Cahill targeting league progress

By Liam Hogan

One of the positive things to emerge from the Dillon Quirke Foundation game was the return of Conor Stakelum late in the game following a hamstring injury but there is a lengthy list of injuries to overcome including Paddy Cadell (knee), Cathal Barrett (groin) and Niall O’Meara (groin).

“We have a number of injuries and three of them were well documented during the week with Niall O’Meara, Cathal Barrett and Paddy Cadell injured,” Cahill added.

“We do have a couple of hamstring with muscle and soft tissue injuries in Brian McGrath among others who need a week to ten days. It’s just the way it is.

“We have match after match and trying to get in a bit of training to make sure we are ready come April for the first round of the championship.”

The Ballingarry clubman agreed that his team have a tough game against Dublin in round 3 of the Allianz League next Saturday in Croke Park (5.00pm).

“This is another great challenge,” he added.

“We are delighted to get a game in Croke Park. Dublin are flying fairly high in the league. They won comprehensively in their last game against Antrim and got a draw in their first match against Waterford. They will ask questions of us in Croke Park.

“The league is ideal for new managers like myself which gives us an opportunity to test players in different environments and different challenges.

“I don’t like the league being devalued. It’s being devalued quite a bit over the past couple of weeks. The reality is that there are two national titles handed out each year at inter-county level. One is the All-Ireland and the second one is the National Hurling league.

“I was very fortunate to win two league medals as a player and I cherish them. It’s 2008 since we last won the league and it would be nice to get to the final and correct that fact.”