shane O’Neill and they should provide a stiff test for any opposition.
The Mills will be looking to Pat and Bryan Donnellan, the Cooney brothers, Conor, John and Gerry, Adrian Donovan and Gary Neville.
This could well prove to be one of the games of the weekend and there should be little between the teams when the final whistle sounds. If Ballyea can manage to maintain their recent form, they made edge this one.