O'BYRNE CUP:WITH ITS enduring preference for either feast or famine the GAA season resumes this weekend with 22 fixtures across all four provinces – just seven days after the two-month ban prohibiting any training or match practice whatsoever.
This is actually two games less than originally scheduled: Leinster’s O’Byrne Cup football competition has scratched one first-round game following Kilkenny’s withdrawal (affording Louth a bye into the second round), and in Munster reigning McGrath Cup football champions Kerry have also withdrawn, although there will still be three preliminary-round games this Sunday.
Kilkenny have cited managerial difficulties as the reason for withdrawing from the O’Byrne Cup, as the county board is still trying a find a replacement for the long-serving Dick Mullins, who stepped down at the end of the last season.
They insist they will be fielding a team in the upcoming Allianz Football League, even though they continue to remain rooted to the bottom of Division Four.
It also makes for an even more difficult start to the season for Louth, who must sit out another weekend before meeting Meath or Wexford in the second round – and has left manager Peter Fitzpatrick searching for some sort of challenge game instead.
Meath will host Wexford at Páirc Tailteann in a relatively attractive game, at least for this time of year. Meath manager Séamus McEnaney has confirmed Séamus Kenny will continue as team captain for 2012, although for Sunday he will be without the injured Jamie Queeney, Shane O’Rourke and Kevin Reilly.
Wexford manager Jason Ryan last night named his starting 15, and not surprisingly it’s mostly experimental: three regulars from last year – corner-back Joey Wadding, midfielder Brendan Doyle and forward Ciarán Lyng – are ruled out through injury, although there is a starting place in the forward line for Ben Brosnan and PJ Banville. Wexford have actually had one game already as they played Down in a challenge on New Year’s Day, where among the other absentees was the long-serving Colm Morris, who is unlikely to feature in the early months of the season.
New Offaly football manager Gerry Cooney is among those particularly keen to get the new season under way and with that a first look at his panel – and the chance comes with a home game in Tullamore against Westmeath.
“We are looking forward to the game and want to win it but our real focus is on the league,” says Cooney. “It is the attitude of the players that I am most interested in. I am happy with their attitude and their willingness to work.”
With the long-serving Ciarán McManus and Karol Slattery retired, and Niall McNamee on an extended break, Cooney has been partly forced into naming some fresh faces. One interesting name among the substitutes is Brian Hanamy of Dublin club Kilmacud Crokes, who has declared for Offaly through the parentage rule.
Hanamy is the second Dublin-born player to switch to Offaly in recent years: John Coughlan made the move two seasons ago (although is unable to commit for the coming season).
Young forward Anton Sullivan from Rhode is among those unavailable due to colleges getting first call, along with Bernard Allen, David Egan, John Maloney and Seán Pender.
This year’s O’Byrne Cup benefits for the first time with sponsorship from Bord na Mona – who will also add their name to the Walsh Cup hurling competition.
Bord na Mona chief executive Gabriel D’Arcy believes the sponsorship of the Leinster competitions will help raise interest in the new year tournaments which will in turn go towards the Leinster GAA hardship fund which assists players and officials in times of difficulty.
OFFALY(SF v Westmeath): K Meehan, J Gallagher, P McConway, S Pender, J Keane, B Darby, L Hiney, R Dalton, R Brady, G Guilfoyle, N Dunne, A Keenaghan, W Mulhall, A Mulhall, K Casey.
WEXFORD(SF v Meath): T Hughes; N Murphy, F Lancaster, S Culleton; L Chin, G Molloy, A Doyle; D Waters, A Shore; E Bradley, B Brosnan, PJ Banville; P Byrne, K O'Grady, K Rowe.
