Conran looking to keep things competitive

By chance rather than design all three games in Sunday's concluding round at the top of the National Hurling League will have a bearing on who reaches the final. Put simply, three into two doesn't go - and one from Kilkenny, Tipperary or Cork will lose out.

For all their dominance of recent months Kilkenny still need to beat Wexford to be sure of their place in the final. If Tipperary beat Clare then they will join them in the May 5th final. But should either of them slip up then Cork can move into the frame provided they beat Galway.

The danger is that with all their three opponents now playing only for pride the final showdowns may have lost some of their sting. Yet Wexford manager John Conran sees things differently and is thinking solely about a competitive game when he takes his team to Nowlan Park.

"Well I certainly don't see this as a game where Wexford have nothing to gain," he says. "I mean you can gain an awful lot anytime you beat Kilkenny. And it would be tremendous for us if we could beat them.

"And last week's game against Clare was supposed to be another game that didn't really matter to either side. Well as it turned out it was very, very competitive. Both of us played that game as if it meant an awful lot to us, and played with great character, even if neither of us played particularly well."

From a Kilkenny perspective, Wexford will be viewed as the one team that can always spring a surprise - primarily because they've done so often in the past. The meeting between Tipperary and Clare won't need much of a re-introduction either, especially with the teams meeting again in the Munster championship in a little over three weeks.

Cork are now depending on one of the two teams above them to lose for them to reach the final, and scoring difference would also come into play (Kilkenny would have to lose by five, Cork would have to win by six).

Conran, however, accepts that Kilkenny are still in the prime position to make the final. "There's no doubt that Kilkenny do seem to be operating on a different level at the moment. At times they seem to be on a different planet. They are definitely the team in form at the moment, and so far it seems like Tipperary were the only ones who were able to compete at the same level.

"And to be honest, I think deep down Kilkenny will feel that they won't have too hard a job with us. Of course they'll be trying to tell themselves otherwise, but no matter what way they'll be trying to think, deep down they'll be thinking they will beat us.

"The fact is we're at the bottom end of those six teams, and they're at the top. There is a gap there, but what we'll be trying to do is to keep that gap as narrow as we can. And even close it as much as we can."

Wexford's cause on Sunday won't be helped be a recent series of injuries - and particularly hamstring injuries. Full back David O'Connor, defender Colm Kehoe and midfielder Adrian Fenlon are all doubtful for that reason, while Dave Guiney (Calf) and Liam Dunne (chest infection) are also doubtful. "It is unfortunate that we have been hit so badly with injuries," says Conran. "That will take a bit away from us. But having said that it would be a very big deal for us to play well down there, and that's the way we have to approach it."

Conran has been impressed rather than surprised by Kilkenny's near total dominance of the league. "The truth is they have been trying out some new lads," he says, "and they are still a very young team." Yet the new league format overall has, in Conran's opinion, been a little disappointing. "Personally I don't think it's a complete success. I feel we should have all started from scratch again for the second phase, rather than have the points carried over.

"We came into the second phase knowing we had a mountain to climb. And we have struggled to keep up with the likes of Kilkenny and Tipperary. It might have been different if they'd wiped the slate clean after the first half. But all along it's looked like Tipperary and Kilkenny would make the final. And that still looks like the case."