Published: Friday, 6th November, 2009 9:00am

Clara set to face Carlow champions

Clara's Leinster Championship adventure gets underway this weekend when they play host to Carlow side Rathvilly in Tullamore on Sunday next (throw in: 2.30pm).

After their recent heroic comeback against Kildare champions St Laurence's, Clara will fear nobody -and indeed, the bookmakers, always a reliable guide, have shortened their odds to around 8/1 to emerge as champions of Leinster.

However, nobody in the Clara camp will be taking Rathvilly for granted, particularly as Carlow sides have traditionally performed very capably at this level of football in recent years.Victories over Rhode and St Laurence's in their last two outings will give Clara plenty of confidence though, especially as they overturned a 2-7 to 0-5 half-time deficit to sensationally knock out St Laurence's in the first round of Leinster by 1-12 to 2-8.

Pat Flanagan appears to have Clara in fine condition at this stage of the year and it would also appear the Offaly men have hit a serious hot streak at an opportune stage of the competition.

Even though there is some concern about Clara's defence, they appear to have an all-around ability within the team that is capable of threatening most teams in Leinster.At present, both Scott and Ross Brady are showing up very impressively, while John Reynolds was one of the main stand-out performers in the victory over St Laurence's.Thomas Deehan, John O'Hara and Eoin Brady are also in fine form, with Deehan widely acknowledged as Clara's most influential player, and a good performance from Deehan on Sunday will give Clara every chance of progressing further.

Rathvilly are likely to pose a considerable threat to Clara's continued involvement in the competition and are recognised as possessing a couple of really dangerous forwards, although their line-up is not one which contains too many well known names.

The winners on Sunday have an away game against the winners of Portlaoise and the Meath champions, Senechalstown and Wolfe Tones, so the prize at stake this weekend is massive.

With the confidence boosting win against St Laurence's under their belt, Clara will certainly feel as though they are more than capable of going a further step in the competition. Meanwhile, Sunday's fixture will be officiated by Cormac Reilly from Meath.

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