GAELIC GAMES:WHILE THE two-week break in the Allianz National Hurling League affords most counties the chance to regroup after the opening two rounds, Kilkenny and Tipperary go at it again this Sunday when their twice postponed clash goes ahead in Thurles.

Weather permitting, naturally.

It was confirmed yesterday Setanta Ireland will be providing live coverage (2.30pm throw-in), having held the original rights, and in fact give the game precedence over previously planned live coverage of the Magners League rugby.

The good news for supporters of both counties is admission is free – as the GAA were unable to offer refunds for the original fixture on February 20th.

The good news for Kilkenny is forward Richie Power may be in contention to start as there are no long-term effects from the injury sustained just before half-time in Sunday’s win over Offaly.

Power was taken to St Luke’s Hospital in Kilkenny for tests after fears he may have sustained a neck injury, but X-rays revealed no serious damage, and he was released later that night.

Power had already scored 0-8 in the opening 35 minutes, before Kilkenny went on to win by eight points.

Tipperary, in contrast, went down to Dublin by nine points, putting a little extra pressure on manager Liam Sheedy for the rematch of last year’s All-Ireland finalists.

There is still some confusion over the availability of midfielder Shane McGrath; he was a late withdrawal from Sunday’s meeting with Dublin, citing illness, although there are reports the third-level competitions committee are investigating an apparent breach of eligibility after McGrath recently lined out for Mary Immaculate College in the Ryan Cup, the concern being his post-graduate course doesn’t carry enough academic points for eligibility – although it would appear any suspension would only apply at colleges level.

Both Cork and Waterford will use the break in the league to ease back into action some of their more seasoned players. Cork’s Ben and Jerry O’Connor will attend Cork training this evening for the first time this year, having previously being concentrating on Newtownshandrum’s participation in the AIB club championship (they lost to Ballyhale Shamrocks in the All-Ireland semi-final on February 14th).

As of now, the only other Newtownshandrum player called into the panel is Cathal Naughton.

Cork play Clare this Saturday evening in a challenge game to mark the new floodlights at the Fermoy GAA club (a game postponed from early last month due to fog), and the O’Connor twins may yet play some role: “This will be our first time back in a match situation,” says Ben O’Connor. “It will lead us up into the next league match with Kilkenny.”

Having re-emerged from Munster this year there was real hope that Newtownshandrum might make it back to Croke Park on St Patrick’s Day – but with that dream now over O’Connor is fully refocused on Cork: “After defeat there is nothing better than to go back in and play matches.

“We have two big matches in the league against Kilkenny and Tipperary. That will knock the disappointment out of you fairly quick.

“It will take a bit of time to get back up to speed. After that it won’t be too long before we are back in the team, hopefully. They are the two big games for Cork to see where we are at the moment.”

Cork have enjoyed a perfect start to the league with wins over Offaly, and then Limerick, last Saturday night – which contrasts considerably with this time last year, when then manager Gerald McCarthy was caught up in the players dispute, and Cork were fielding a second-string team.

That may be history now, but O’Connor admits Cork were always playing catch-up last season, as current manager Denis Walsh came in so late on in the season: “Last year altogether with Denis we only had seven or eight weeks before the championship. This year now he knows what he wants to get out of us and we know what he is looking for.”

Whatever about Cork’s pace of hurling, O’Connor says their confidence remains unchanged: “Any day that a fella puts on a Cork jersey, he feels confident that he has a chance of winning the All-Ireland. I think there is an inbred thing. We might be a bit off the pace at the moment but I think with fellas working hard come September we might be able to show our faces in Croke Park.

“It only takes a small little thing to change you being beaten by three or four points to winning by three or four points.”

Waterford’s league form took a dip on Sunday when they went down to Galway, having beaten Dublin in the first round, but this weekend sees the return of seasoned players such as John Mullane, Dan Shanahan, Tony Browne, Ken McGrath, Eoin Murphy and Séamus Prendergast – all of whom have been on an extended break, while training under the tailor-made programme of Limerick physio Ger Hartmann.

“I hope it will help the six of us in the long term,” says Mullane. “Myself and a few of the other boys had a long campaign with De La Salle last year.

“Coming to the end of the season I was probably running on empty when I probably should have been kicking on.

“Hopefully, with this new way of starting out, in the months of July and August, if we get back to Croke Park, it might have a big benefit.”

Mullane is confident Waterford have the young players coming through to complement the experience, and that there is no reason why they can’t still challenge for All-Ireland honours: “You’ve got to give credit, too, to Davy Fitzgerald, he’s gone out and he’s found a few players and we have an extended panel, which is required to win championship games.

“We still believe we can do it, but I suppose the beauty of it compared to other years is that there’s no talk of All-Irelands down in Waterford.

“I suppose some people might think we’ve missed the boat but the players and the management most certainly don’t think that.”