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Hurling

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Preview: Allianz HL D1A - Waterford v Tipperary

Who will continue their winning start to the 2017 Allianz Hurling Leagues? Waterford host Tipperary in Walsh Park on Sunday at 2pm and Ballygunner's Philip Mahony admits that Na Déise will need to be in top form to match Tipperary if they are to get a result at home.

Juveniles (Under 16 Years of Age) are FREE admission for the game, while adult tickets are €12.00 if purchased before matchday.

Match-Day Prices are Adult €15.00, while concessions (Student/OAP) are €12.00 and available at the venue on matchday with valid I.D.

Tickets are available for purchase in selected SuperValu and Centra stores nationwide; full details of which shops apply can be found at http://www.gaa.ie/tickets/where-to-buy/

Allianz Hurling League Division 1A

Waterford v Tipperary, Walsh Park, 2pm - TG4

Waterford’s one-point win over Kilkenny in Nowlan Park last weekend sent out a real statement.

They more than matched Kilkenny’s physicality and then also showed great mental strength to resist the home team’s late fight-back.

Having been knocked out of the Championship by the Cats in 2015 and 2016, it clearly meant a lot to the Waterford players to get the better of them in what was a pretty ferocious contest.

“This is a new mentality that we are trying to bring forward,” said Waterford corner-back Noel Connors after the match.

"If that was a couple of years ago it would have probably been the opposite and they would have stuck on another point or two.

"But there’s an incredible amount of steel in this team and you can see with the college lads that a lot of them are at that level.

“So it's important that we go out and dig it in when we need to and that's what it's all about, particularly at this time of year when the ball is not flying.”

Were Waterford to now scalp Tipperary a week after skinning the Cats it would be another important milestone in the evolution of Derek McGrath’s young team.

They’ve a real chance of doing so too, because as comfortable as Tipperary’s win was over Dublin last weekend, they did look a little rusty.

No surprise there really considering their team holiday brought them into January and they didn’t take part in the Munster League.

Opportunity knocks for Waterford and they’ll surely be fired up to avenge last year’s heavy Munster Final defeat even if team manager Derek McGrath did his best to dampen down expectations in a newspaper interview this week by building up Tipp as much as he possibly could.

He made the valid point that Tipperary are further ahead in terms of their development as a team than Waterford are, but that doesn’t mean Waterford aren’t capable of catching up quickly.

Players like Conor Gleeson and Tom Devine showed against Kilkenny that they’re capable of playing a bigger role in 2017 than they did last year, and you can be sure others like Austin Gleeson, Shane Bennett, and Patrick Curran will go to a higher level again this year.

Tipperary manager Michael Ryan.

Tipperary manager Michael Ryan.

Tipperary manager Michael Ryan is certainly well aware of the reception that awaits his team in Walsh Park on Sunday.

“We talk up Kilkenny a lot, we talk up Waterford a lot and I’m going to talk up Waterford again – they’re an excellent side,” said Ryan this week. “We saw what they did against Kilkenny, a real competitive game, much like they did last year.

“We’re under no illusions about this one, it’s going to be a ding-dong game. They are the games we love. You never play a game of hurling where you don’t find out something.”

He has a point, because even though Tipperary did beat Dublin quite easily last weekend they did learn a thing or two about some of their players in the process.

Aidan McCormack scored five points from play to show he’s now a live contender for a place in the full-forward line, and it will be interesting to see if he can sustain that sort of form against better opposition.

With Patrick ‘Bonner’ Maher away with the Irish Army on a peacekeeping mission to the Golan Heights for most of the League campaign there’s a vacancy in the team at centre-forward, and Jason Forde looks like he’s determined to make it his own.

His quality has been apparent for some time, but a lack of consistency has prevented him from nailing down a regular place in the team.

He did his cause a lot of good last weekend by scoring 1-3 off Liam Rushe, and he’s another who will be determined to hold onto the jersey.

Both teams are coming into the game highly motivated and in good form, so it should be a serious game of hurling.

Home advantage and greater match-sharpness may give Waterford a slight edge.

WATERFORD: Ian O'Regan; Shane Fives, Barry Coughlan, Noel Connors; Tadhg de Burca, Austin Gleeson, Shane McNulty; Gavin O'Brien, Conor Gleeson; Kevin Moran, Pauric Mahony, Michael Walsh; Tom Devine, Mikey Kearney, Jake Dillon.

TIPPERARY: Daragh Mooney; Donagh Maher, James Barry, Joe O'Dwyer; Seamus Kennedy, Tomas Hamill, Padraic Maher; Brendan Maher, Kieran Bergin; Dan McCormack, Jason Forde, Steven O'Brien; Aidan McCormack, John McGrath, Niall O'Meara.