Murphy is rewarded with a start

Larry Murphy is back in the Wexford starting line-up for Sunday's All-Ireland hurling quarter-final against Antrim at Croke Park.

The veteran of the 1996 AllIreland success and former All Star from that same year comes into the full-forward position, and is an indirect replacement for the injured Adrian Fenlon.

As an early substitute against Waterford last Saturday Murphy's impact was substantial, and manager John Conran had little choice but to hand him his first championship start of the summer.

Two vacancies has been left, however, as Conran waits until Sunday morning before finalising the full back and centre forward positions.

Darragh Ryan, their first choice for full back, is ruled out because of a hand injury (broken bone) sustained in the win over Waterford, and Keith Rossiter and Colm Kehoe will be in the running to take over.

The centre forward position might well be filled by captain Paul Codd, named last night at right half forward, with either Barry Lambert or Michael Jordan likely to be called into the starting line-up.

Rory Jacob, who scored 1-3 when coming off the bench against Waterford, is named in the left corner.

All week the Wexford hurlers have been reminding themselves of the dangers that come with drawing Ulster opposition in the All-Ireland quarter-finals.

Expected to win, a disaster if they don't, and yet there is much to fear about Antrim. Part of the problem is that long stretch since the counties last met in the championship.

In fact, it was the semi-final of 1954, shortly after Roger Bannister had made history by breaking the four-minute mile. And like the state of middle distance running, it seems hurling has passed through several generations since.

What's certain is Antrim hurling has improved significantly from 49 years ago, when Wexford won by a massive 44 points, 12-17 to 2-3. No one is expecting a repeat of that sort of score on Sunday.

Still, Wexford are a little unsure of what lies in store. It has helped that Dickie Murphy, Wexford's inter-county referee and current senior hurling selector, has been in the middle for some of Antrim's other big days out. But that advantage is slim.

"One of the first games I ever refereed was Antrim in a league match," says Murphy, "but the last time I was involved in a game with them was the 1994 semi-final. So that obviously doesn't give me much of an insight.

"But it hasn't been difficult to get information on this Antrim team. We have got people who have seen them play. We know they won their league final (Division Two), and also won easy in Ulster. And what we believe now is that it is going to be a very, very difficult game.

"We definitely respect this Antrim team, and we have to. They were only two or three points down against Tipperary last year with less than 10 minutes to go (Tipp out-scored Antrim 1-5 to 0-1 in the closing minutes). So we'll be taking absolutely nothing for granted.

"We also feel we have to get on top of them from the word go. Waterford were all over us for the first 25 minutes the last day, and we feel if we let Antrim get a run at us like that then they will be very difficult to pull back."

Given the wide Croke Park pitch is expected to suit Antrim, and that they were reasonably content with the draw too (at least in avoiding Tipp again), the game will be far from a pushover for Wexford.

And the presence of five Dunloy players on the Antrim team who also reached the All-Ireland club final this year greatly adds to their level of experience.

"Last Saturday is well behind us now," adds Murphy, "and we're just delighted to be still in the championship. We were very down after losing to Kilkenny, and that's why we're in no way looking beyond 2.15 on Sunday."

Tickets for the hurling quarter-finals will be on sale today and tomorrow from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. at the ticket office to the rear of the Cusack Stand at Croke Park.

Sunday's triple bill involves Antrim against Galway in the minor quarter-final starting at 12.45, then Antrim against Wexford (2.15) and Offaly against Tipperary (4.0) in the senior quarter-finals.

Tickets for the KildareRoscommon football qualifier in Portlaoise tomorrow (6.15) have been distributed to the respective counties. Admission to Donegal v Down in Clones, which has a 4.15 start, requires no tickets, but is cash payment only at the stiles.

While the draw for the quarter-finals of the football championship is set for Sunday, a draw for the hurling semi-finals will only be required if Antrim defeat Wexford.

Should Wexford win they are pitted straight against Cork, as they already played Kilkenny in the Leinster championship earlier this month. Kilkenny will then play the winners of the Tipperary-Offaly tie in the other semi-final.

WEXFORD (SH v Antrim): D Fitzhenry; D Guiney, AN Other, D O'Connor; D Stamp, D Ruth, L Dunne; R McCarthy, L O'Gorman; P Codd, AN Other, M Jacob; C McGrath, L Murphy, R Jacob.