De La Salle look to third Munster Final apperance.

De La Salle on Sunday next will be bidding to reach the Munster Senior Hurling Club final for the third time in five years when they take on Newmarket-on-Fergus.

The Clare club are back in the Munster championship for the first time since 1981.

Two weeks ago they ended the 31-year famine in Clare beating Cratloe by 3-10 to 0-9 in the county final at Cusack Park in Ennis.

Colin Ryan was their scorer in chief that day scoring 1-8 for Newmarket and will be hoping for a repeat performance from Ryan again this weekend as they will be looking to reach the provincial final for the first time since 1978.

De La Salle won the Munster title in 2008 and 2010 but the prize they crave for eludes them despite going ever so close on the two occasions that they won county and provincial titles. They will be hoping that it will be a case of third time lucky.

Throughout the year they have proven too strong for everyone in Waterford, with the exception of Fourmilewater who beat them in the second round of the league section of the championship.

In some of their games, they have racked up some very impressive tallies, but you have to wonder have we seen the best of them yet this year.

They struggled to a degree to beat both Lismore in the quarter finals and Mount Sion in the semi finals, coming through both games thanks to some late scores.

In the county final, against a very young Dungarvan side they once again racked up a very impressive scoreline. However it could be argued that this game was over as soon as it started after John Mullane set up Jake Dillon for a third minute goal.

While on the day they did not raise any further green flags, you cant but think if they needed to they could easily have done so.

To the outsider current All-Stars Kevin Moran and John Mullane are De La Salle’s stands out players. This is however far from the truth. Yes, the inter county duo are hugely important to them, they do no rely them in the same way that other sides rely on their Inter county players.

Jake Dillon is a player with a massive future ahead of him. So too has Shane McNulty. Bryan Phelan is as rock solid as at the back as ever and Stephen Daniels seems to be getting better each year.

Eoin Madigan has made an impressive switch from attack to defence, Dean Twomey as always puts in a solid sixty-plus minutes in the middle of the field and in attack John Keane and Jack Kennedy are more than capable of hitting impressive tallies on any given day.

Last day out, while Colin Ryan finished as Newmarket-on-Fergus’ top scorer with 1-8, he is not the sides only leading light.

Eoin O’Brien, James McInerney and Sean O’Connor will feel that they can get the better of De La Salle’s dangerous full forward line. Enda Barrett in the centre back position is very important to the hope of the Banner men and in the middle of the field Eoin Hayes and Martin O’Hanlon are crucial.

In addition to Ryan in attack, Shane O’Brien Junior will have to be watched closely in the full forward line. He hit two goals against Cratloe in the county final and with some frailties to be seen in the De La Salle full back line this year; you can’t but think if given the chance he will repeat his county final performance again. David Barrett at wing forward will also have to be paid close attention to as will Shane O’Brien senior playing in the opposite corner to his name sake.

No team playing at a home county venue in the Munster senior Club Championship in the last three years have won a game and De La Salle in Munster have never lost a game. They will be hoping to play their part in keeping these to stats alive on Sunday afternoon next. They will travel to the East Clare venue as favourites, and should oblige the bookies, but they will have to be warned against any complacency.