Stack left to rally his tired troops

Toomevara coach Seβn Stack is a little short on confidence going into tomorrow's Munster hurling semi-final replay with Ballgunner.

For a start, the Tipperary champions, who surrendered a four-point lead in the final 10 minutes of the draw last Sunday in Thurles, must now travel to Waterford's home ground of Walsh Park.

Although both clubs came away from the first rendezvous with an equal sense of misfortune, Stack also feels that the odds have now stacked up in Ballygunner's favour. A combination of injury, tiredness, and just bad luck has, says Stack, robbed Toomevara of much of its momentum.

"Our biggest concern right now is the whole glut of games that have been landed on us," he says. "It is unfortunate but also understandable that the Tipperary championship went on so long, and we further complicated it by drawing with Loughmore. So this will be our seventh game in eight weeks, and that results in mental tiredness and physical injuries. And we have run into both."

Last weekend, Toomevara were down two of their leading forwards, including Paddy O'Brien, and had also lost Tony Delaney in the county final last Sunday week.

Delaney had been holding the whole back line together for much of their early championship matches but out once again for the replay, his loss may prove to be fatal.

There were further problems in last Sunday's draw in that Toomevara failed to score in the final quarter, allowing the Waterford champions to draw level and then nearly take the victory. "Well, it took a huge effort to get into that position," adds Stack, "and it was like giving it all in the first seven furlongs of an eight furlong race. What have you left after that?

"So, I think all the advantages are thrown in Waterford's favour. They have home support and they're back in Walsh Park where they beat St Joseph's Doora-Barefield. And Toomevara's record outside of Tipperary for the past four years has been dismal enough. So we'll be going down more in hope that anything else."

Yet, Stack is not totally playing down Toomevara's chances. The former Clare hurler and selector, who previously worked with Toomevara in 1993 and 1994 before coming back for his latest term last June, feels that, at their best, they can play and beat the best of them.

"This is a seriously capable club team if we had a break and had everybody available. When they've come out of Tipperary recently they've seemed to run into back luck. Last year they had three serious injuries and were missing Tommy Dunne and that run of bad luck has come around again this year. So the Gods have thrown all this bad luck in our way but we have to accept it and get on with in."

Stack is also aware that Walsh Park is not as fast or as open as Thurles. Though Ballygunner were physically bigger than the Tipperary club they may actually have been better suited to Thurles.

"But you have to say that Ballygunner have improved an awful lot, and Andy Moloney (formerly of Tipperary) has been a big plus to them in that he brings so much power and steel.

"Someone like that will always give a new buzz to a club team. They have dominated Waterford for a while now along with Mt Sion and they'll feel it's their time to deliver on the national scene."

The Waterford champions, who are coached by former Kilkenny star Gordon Ryan, concluded their preparations with a light training session last night. They are expected to name an unchanged side, although there may be some switching in the attack.