It's down to the Fantastic Four in the Leinster PP Scools Senior Hurling A championship. To be fair just like the super hero crew there will be only two of the four really in it after tomorrow's action. After all if you were to emulate the Marvel comic characters as a hurling team then the fire of the Human Torch and toughness of The Thing is what is needed. There is no place this weekend for a disappearing act or a team who is willing to bend like The Invisible Woman and Mr Fantastic respectively.

It's safe to say that there will be some heroes when the final whistle blows tomorrow and it just remains to be seen who they will be. In terms of the draw it's set up for a repeat of the Marble City meeting of reigning champions Kilkenny CBS and their more historic rivals St Kieran's who are on opposite sides. However, they will be fully aware that Good Counsel New Ross and Dublin's Colaiste Eoin will not simply step aside. The 2013 champs, who take on Good Counsel, had to rely on the outlandish scoring of Andrew Gaffney in their quarter-final win over St Brendan's of Birr as he hit 1-13 in a 2-17 to 2-10 win.

"It could be a bit of a worry to be expecting him to do that again as he is still only U16 but we expect the other forwards to step up tomorrow," says CBS manager Niall Tyrell.

"We weren't happy overall the last day and we didn't get any score from play from the full-forward line so that is something to be addressed. Of course, it'd be great if he went out and did it again but we need everyone to stand up."

The championship winning boss is not hiding from the fact that his side are strong again but he laments the loss of some keys players including county minor Evan Cody.

"We had ten of last year's team at the beginning of the season but as it has progressed we picked up some injuries to some very important players so we are not as strong as we were at the start," says Tyrell. Those injuries mean that despite favouritism with the bookies the Kilkenny CBS camp is not counting their chickens. "It's honestly 50/50 tomorrow and if we don't come and perform then, that's it, the season is over and we are finished for the year," says the Kilkenny mentor. Last year's winners face Good Counsel at Waterford IT with a throw-in set for 2pm.

At the same time Carlow GAA's training centre at Fenagh will host the other semi between St Kieran's and Colaiste Eoin. The Cats had it a bit too easy as they saw off Castlecomer CS 1-10 to 0-3 two weeks ago. It's safe to say they had a good day but in some cases a tough one sets a team in better stead; this is something Colaiste Eoin will want to believe. The Stillorgan side came from ten points behind to beat Wexford Schools 3-19 to 1-21 in extra time in that last eight encounter.

This begs the question as to who was best served by their last game and there must be a worry for Kieran's to be caught out while the young Dubs will know they can dig deep if needed. With many who had seen Wexford Schools in action fancying them heavily it means that Colaiste Eoin's victory puts them on people's radar and if they claim the scalp of St Kieran's then the dark horse tag will be cast away.

Conditions will play a huge factor in this one as the sheer intensity and physicality brought by the Dublin lads may catch the aristocrats cold.

There will be no Silver Surfer's knocking around the province but after the games finish the two winners will be focusing in on the silverware - namely the Corn Ui Dhuill.

In the B grade we are in fact already up to a decider and St Fergal's Rathdowney v St Mary's CBS Enniscorthy throws in at Thomastown GAA tomorrow at 2pm. The winner of this 'Rest of Leinster' Final advance to play Scoil Aodhain of Dublin in the Leinster Final. St Fergal's, who won the All Ireland Vocational Schools title in 2013, are no doubt the favourites in this one but their manager Sean Conroy is not taking anything for granted.

"Well they are a team who have made it to a final and they are there on merit so we have to take it like that. As this is a new grade our paths have never crossed before but they have beaten teams that we do know from Vocational Schools so we know they are going to be good. There is no doubt at all that we will have a fight on our hands to win tomorrow," insists Conroy.

The Laois lads have, like most schools in the province, had their preparations hindered by weather and have had to cancel some challenge games but both sides had to deal with this and they both had to overcome tough conditions in their respective semi-finals.
"Just looking at both the games the last day they were low scoring and that was down to the elements. Our game was very tough against Heywood and St Mary's would have been the same against Abbey. We would just hope to get a dry ball and get some good hurling played tomorrow," says the St Fergal's teacher.

The mid term means there will be some extra time to fine tune this week but it is a step into the unknown and a chance for a new rivalry to begin the Schools B championship. No matter who wins tomorrow it will be a first! Tweet

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