Stripeywomen welcome ders in O’Duffy opener

provide the necessary drive and leadership to push Kilkenny to at the very least, the latter stages of the championship.

e Fitzgerald sisters will bring bite and energy to the team, while Niamh Deely, Laura Murphy and Michelle Teehan have all been ticking along nicely. row in the experienced Katie Power and Julieann Malone and the black and amber ladies have quality all over the park.

is season sees the team captained by Sinead O’Keefe. Following her club’s Senior championship win, the omastown woman has been given the honour of captaining her county. is is the 21-year-old UL student’s second year with senior squad, having been promoted from the intermediate ranks following the 2021 nal. O’Keefe will be hoping to follow in footsteps of Dicksboro’s Aoife Prendergast and lift O’Du y Cup number 16 later this summer.

Colin Sunderland’s Wexford side will arrive in the Marble City as huge underdogs for their clash with Kilkenny, but the Slaneysiders will hope to give it a good lash in UPMC Nowlan Park. Despite being comprehensively beaten by e Deise in the 1B league nal earlier this year, Wexford put in a really encouraging performance in Leinster when going down narrowly to the eventual beaten nalists Dublin.

Captained by the talented Anais Curran tomorrow’s visitors possess some players that have the ability to cause Kilkenny problems. Along with Curran, ere’s St Martin’s trio Linda Bolger, Chloe Foxe and Ciara O’Connor, the lively Kate Kirwan and the recently returned defensive lynchpin, Ciara Storey.

Brian Dowling will have primed his charges for the challenge that lies ahead tomorrow and will want to see his side lay down an early championship marker by securing a home victory and get the group stage o to a winning start.