3 days ago
Derry hope Cormac O'Doherty can point the way to Christy Ring Cup delight
While Derry took their lead from inspirational skipper Cormac O'Doherty in accounting for Wicklow by 2-20 to 1-13 at the Semi-Final stage — he actually matched Wicklow's score — London turned on the style in accounting for Tyrone in their Semi by 4-20 to 1-13 with Conor O'Carroll (2-3) and Sean Glynn (1-4) leading the way.
While the experienced O'Doherty is again expected to prove Derry's scorer supreme, Mark Craig, Patrick Turner, Ruairi O' Mianian, Richie Mullan, James Friel and John Mullan are also likely to prove key players given their input to the Oak Leaf outfit to date.
London, though, are not short on fire power with the O'Carroll-Glynn duo expected to lead the way again in putting scores on the board.
Cavan and New York, meanwhile, will cross swords in the Lory Meagher Cup decider as part of the attractive triple bill at Headquarters on Saturday afternoon (3.00pm) where the US side will bid to rise to the occasion.
Their manager Richie Hartnett is hopeful that his players can lift up their standard of performance against a Breffni County outfit that have held firm to date.
The New York outfit are not short on scoring talent with former Galway All-Ireland winner Johnny Glynn and ex-Cork player Sean O'Leary-Hayes along with the impressive Aidan James Willis and David Mangan likely to carry a big threat on this occasion.
Cavan, for their part, are likely to look to players such as Enda Shalvey, Stephen Sheridan, Canice Maher, Sean Keating and Eamon Og McAllister to set the tone for their performance against a New York side that is certainly not lacking in experience or guile.
The Breffni side, though, have shown solid commitment of late but they will need to hit the ground running if they are to prove a thorn in the side of their opponents.
In the Nicky Rackard Cup Final, Mayo and Roscommon will do battle in the opening match of the Croke Park finals festival (1.00pm).
Mayo can look to an experienced corps of players that includes Oisin Creally, Simon Thomas, David Kenny, Liam Lavin and Cormac Phillips while Roscommon can take their inspiration from Enda Lawless, Conor Cosgrove, Eoin Fitzgerald and Brendan Mulry.
Both teams have shown impressive form in reaching the Final which should provide an insight into the standard of hurling in Connacht right now. Mayo, though, might just come out on top in this one although it might prove to be a tough battle.
