The one-upmanship between Munster and Leinster hurling is facing a pivotal round of games on what could turn out to be moving weekend in the National Hurling League.
Division 1A of the league comprises four teams from Munster and three from Leinster (including Galway), but the provincial balance of power might be about to sway further to the south.
Much will depend on the outcome of Kilkenny’s clash against Waterford in Nowlan Park on Sunday – where victory for the visitors would significantly increase the possibility of two Leinster teams ultimately getting relegated from hurling’s top flight this year.
And with Clare leading the promotion charge in Division 1B, there is a decent chance that five of the seven teams in Division 1A next season will be from Munster.
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Offaly and Waterford were promoted from Division 1B last season but the Faithful’s stint in the top division looks set to be a brief one as Johnny Kelly’s side have lost their opening three fixtures of this campaign – to Kilkenny, Tipperary and Waterford.
Offaly host Galway in Birr on Sunday, with the Tribesmen also without any points after two rounds – losses to Tipperary and Cork.
Kilkenny and Limerick have two points from two games, Waterford and Tipp have four points from three outings while table-toppers Cork have the maximum six points from three fixtures.
Offaly’s scoring difference of −27 is already 20 adrift of next in line Galway (−7), and with inferior head-to-head records against Kilkenny and Waterford already, failure to win this Sunday would almost cut them adrift from survival.
Offaly legend Pádraig Horan, who captained the Faithful to a maiden All-Ireland SHC triumph in 1981 and won a second Liam MacCarthy Cup four years later, believes sheer numbers make it difficult for the county to compete at hurling’s top table.
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“It is very hard because Offaly have only really had one underage team come on the scene these last few years,” said Horan, who is the subject of Thursday night’s Laochra Gael on TG4, at 9.30pm
[ Reuben Halloran’s haul of 1-12 helps a far from fluent Waterford past OffalyOpens in new window ]
“You need more than one team, you need other teams coming through at under-20 and minor. They are putting in the work now but there were years Offaly fell behind in terms of team preparation and they hadn’t the population of players that other counties had.
“There are five [strong] teams at the moment and the five of them are in Munster, along with Kilkenny then.
“How they are going to improve it in Leinster is going to be a problem. Offaly are promising but they haven’t got the numbers,” said Horan.
“The under-20s were a great success and they gave great hope but I think the hope might be greater than our ability to get there.
“It is going to be hard because employment in Offaly would not be as good as it once was. It was easier for us back when I played because we had the ESB and Bord na Móna based in Offaly.”
For Kilkenny, victory on Sunday would push them level on four points with Waterford but also give Derek Lyng’s side head-to-head superiority over both Offaly and the Déise.
But a Waterford win in Nowlan Park would put the Cats in real relegation peril and leave them dangling over the trapdoor.
Clare, six points from three games, are likely to claim one of the two promotion spots in Division 1B, so the Croke Park showdown between Dublin and Wexford on Saturday could prove to be the pivotal fixture in determining second place.
Wexford have accumulated six points from three games – against Antrim, Down and Carlow – but they still have to face Clare.
Dublin have two points from two games – a loss to Clare and victory over Kildare – so defeat to the Model County could be detrimental to their promotion hopes.
In a scenario where Wexford take all points at Croke Park, they would move six points ahead of Dublin and also boast the potential golden ticket on head-to-head metrics.
“The reality is we’ve only got two points on the board, Clare and Wexford have six points,” said Dublin defender Paddy Doyle.
“We want to be playing Division 1A hurling next year. We take every game by game, but I suppose there is a bit of a safety net gone for this weekend.
“Dublin versus Wexford are always close battles. We’ve a history of that over the last number of years since I’ve been involved.”
Offaly pipped Dublin to promotion last year by a single point while Wexford were relegated from Division 1A having lost four of their six games.
The league has been restructured in recent years but the last iteration of the top division to include Dublin was back in 2017.
“Obviously we want to be playing Division 1A hurling next year, that’s the truth of it,” added Doyle.
“Dublin hurling wants to be competing with the top teams in the country, so that’s one step in that.”
