Heavey expects tougher test

Meath will endeavour to advance to the semi-finals of the Kehoe Cup at Trim on Sunday afternoon, but to do so they will have to try to get one over Wicklow and that is a task that is easier said than done.
With a hallow win over the students of St Patrick’s Drumcondra in the opening round, stand-in captain Sean Heavey doesn’t believe there will be a repeat showing next Sunday.
The Kildalkey man, who will wear the captain’s armband in the continued absence of Steven Clynch, accepts that St Patrick’s didn’t offer too much resistance, but he believes that manager Cillian Farrell took advantage of the opposition to introduced several new players to inter-county hurling.
“It wasn’t much of a contest against St Pat’s last week, but it was a useful exercise to be able to blood new players like Conor O’Shea and Gary Kelly. We did put up a good score against them and even after they came at us we got an early goal and that kick us on, after that it was game over,” said Heavey.
“Cillian (Farrell) is bringing in a lot of young players and it has been great. The older lads like myself are nearly extinct at this stage, the majority of the team are under 25 and players like Paddy Conneely, Gary Kelly, James Toher, Conor O’Shea and others are only 20 or 21 years old, it’s good to have them driving the older lads on.”
Wicklow will bring considerable more force to Trim next Sunday and with a trip to Arklow to take on the same opposition in the opening round of NHL Div 2B on Sunday 16th February, this Kehoe Cup quarter-final will hand the winners a major psychological boost.
“Wicklow are a tough team and are very dogged. This game mightn’t be champagne hurling, but it will be a good test for us. Compared to the game against St Patrick’s last week, we won’t have half as much time on the ball. It should be a good match and with a bit of luck we will come out with the right result.
“It will be massively important to beat Wicklow on Sunday because it gives us more games to continue to blood players. To get the St Pat’s game out of the way was great, but this will be a different challenge. We have to play Wicklow in the first game of the league too, so this will be a psychological battle too,” concluded Heavey.

 

Fergal Lynch