Longford are next up as Wicklow stay on track
Footballers and hurlers chalk up league victories
Photo: Garry O'Neill
Wicklow's Patrick McWalter has his clearance blocked by John Doyle of Carlow during the Division 4 NFL game in Aughrim.
Wednesday March 10 2010
IT WAS a nice feeling picking up the daily papers on Monday morning and seeing Wicklow's footballers on top of their league table. Yet there is no room for any complacency in the push for promotion as two counties, Limerick and Clare, are still better placed, having dropped no points and having a game in hand.
Limerick and Clare have yet to meet each other, Wicklow have Limerick at home in a couple of weeks time, so promotion is in our own hands if we want it badly enough.
Last weekend we survived one of our banana skin matches in division four, beating arch-rivals Carlow, but the double scores victory margin may well mask a performance by Wicklow that was patchy and punctuated by many flaws.
Without doubt we need up our game away to Longford on Sunday and perform to our best in the subsequent games against Limerick and Waterford if we are not to let promotion slip at the vital juncture as happened in the last few years.
If we build up momentum, then we have Kilkenny as our final league opponents at home, just ideal should we need to improve on our score difference to clinch one of the two promotion places.
Longford may have only one league point from three games, but still they are going to be no pushover on Sunday as they proved last weekend against Waterford, one of the four joint table-toppers, whom they held to a draw and should have beaten had they taken their chances.
Home venue will also be a plus for the Midlanders, so Wicklow will need to be firing on all cylinders if they are to maintain the winning momentum.
Casey O'Brien's hurlers got away to the perfect start to their national league campaign with 0-15 to 1-7 away win over Fingal.
The fact that the hurlers were short a number of players from the squad – they had booked holidays for what was supposed to be a free weekend for Wicklow – added further merit to the win.
After a dismal year in 2009, Wicklow's hurlers are competing in a lower league grade this year, and against weaker teams, and therefore they need to be defeating all opposition to make a quick return to playing the counties they were used to meeting in the past.
Carnew's Don Hyland came out of retirement to give the county team a helping hand and he made his presence felt at full-forward, scoring two points. The hurlers are at home in Arklow on Sunday to Sligo, a team already beaten by Fingal in the league and so would not be expected to halt the onward march of Wicklow since the start of the year.
Wicklow's weekend party mood was dimmed somewhat by the defeat of the county's U-21 footballers by Laois in the Leinster championship.
Laois were the bigger and slightly better team but still it was a match Wicklow could and maybe should have won. Two missed goal opportunities midway through the first half turned out to be vital in the end as we lost out by three points, 0-13 to 010.
- MARK KENNEDY
