Sometimes you'd wonder about the AIB League's advance planning. Heretofore, Dublin has hosted either four or one First Division matches on alternate weekends of the league, and thus whereas the capital's supporters had a quartet of matches to choose from last time out, this afternoon there are no top-flight games in the city. Go figure.
To call it a famine or a feast might be stretching things. In any event, the net result is that the outstanding game in the capital, and indeed potentially the match of the day, is the meeting of fellow promotion aspirants, Blackrock College and UCD, at Stradbrook. This was marked as a grudge match from the day Brian O'Driscoll and the retired Ciaran Scally confirmed their intention to join Blackrock, although no differently than O'Driscoll, this will also constitute Gary Halpin's first AIL game against his old club.
Indeed the criss-crossing between the Williamstown school, the Belfield campus and the Stradbrook club makes this one of the most curiously parochial games one is likely to get all season.
A fixture imbalance has applied in Limerick as well this season, where Shannon have thus far had alternate weekends to themselves, whereas neighbouring Young Munster and Garryowen have twice kicked off simultaneously. A third clash has at least been avoided this weekend by Garryowen hosting their derby with Shannon tomorrow in the fixture most likely to avoid the general post-Twickenham gloom.
The Irish squad, featuring seven new caps, gives added piquancy to the weekend's activity, nowhere more so than at Dooradoyle. Shannon, for so long motivated by the perceived injustices of various Irish managements, now find they have the most representation of all in the 25-man squad with a quartet of members. How will they cope with being flavour of the month? Probably by cribbing that Marcus Horan is only in the A squad.
The aforementioned foursome (Mick Galwey, Anthony Foley, John Hayes and Peter Stringer) go head-to-head with Keith Wood and other Munster teammates, with the most intriguing match-up coming between Tom Tierney, now demoted from the Irish squad as well as the Munster team, and his putative replacement and debutant in waiting Stringer, who returns to the Shannon team along with Alan Quinlan. The return of Wood, and possibly one other change in the tight five, are likely to be John Hall's only deviations from the team which routed DLSP.
News of Hayes's elevation, however temporary that might prove, will have reverberated as far as Bruff, his one-time junior club rightly celebrating his callup, as well as Saracens, where Paul Wallace cannot have failed to notice the clear signals which Hayes's inclusion sends to the resident Irish tighthead.
Interestingly too, another tighthead option, Peter Clohessy, has switched to his old position to accommodate his younger brother Des at loosehead in the Young Munster team which hosts Terenure.
Here again Mike Mullins, Girvan Dempsey and Eric Miller have plenty to play for and accordingly Donal Lenihan and Warren Gatland will take in the Limerick. Meanwhile, Eddie O'Sullivan will make the trek up north to watch Ronan O'Gara's anticipated comeback from injury for Cork Constitution. The Irish squad assembles on Sunday night, with fitness checks on Monday before the team and replacements are finalised on Tuesday.
