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Bank of Ireland Celtic Challenge action continues

James Kelly, South Wexford, and Philip Maunsell, Kerry, in action during the 2016 Celtic Challenge Division Two Final.

James Kelly, South Wexford, and Philip Maunsell, Kerry, in action during the 2016 Celtic Challenge Division Two Final.

By Damian Lawlor

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A full programme of games swings into action tomorrow evening (May 10) for the second round group stages of the 2017 Bank of Ireland Celtic Challenge.

Last weekend's opening salvo of 19 games created quite a stir in the hurling world with fine wins for Meath Royals against Wexford Purple. There were also high scoring wins for North-Mid Tipperary over North Clare while Donegal had a thrilling win over Mayo.

This week's second round fixtures promise to be just as appealing to hurling supporters in all 32 counties.

One of the games that could be evenly matched is the Group B meeting of South/East Clare and North Cork at Mallow. North Cork put up a whopping 4-16 against Kerry last week and are in fine scoring form coming into this game. But South/East Clare scored 1-18 against much stronger opposition in Limerick City last week and they will fancy their chances of making it two wins in a row.

The underage development taking place in Cork is highly impressive at the moment - and has been for the last few years. Many of these players have already come through successful Under-14, 15 and 16 development squads.

But tomorrow at Mallow the Cork youngsters face a South/East Clare side that showed its dominance in the third quarter of last week's clash. The Banner side has already proven that it is a resilient one - last week they came back to win having been six points down so, even on home soil, North Cork will find it hard to put this game away and should be pushed to the final whistle.

Goalkeeper William Kavanagh looks to be in great form and made two important first half saves last time out. At the other end Michael Hynes pulled all the strings on the scoreboard with 11 points over the hour. The Whitegate sharpshooter will take some watching tomorrow, as will Conor Bourke and Darragh Whelan.

Fiachra Donnellan is another youngster making waves. He came the last day and scored a goal in the 43rd minute. The Feakle targetma recently guided Feakle/Killanena to a historic Under 21A crown and he is indicative of the strength in depth that this Clare outfit has.

As for Limerick City, they play West Cork tomorrow. While they lost their first game, they did produce a late fightback led by Josh Considine and will be looking to build on that resilience.

Meanwhile, if it's local derbies that you're into, head to Walsh Park at 7.30pm tomorrow for the  meeting of West Waterford and East Waterford.

A big crowd is expected to attend this eagerly-awaited game. Last week South/West Tipperary beat East Waterford to claim the points in a thrilling finish to an excellent game and the East side will be desperate to get a win under their belts this time around.

But the great thing about this next-door-neighbour clash is that West Waterford themselves are desperate for a win - they lost by just a point to South East Limerick last week.

East Waterford will look to players like Sean McDonald for inspiration - he is in goalscoring form currently. Their goalkeeper Cormac O’Mahony was actually the springboard for a Déise comeback last week with some fine saves and excellent puckouts.

And while there was disappointment in the end for East Waterford last Wednesday they did get  two bonus points for scoring three goals and for losing by less than five points - that could yet be crucial come the end of the league section.

Meanwhile, for South Tipperary, their 1-19 - 3-10 win over East Waterford gives them huge confidence ahead of their second round game. They play Cork City at Golden this time around.

South Tipperary’s Aidan Griffin and Martin Keogh are two players to watch. So too is Mark Downey who steadied the ship for his side with a brace of crucial points in the final minutes to secure a victory.

Ger O’ Dwyer, Josh Ryan, Mark Downey and Tomas Vaughan are other players that Cork City will have to watch out for tomorrow night.

This year's competition includes a total of 47 teams from all 32 counties taking part across eight groups -  determined on a geographical and developmental basis. The competition features county as well as regional teams.

Over 1,400 players will play 155 matches across eight weeks.

Chairperson of the Hurling Development Committee Paudie O’Neill says: “The key point of the HDC's three-year plan is providing a meaningful games programme. Historically, there’s been a lot of work done on coaching and coach education, upskilling people. However, very rarely have these coaches had the opportunity to have their teams play in a meaningful programme of games. In the Bank of Ireland Celtic Challenge players and coaches have a chance to develop because each team plays a minimum of six games on pre-scheduled dates – in this regard the competition has been phenomenally successful.”

A comprehensive review of the second round games will be posted on GAA.ie on Friday.