WICKLOW, under former Dublin star David Foran, are on the threshold of a National Football League quarter final meeting with Division One winners Donegal, but to be sure of reaching that stage they must first beat Waterford in Aughrim tomorrow, their final Division Four match.
Foran is excited about his side's unbeaten league run so far. The only setback was in sharing the points with Longford. He relishes the thought of taking on Donegal whom he regards as the best team on form this season.
However, Foran yesterday delivered a frank message to his players: "If we cannot beat Waterford then we would not deserve to be in the quarter finals."
The Dublin Fire Brigade officer puts Wicklow's winning run down to a growing confidence county champions, An Tochar reaching the Leinster club final and the fact that the nine young players drafted into the panel, at the outset of the league campaign, have blended in well with experienced players Hugh Kenny, Fergus Daly and Kevin O'Brien.
Wicklow, with 13 points, can only be caught by Longford and have already clinched promotion to Division Three. Longford, with 11 points, have their last, match against lowly London in Pearse Park tomorrow. They are obviously confident of winning and that would give them the second promotion place on offer. A shock defeat for Longford, however, would almost certainly lead to a play off, with Offaly, to decide on which team goes up.
Offaly, on nine points, are hosts to bottom of the table Kilkenny in Tullamore.
"We will be wary of Waterford's challenge because we are very much looking forward to meeting Donegal as a form of examination of our true mettle," says Foran. "We had a close call against Offaly but there again our new found experience enabled us to grind out a result."
Meanwhile, if Brian McEniff's relentless enthusiasm to assemble" a decent looking Ulster team for the Railway Cup tie against Munster in Clones tomorrow rubs off on his players, then the champion province will be well on its way to achieving a seventh successive triumph. "We are happy now to run with what we have got. I eventually managed to get a team, together after spending most of Thursday morning on the phone. We had a satisfying work out on Thursday night and are now beady to go."
The Ulster manager, like his Munster counterpart, Paidi O Se, finds it difficult to understand the diminishing interest among some players in the interprovincial series. McEniff will be introducing four newcomers to this level of football - Monaghan's Peter Duffy and Declan Loughman, Seamus Downey of Derry and Damien O'Reilly of Cavan. Loughman who leads the attack, with Duffy on his left, is also the team captain.
Derry's Joe Brolly and Brian McGilligan are listed among the Ulster substitutes, courtesy of Derry manager Brian Mullins, whose side takes on Antrim in the, McKenna Cup at Ballinascreen.
The already light programme for this weekend was further diluted by the second postponement of the outstanding National Hurling League Division Two tie between Dublin and Laois, now fixed for O'Moore Park next Saturday.
Limerick hurling manager Tom Ryan is furious with the GAC for allowing Dublin and Laois to switch the crucial game. He has, accused the GAA hierarchy of making a laugh of the league and said they had handed the initiative to Laois in what is a very tight group. If Laois beat Dublin and win their last outing against Antrim, they will pip Limerick for a place in the quarter finals, provided, of course, that Limerick beat Down at home in their final league match.
. Kilkenny have recalled twice All Ireland medal winner and National Hurling League winning captain of last year, Bill Hennessy, to their squad. The Tullaroan man had intended emigrating to Australia early this year, but now he has had to change his plans.
On hearing the news, Kilkenny manager, Nicky Brennan, immediately brought the 27 year old back into the panel. Hennessy resumed training this week.
