National Hurling League:Most people know the score by now - that Dublin have beaten Galway and Limerick and tied with Kilkenny - and yet still their Allianz National Hurling League campaign doesn't get any easier. This evening they travel to Casement Park in Belfast to face an Antrim team still searching for their first win, and that presents a different sort of challenge for Dublin than recent weeks.
This is a game Dublin are expected to win, need to win, and should win - which is plenty to deal with for one night. It's also the second of three games in eight days which, no matter how fit this team is, will test them to the maximum.
There's also the small matter of the floodlights to cope with, a new departure both for the teams and the league, brought on by the 7pm throw-in.
Re-fixed from March 4th, when Dublin travelled to Belfast to find Casement Park water-logged, it's now a game with even greater significance as a win would guarantee Dublin a play-off place for the first time in 10 years.
And if they do win, they'll travel to Tipperary next Sunday looking to top Division 1B and thus go straight into the semi-finals. Needless to say, manager Tommy Naughton is not looking that far ahead. Caution and sensibility are clearly his trademarks, and he knows if Dublin slip up then the recent buzz won't be long disintegrating. It would, at this stage, be something of a failure if Dublin don't make the play-offs.
They'll start with the same team that beat Limerick at the Gaelic Grounds last Sunday, which means John McCaffrey (groin strain), David Curtin (broken finger) and Liam Ryan (hamstring) are all still sidelined.
But if Dublin's show against Limerick is anything to go by, they should cope with the losses, with Kevin O'Reilly, John Kelly, Kevin Flynn and Padraig O'Driscoll all in fine scoring form last Sunday. Wing back Derek O'Reilly, one of several contenders for man of the match against Limerick, is a slight injury concern. Anyone in Limerick last Sunday would assume that was the eye injury he sustained in the second half (and required some stitch-work on the sidelines before he promptly resumed), but instead it's a leg infection O'Reilly had carried into that game. That certainly didn't hamper him, with his positional sense and ball delivery particularly impressive.
Antrim, despite being winless, won't be any pushover. However, joint manager Dominic McKinley described last Sunday's 16-point loss to Kilkenny as "very demoralising", and they'll need to raise their game considerably to upset Dublin - even with home advantage.
Interestingly, one man giving Antrim some hope is Tipperary manager Babs Keating. Speaking on local radio yesterday, Keating declared that he would "hold his breath" on Dublin's true prospects, and also hoped for an Antrim win which would help Tipperary's prospects of making the play-offs. "You have to be happy for Dublin to see them arrive," he said, "and I hope they have arrived as serious contenders for the Leinster championship, but I'll hold my breath on it. I hope that Antrim will beat them, and I guarantee you, I know the conditions were atrocious, but if Antrim play with the same intensity they showed against Tipperary in Templemore last Sunday week, they will trouble Dublin."
Antrim won't finalise their team until shortly before throw-in this evening, with several changes expected from the heavy defeat to Kilkenny.
They have played a few challenge games under the Casement Park lights in recent weeks but that's where their advantage ends. In the end, it should be a comfortable win for Dublin.
DUBLIN (SH v Antrim):G Maguire; P Brennan, S Hiney, T Brady; M Carton, R Fallon, D O'Reilly; J Boland, G O'Meara; T Moore, D Qualter, J Kelly; K O'Reilly, P O'Driscoll, K Flynn.
