No more second chances for Offaly or Waterford.

Offaly and Waterford face each other in the preliminary round of this year’s All-Ireland Hurling qualifiers, a game both teams must win as both teams have no longer the security of a second chance of playing in Croke Park in September if they loose.

More often than not when it comes to the G.A.A. you can be assured of at least one big game when it comes to draws at Provincial or National Level. Both Offaly and Waterford were paired together in the draw recently which was performed on RTE Radio One and it envisaged that with neither RTE nor TV3 showing the game, a bumper crowd could well assemble at O’Connor Park for the 7pm throw in.

Both teams it could be argued will be under pressure to deliver, and the team that makes the lease amount of mistakes on the night could well be the side that wins the chance to play Westmeath or London away from home in the first round of the qualifiers a week later.

Offaly will head into the game on what some call an impressive outing last time against Kilkenny. I can’t say how impressive or otherwise Offaly were as I did not see the game.

To score four goals against the All-Ireland Champions is no mean achievement. However, you would well ask yourself how often does Kilkenny concede four goals in a Championship let alone one game, and when will it next happen. Did Kilkenny have an off day against their Leinster neighbours?

In Offaly’s last game while they scored four goals, in total they hit just thirteen scores. Kilkenny on the other hand hit a very impressive twenty-six scores, none of which resulted in a green flag being waved, although I am told that they did have chances.

Waterford comes into the game in a form that is hard to explain.

Michael Ryan’s charges while they did not make the knockout stages of the league, they did have a good league and went into the last round of games topping the group.

In the games played after the league finished, Waterford put together some good performances, loosing only one game, a close battle with Tipperary in Carrick-on-Suir.

In the first half of the Munster Quarter Final against Clare, despite a sluggish start when Clare raced into an early four point lead, Waterford played well and lead at the break, with Maurice Shanahan causing all sorts of trouble in front of the Clare goal.

The signs were good, but in the second half, Waterford never performed, and in the end Clare ran out deserved winners.

Readers of a certain vintage will remember that in the 80’s and 90’s Offaly were one of the leading teams in the games. They regularly won the Bob O’Keeffe Cup and were involved in big September games at Croke Park and Semple Stadium (yes – Semple Stadium - the 1984 All-Ireland Hurling final was played their to mark the 100^th Anniversary of the formation of the GAA and Offaly were there where they lost to Cork), but right now, they are somewhat off the standard of the teams they produces in these eras.

There is many within the game that has expressed views that six teams playing in Division 1A of the National Hurling league is not right, and that the number should be raised to eight and possibly even ten. There is some that claim that having six teams in Division 1A is doing nothing for the games outside of the six teams.

Offaly are one of the teams that are outside of the six with a few years now, and have not really featured in the final shake up to see which team does come up and with Cork set to play in Division 1B next season, Offaly could well be set for another year outside of the top six teams competing for the early national honours.

While Offaly have not played against the top teams in the league with a few years, we will have a fair idea what to expect of them.

They are managed by former Clare Hurler Ollie Baker. As with others from the successful Clare teams of the Mid 90’s that have entered management in recent years, you can expect a physical battle when you play a team that they manage, and its envisaged that Offaly will be no different.

What can we expect from Waterford? We know that the side will fight to the end, but goal scoring still seems to be a concern. Many argue that our best chance of a goal is from Shane Walsh but he misses out once more. Last time Jake Dillon hit the net in the first half and over the past few weeks he is in fine form and hit the net a number of times for both Waterford and De La Salle so maybe he could be the answer to our prayers.

Waterford has made three changes to the team that lost against Clare. Stephen O’Keeffe comes in between the posts for Ian O’Regan. This surly was a hard call for the selectors to make.

The Ballygunner man began the year as the counties number one and despite the fact that he made mistakes in the league game against Kilkenny, some people felt it was hard done by to loose his place for the remainder of the campaign.

Ian O’Regan came in and did well enough to hold his place for the Clare game and even though two goals went past him, again many feel that for him to loose his place for this game is a harsh call, as he did well in the games he was playing, and for the goals against Clare he was powerless to do anything about the two goals as the mistakes were made by others in the build up to the goals.

Shane Fives comes back into the defence having missed the Clare game and he should prove to be an addition to the team as he was playing well for Waterford in the league before he picked up an injury in the build up to the game.

It’s no secret that Jamie Nagle picked up an injury in a recent training game. There were fears that he could have missed the game against Offaly, but he is named. He is without doubt one of Waterford’s most impressive performers this year and many will be the Dungarvan Club Man does start on Saturday evening will be able to finish as to have to replace him during the game would be a massive blow to Waterford’s chances.

Waterford has a new centre field pairing for this game. Kevin Moran is set to partner Paudie Prendergast and it looks like a strong paining. Could we see a switch before the game with maybe Darragh Fives moving from wing back with either the De La Salle or Lismore man moving to wing back? Shane O’Sullivan has played well in the middle of the field with some time and it remains to be seen what his absence from that sector of the field will effect Waterford.

The Ballygunner man moves to wing forward in a bid to beef up the forward line a little and to add a little more threat to it. Jake Dillon moves from the corner to the wing for this game and this could prove to be a good move and Seamus Prendergast is again named at Centre Forward.

Down the years this has proved to be his best position. He started there last time out and was doing well, but when he was moved to the inside forward line, Waterford’s luck began to change.

With Shane Walsh out, Maurice Shanahan is set to start on the edge of the square. Last time out against Clare, when placed in front of the Clare goal he caused plenty of trouble. If he was not scoring from play he was winning and scoring frees and no doubt he will be hoping to do the same again this weekend.

Jamie Barron who impressed against Clare on his championship debut retains his place while Brian O’Sullivan comes into the other corner in place of fellow Ballygunner club man Pauric Mahony.

Offaly are not expected to make too many changes to the team that played against Kilkenny but will be forced to make at least one chance as Cathal Parlon broke his hand in the game with the Cats and will need replacing.

Despite Shane Dooley been hampered by a hamstring injury for much of the year, he is expected to start. He may not have had the best of days against Kilkenny but he will be anxious to show exactly what he is able to do.

Against Kilkenny, Offaly tried to stop the ball going near their opponents half back line and with players like Jamie Nagle, Michael Walsh, Darragh Fives, Kevin Moran and Paudie Prendergast able to form a formidable line, they will be trying to do much the same this time out, but Michael Ryan and his selectors will have seen this happen and will come up with a plan to counter what Offaly are likely to do.

David Kenny and Ger Healion are almost certain to start in the half back line for Offaly and they could well prove to be a solid pairing along with whoever is selected to play alongside them possibly Dermot Mooney who started in the corner the last day, but there is suggestions that they may not be the fastest of players, which could well mean that players like Jake Dillon and Jamie Barron if he was to be moved out from goal could cause plenty of hassle for them.

A massive battle lies in store for both sides. Playing at Tullamore, potentially in front of a huge local support will spur on Ollie Bakers men.

Waterford will go into the games possibly as the favourites. The side from the Déise County however could have it all to do. There is some that say that this is a Waterford team that is in transition. We seem to be in transition for an awful long time now if we listen to the experts. Apart from Kilkenny, Waterford has been one of most consistent teams in the country for over a decade. While there is a lot of youth in the team, there is also a lot of experience. That has to count for something.