A place in Munster awaits Ardmore or Dunhill

This Saturday’s County Intermediate Hurling Final could prove to be a very interesting one.

There is some that will claim that to see Dunhill involved in it is no surprise, as many expected them to be in the eastern final alongside Portlaw, the sides that got relegated from the senior grade at the end of 2012 and the side beaten in the County Intermediate Hurling final last year.

To see Ardmore in the final, maybe for some is a little bit of a surprise as Cappoquin and Clashmore would have been expected to prove that little bit stronger than the men from the sea-side village.

However to have under-estimated Ardmore would have been foolish. The side managed by Nicky Keating have a nice look to them. They have some excellent players with inter county experience within their ranks and also some top young prospects and they showed in the West of the county how good they actually are.

Dunhill come into this game on the back of a good win over Portlaw in the Intermediate final recently.

Portlaw were a fancied side by many. They won last years title in the east of the county and while they lost rather heavily to an An Rinn side that had a considerable amount of work done under the guidance of Peter Power in the run up to the game.

Dunhill won the title twelve months earlier and in their year in senior, despite loosing a number of players that helped them lift the east and county finals in 2011, they acquitted themselves well and it could be said that they were somewhat unlucky to have found themselves relegated.

Shane Casey and Eamon Murphy will be their big treats going into the game. Both will start, one in each line of their attack and will prove to be a treat throughout to the Ardmore defence.

Any split moment where the Ardmore defence looses concentration could well be punished.

However, Dunhill are not just about the two men that have played with Waterford in recent years.

Tomás and Brian Dunbar have come through successful underage teams and are very good players. Jason Burns, Davin Phelan, Darragh Murray and Shane Behan are also players that will take some minding by the Ardmore players.

Ardmore’s big guns are well known to everybody. Clinton Hennessy as well as Declan and Seamus Prendergast have trilled us on many occasions over the past decade in the white and blue of Waterford.

Seamus Prendergast has proved to be the side’s top scorer in recent games and he will take some watching by the Dunhill defence this weekend, and not just from play as he is likely to punish Dunhill for any indiscipline from frees.

Cathal Hennessy, John and David Gartland as well as Richie and Wayne Hennessy have also impressed in recent games, while they have a real jewel in Seamus Keating. The mid centre field player in recent games has proven himself to be a quality player, and put in a man of the match performance last week against Clashmore in the Western Final.

It’s hard to pick a winner in this game. Both deserve to go up, but only one can.

Dunhill will have had a two week break since they beat Portlaw in the Eastern Final, while this is the third weekend that Ardmore will be involved in hurling action.

They say there is nothing like games coming on a regular basis. Three games in three weekends, you can’t beat that for consistency. However, a break is also nice to get.

Dunhill will come into this game a relatively rested team. Ardmore will not mind too much playing week after week if their winning run was to continue.