Offaly hurlers welcome Galway to Birr with another tough test expected

TOP flight hurling returns to Grant Heating St Brendan's Park, Birr, on Sunday next when Offaly play host to Galway in Round 4 of the Allianz Hurling League.

It is a meeting of two sides who have so far failed to win a game in this year's league so a win for both is vital in the battle to beat relegation to Division 1B.

Offaly have played one more game than their opponents having lost to Kilkenny, Tipperary and Waterford in the opening three rounds, while Galway suffered defeats away to Tipperary and at home to Cork, while they had a bye in the last round.

The sides have already met this year as they came face to face in the Walsh Cup in January in Ballinasloe but there will be very different lineouts on both sides this weekend.

It has been a tough return to the top division for Offaly this season, particularly when they have been missing so many key players through injury. They showed plenty of fight in their opening game against Kilkenny and while well beaten by Tipperary, they gave a much improved performance against Waterford last time out.

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The aim on Sunday will be to build on that momentum and show further signs of progress. The two week break will have given them a chance to make some recovery from the opening block of three games and get ready afresh for this encounter.

Galway have had a three week break since their last outing and they will be smarting from those opening two defeats and they will determined not to get dragged into a relegation battle. They have shown what they are capable of in patches of those two games but just lacked the consistency over 70 minutes and suffered two defeats.

Everything is building towards the championship and these two sides will be meeting again in a couple of months time in the Leinster Championship.

For now the focus is on Sunday and Offaly will probably look on this game as their best chance to getting a victory, considering their final two games are against Limerick and Cork. They have had some good battles with Galway and while they have suffered some heavy defeats, Offaly are in a stronger place now than they have been for a while.

Galway will be coming to Birr determined to get their season up and running and they won't want another defeat on their record. They will pose serious problems for Offaly and it will be interesting to see how Offaly deal with those.

With a big crowd expected, there should be a cracking atmosphere in St Brendan's Park and the home fans would love to see Offaly produce something special to rekindle memories of days of yore in Birr.

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