Tightrope test for the hurlers

Any hopes of a comfortable trip to Tralee for Saturday"s Christy Ring Cup encounter with Kerry were scuppered last weekend following Mayo"s shock victory over the Kingdom which means the hosts must secure a win to have any hope of advancing to the knock-out stages of the competition. Had Kerry beaten Mayo it would have meant that they would qualify along with the Royal County, but now the Munster men need to beat Meath to have any chance. The scenario remains that it will take a convincing Kerry victory to deny Meath, but if the Kingdom get their tails up and Meath are below par then a shock result could be on the cards and that might pave the way to the exit gate for John Andrews and his players. Andrews will ensure that complacency is not a problem, but he is also well aware that his charges need to improve dramatically if they are to achieve his ultimate ambition of lifting the Christy Ring Cup. The assignment is simple for Meath. If they win or draw they qualify. However, if they lose by more than five points then they are out, with Mayo going through as runner-up to Kerry. It is an unthinkable scenario for Andrews and one that he is confident will not arise. The incentive has to be to finish top of the group to secure a home quarter-final tie. 'We knew that if Kerry won we"d have been automatically through to a quarter-final, but as it stands now all three teams are still in with a chance. We have always planned to go down to Kerry for a win, regardless of the outcome of last weekend"s game between Mayo and Kerry,' said Andrews. 'Our motivation factor is to win the game and secure a home venue for the quarter-final. Last year we beat Kerry in Navan, but Kerry don"t travel well and they will be a different proposition in Tralee next Saturday. 'We went to Castlebar last weekend to watch the game against Mayo who played very well and deserved to win. Comparing Mayo"s game against us to their win over Kerry, you can see that they were kept in the game against us by frees, but they didn"t get that against Kerry and they certainly improved from when they played us. 'Kerry were without their top scorer Shane Brick and I"m reliably informed that he"ll be back to play us next Saturday. 'I"m sure the game against Mayo will bring us on and we"ve had a few good training sessions. We are going to Limerick on Friday night and then on to Tralee on Saturday. 'We are approaching the game properly and everything is being prepared thoroughly, but we can"t looked beyond this game. 'The outcome is in our own hands, but there are so many different permutations. If we win then we are in the quarter-finals with a home game the following week so while it is a good position to be in, we will be going all out to win the game and won"t be taking anything for granted,' concluded the manager. Results Meath 0-16, Mayo 0-12; Mayo 0-18, Kerry 0-15.