Weekend Previews- Seniors travel to take on Limerick; Laois entertain Intermediates while minors entertain Offaly

The busy Kilkenny camogie inter-county season continues this weekend with three teams in action. The Kilkenny senior side travel to Bruff to take on Limerick in must win clash in round 5 of the Irish Daily Star Division one league, while the Kilkenny Intermediate side will travel to Trumera to take on Laois in round 5 of Irish Daily star Division 2 league. While on Saturday afternoon the Kilkenny minor side will entertain Offaly in round 3 of the All Ireland Championship in Larchfield.

Irish Daily Star National League Division 1 Group 2

Limerick              vs            Kilkenny

Venue: Bruff  2pm Referee: Cathal Egan (Cork)

The Kilkenny senior team will travel to Bruff on Sunday to take on a high flying Limerick side and need to record a victory to secure passage through to the knockout stages of the league.

The Cats were very unlucky not to get a result in the previous round where Cork edged out Kilkenny by a point 1-09 to 0-11 points in a game that could be classed as one that got away.

Limerick on the other hand under the stewardship of new manager John Tuohy are undefeated in the league so far.  They back up an impressive opening round win over Cork 1-11 to 0-09 with victories over Waterford 2-11 to 0-08 and Derry in the previous round 2-15 to 1-08.  The Shannonsiders will provide a very stern test to the Cats on Sunday and will have the added motivation of trying to claim a clean sweep of league games undefeated and secure the semi final spot. Kilkenny will need to be wary of Niamh Mulcahy, Muireann Creamer and Caooimhe Costello who are after displaying a good scoring touch throughout the league.

This game has all the hallmarks of being a cracking encounter and one that could go right down to the wire. I feel in the heat of the battle Kilkenny’s experience could be the difference between the sides and with the Cats needing to claim victory to reach the knockout stages this could be the determining factor between the sides.

Irish Daily Star National League Division 2 Group 2

Laois       vs              Kilkenny                

Venue: Trumera 2pm Referee: Ger Browne (Tipperary)

The Kilkenny Intermediate side will conclude their league campaign on Sunday when they travel to Trumera to take on Laois.

The cats bounced back from defeats to Carlow and Kildare with a comprehensive victory over Wexford last weekend. A victory for Kilkenny on Sunday will not be enough to reach the knockout stages but would be a great confidence boost for this young Kilkenny side ahead of the Leinster championship campaign in May.

Laois are in good form heading in Sundays clash after bouncing back from a second round defeat to Kildare with victories over Wexford and Down. The O’Moore county need to claim victory on Sunday otherwise there league campaign could be over as they are currently tied on points with Kildare and Carlow at the top of the table.

This game is very hard to call. The reason for this is both sides will meet again in the All Ireland series later in the year and neither side will want to show their full hand ahead of this clash, but also neither side will want to lose this game either. I feel Kilkenny are building up good momentum heading into the clash. I feel if this game is close heading into the later stages, pressure could mount on Laois and they could be opportunities for Kilkenny to take advantage and claim victory.

All Ireland Minor A Camogie Championship Group 1

Kilkenny             vs            Offaly

Venue: Larchfield 2pm Referee: Jenny Byrne (Dublin)

The Kilkenny minor side will hope to continue there good run of form when they take on Offaly in Larchfield on Saturday.

Kilkenny bounced back from their opening round defeat to Tipperary with a good away win over Clare in Newmarket on Fergus 3-07 to 0-08 points in the previous round.

Offaly on the other hand are have a disappointing campaign after suffering some narrow defeats to  Clare 1-05 to  0-05 and Dublin 1-11 to 1-09 in the previous rounds.  Offaly will provide a stern test to Kilkenny on Saturday and as they have show in the performances so far they are a very strong side.

In saying this I feel Kilkenny could prove too strong for the Faithful County on Saturday and claim their second win of the campaign.