Hungry Kilcormac-Killoughey set their sights on provincial glory

WITH back to back Offaly senior hurling titles collected and a reputation that is expanding well beyond county boundaries, Kilcormac-Killoughey will be very anxious to take another important step forward when they enter Leinster club action next Sunday.

Very impressive winners of the Offaly Senior Hurling Championship, Kilcormac-Killoughey will have benefited from being pushed to the pin of their collar by Ballinamere in the final and they are favourites to take out Carlow kingpins, St Mullin's in Dr Cullen Park on Sunday.

It is a banana skin for them. It is only two years since Carlow beat Offaly in the Joe McDonagh Cup final and their champions have caused the Offaly standard bearers plenty of bother over the years.

Kilcormac-Killoughey will be taking nothing for granted and are fully aware of the potential of this one going wrong. They also have injury problems. Centre half back powerhouse Cillian Kiely is still out after missing the Offaly final with a broken thumb that he sustained in their semi-final win over Coolderry.

Ter Guinan is also facing a race against time after pulling his hamstring in a recent U20 hurling game. Guinan got a scan at the weekend and K-K are bracing themselves for the possibility of having to play without one of their best hurlers. Speed merchant Guinan has been outstanding for them, featuring mainly at wing forward but also going back to defence on occasions and he would be a huge loss if ruled out.

Improving corner forward Daniel Hand is also carrying an injury and only played for 30 minutes of last week's U-20 hurling destruction of Ballinamere.

While people are talking about the extraordinary talent Kilcormac-Killoughey have, their depth in strength, the loss of two or three automatic starters would really test this. K-K do have more options than all their competitors in Offaly, they have players on the line who would make most starting teams but the loss of two or three players would still leave them vulnerable. Like any team, the bottom line for K-K remains that the replacements coming in will not be as good as the injured players and if Kiely and Guinan don't play, K-K will be that bit weaker.

They survived in the Offaly final against Ballinamere without Kiely and did very well to do so but his absence was a definite factor in it being such a close run thing. As you move up the levels, such losses hurt even more but Kilcormac-Killoughey are still more than good enough to win this opener anyway.

There has been a lot of local talk about what Kilcormac-Killoughey can do outside of Offaly. This was going on before they won the Sean Robbins Cup but now that we are in the middle of things, there is more caution being expressed about their prospects.

Winning Leinster and All-Ireland club titles will come onto the horizon as a realistic goal for Kilcormac-Killoughey in the coming years. Anything is possible at the moment and nothing would surprise but the impression that it is early for them is hard to avoid.

While they have a hardcore of very important, vastly experienced older players, many of the players that have created such excitement about their prospects are very young. A number will be still U-20 next year and they have a lot of physical development work to do. They are more than good enough in Offaly, where their skill levels are of a higher order than most competitors and much of their campaign is played in fairly decent weather.

It is a different story in November with winter conditions and against teak tough opposition. It means that K-K are in bonus territory to an extent. There is pressure on and expectations surrounding them. They will be bitterly disappointed if they lose on Sunday and there will be repercussions for that but no one is shouting from roof tops about them winning more silverware.

It could happen in Leinster and there is an opportunity there for them but equally, it could be all over on Sunday and all K-K can do is take it one game at a time.

The winners play Castletown Geoghegan of Westmeath or Kilkenny's Thomastown in the semi-final and the Kilkenny champions are always very strong at this grade. On the other side of the draw, Dublin's Na Fianna have obvious potential and Leinster is very hard won.

K-K will bring a large support to Carlow with them. Their own club members will come out in force but they will also attract a county wide backing as people get such pleasure out of watching their emerging young stars in action.

St Mullin's will provide tough, very good opposition and they will hit K-K with everything they have. They know about their danger men and what is required but delivering that is another story. K-K should be able to survive this one.