Lisbellaw hurlers will kickstart their Ulster Club campaign with a repeat of the fixture they lost in last year’s competition at the same stage.
The ‘Law lost to Tyrone side Carrickmore in extra time in last year’s quarter-final in Tyrone and they will face the exact same fixture this Sunday as they did 12 months ago.
The sides also met in the last round of this year’s league fixtures which effectively counted as the league final where Lisbellaw were again beaten as they hoped to overturn their fortunes against Carrickmore.
Key man Luca McCusker says his side is not looking ahead just yet and are only thinking about Sunday’s game.
“We are expecting a serious challenge from them, after playing them in the league final and losing by a point they will be confident coming into it, especially at home,” he said.
“That game was a great game, end to end with some great scoring from both sides but they just pipped it in the end. We only have one goal really and that’s to get over this first game. We have been thinking and talking about it before, during and after the training we’ve had over the last number of months. With it being a repeat fixture of last year’s game, we can only focus on this.”
McCusker is fresh off representing his country after being selected to play for Ireland against Scotland in the Shinty-Hurling international series, a sport that is a hybrid of Scotland’s shinty and Ireland’s hurling, with Ireland coming out on top.
McCusker said: “It was a serious honour being picked to represent the country. Something I remember when I was young was seeing Ryan Bogue getting picked and hearing about him playing was always something I wanted to do. Being able to train and play with the lads from counties all over was a great experience and it was unreal to be able to have my family experience it with me.”
McCusker said it took some time to become accustomed to the new sport.
“The initial trainings were tough with the adaptation of the rules but it got easier with the great expertise of the managers we had, in the game itself there was no time on the ball just had to move it as quick as you can,” he said.
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