Sod's law may deprive Birr of Whelahan

ALL-IRELAND CLUB SEMI-FINALS: A series of freak accidents has cast doubt over the fitness of three key Birr players ahead of Sunday's All-Ireland club hurling semi-final against Athenry - with two cases in particular reinforcing many of the perceived myths surrounding Offaly hurlers and their laid-back attitude to match preparation.

Defender Brian Whelahan suffered a back strain while putting turf on his fire, and was forced out of training for the past week. Forward Johnny Pilkington has also had his training curtailed with a groin injury, suffered in equally unexpected circumstances while lifting a crate of beer.

And goalkeeper Brian Mullins was also involved in a minor accident a week ago when his car skidded off the road after hitting a patch of ice. He suffered a shoulder injury in the process.

While both Pilkington and Mullins have been named in the starting line-up, Whelahan remains highly doubtful and as a result his place in the half-back line has been left vacant until closer to Sunday's throw-in.

Manager Pad Joe Whelahan said yesterday that the player "had no better than a 50-50 chance of starting" and that if he fails to recover his loss would be a major handicap in their quest to retain the All-Ireland club title.

Not surprisingly, the Birr manager was particularly concerned about Whelahan. "No team in the country could afford to do without a player of his ability," he said. "And if we have to play without him then it will be a huge handicap for us."

Otherwise, reports from the Offaly club have been more positive, with training in general having gone as planned in recent weeks.

There has been one further vacancy left on the team at left-corner forward, where Pad Joe Whelahan has still to decide whether to start Stephen Browne or Liam Power.

Browne started in the Leinster final win over Kilkenny champions Young Irelands, but was replaced by Power early in the second half.

Opponents Athenry have been more fortunate in avoiding bizarre accidents and also welcome back former Galway captain Brian Feeney, who starts his first game of the club campaign having been based in Italy up until last summer.

Feeney will line up at centre back, with Diarmuid Cloonan moving to midfield at the expense of Brian Hanley.

The game is expected to attract a near-capacity crowd to Cusack Park in Ennis, with TG4 also providing live television coverage (2.30 p.m. throw-in). The two clubs have dominated the hurling championship in recent years, having each won three All-Ireland titles in the last eight years.

Birr were successful in 1995, 1998 and last year, while Athenry won in 1997 and in 2000-01. Only Clare's Sixmilebridge (1996) and St Joseph's (1999) broke their winning sequence. Birr and Athenry, however, have met only once in that period, with the Galway champions narrowly winning the 2000 All-Ireland semi-final.

The other semi-final involving Mount Sion and Dunloy has a 2 p.m. throw-in in Mullingar.

Teenager Kenny Stafford has been given his first start for the Munster champions, while Dunloy will be without the experience of Antrim's Gregory O'Kane, who is suspended.

Meanwhile, the quarter-finals of the Fitzgibbon Cup take place on Saturday.

University of Limerick take on Limerick IT at Sixmilebridge (2 p.m.), NUI Galway take on UCC in Dangean (2.30 p.m.), and UCD are away to Cork IT (1 p.m.).

_{BIRR (SH v Athenry): B Mullins; G Cahill, J Errity, JP O'Meara; D Franks, N Claffey, AN Other; R Hanniffy, Barry Whelahan; D Pilkington, G Hanniffy, S Whelahan; P Molloy, J Pilkington, AN Other.}

_{ATHENRY (SH v Birr): M Crimmins; MJ Quinn, G Keane, J Feeney; B Higgins, B Feeney, P Hardiman; B Kehoe, D Cloonan; J Rabbitte, P Higgins, S Donohue; D Moran, E Cloonan, D Donohue}

_{MOUNT SION (SH v Dunloy): I O'Riordan; J O'Meara, A Kirwan, B Flannery; J Cleere, T Browne, B Greene; R McGrath, K Stafford; E Kelly, K McGrath, E McGrath; M White, S Ryan, M Frisby.}