So no major casualties expected in the first proper shoot out of the All-Ireland hurling qualifiers, after the big three – Tipperary, Kilkenny and Waterford – all managed to avoid each other in the draw for Saturday’s round of four games.
All-Ireland champions Tipperary, drawn against Westmeath, also have home comforts at Semple Stadium, although Pádraic Maher is already adamant that since their defeat to Cork in the Munster quarter-final, no player is looking beyond the horizon.
“One thing we’ve learned, even when you go back to 2013 and 2014, you can’t look beyond any game,” he says. “In 2013 Kilkenny caught us in Nowlan Park, 2014 we barely got over Galway – a late comeback by us.
“Small margins, these games. So we can’t be thinking about getting back to Croke Park in August, we’ve to concentrate fully on July and that’s our focus at the moment.”
Tipperary’s qualifier record has not been good in recent years: “It can have its pros, in that we might gain a bit of momentum, but you are definitely looking at one if not two hard qualifier games.
“It is a tough route, but if you can get through the qualifier games, you’re coming into a quarter final against a team that has been beaten in a provincial final. So you’re tail could be up and they could be down. You can get momentum from this way but preferably you’d go the other way but we have to deal with the cards we’ve been dealt.
“Our aim was to try and win the Munster championship first and unfortunately that didn’t happen. Now the destination is the same but the route is different.”
Tough task
Kilkenny, dumped out of the Leinster championship by Wexford, face the tough task of getting past Limerick, although they will be in Nowlan Park. Derek McGrath’s Waterford side – who lost out to Cork in the Munster semi-final last weekend – will travel to take on Offaly.
Laois were rewarded for their preliminary round win over Carlow on Sunday with a trip to face Ger Cunningham’s Dublin side. However Laois will be without several players, “Picky” Maher suffering from an injury, Ross King will also be absent for the trip to Parnell Park through suspension.
ALL-IRELAND SHC QUALIFIERS Round 1 (Saturday, July 1st) – Dublin v Laois, Parnell Park, 7.0; Kilkenny v Limerick, Nowlan Park, 7.0 (Live Sky Sports); Tipperary v Westmeath, Semple Stadium, 5.0; Offaly v Waterford, Bord Na Mona O'Connor Park, 3.0.
