Tipperary full-back Niall Curran is looking forward to rubbing shoulders with Dara O'Cinneide when The Premier County take on reigning All-Ireland Football champions Kerry, in the Munster Championship on Sunday May 29. John Loughran reports. Buoyed by their early season victory over Kerry in the quarter-final of the McGrath Cup, Tipperary are looking forward with relish to their meeting with reigning All-Ireland champions on the last Sunday in May. It is a daunting prospect, but Mullinahone man Niall Curran is looking forward to the challenge. "It is a great opportunity to test yourself against the best team in the country. As a unit their forwards are the best around, so we are expecting a tough game," Niall revealed. Not so strangely Niall professes that his first love is hurling, having previously represented the county at minor and Under 21. At the time of writing, he was involved in a Tipperary hurling development panel and was hoping to progress to the senior panel. "I have represented Tipperary at Minor, Under 21 and Senior (football) and Minor and Under 21 hurling. The only one I'm missing is representing Tipperary at senior hurling level. It would be nice to achieve that in some period in my career," he enthused. But for the foreseeable future Niall is focusing on representing Tipperary in Div. 2B of the National Football League and their meeting with Kerry in the Munster Championship. To that end, Niall was slightly disappointed when the Premier County were drawn against the reigning All-Ireland champions. "We were hoping to be drawn against the likes of Waterford or Clare, with no disrespect to either of them. We were hoping to draw a team that are at the same standard as ourselves," he commented. The re-appointment of Seamus McCarthy as team manager proved a timely boost to the panel, where moral was at a "low ebb" after last year's off-the-pitch controversy. McCarthy's re-appointment and the prospect of meeting Kerry in the Munster Championship have galvanised the football fraternity within the county, according to Niall. He revealed: "Seamus is a very experienced manager and knows what it takes to win. He wants the best for Tipperary football and I was delighted when he was re-appointed." Before Tipperary come face to face with the Kingdom, they will have to negotiate the tricky waters of Div. 2B of the football league. Tipperary are entering the campaign with renewed confidence. "We have set ourselves the goal of promotion. There are no easy games in our group with every team eying up the possibility of promotion, so we will have our work cut out," he opined. Tipperary's 2005 campaign got underway in mid December with winter training. Selectors John Owens, Colm O'Flaherty and Jim Healey took the training. Niall elaborated: "Seamus wasn't available because he had an eye operation so the selectors took the training and put us few a few rigorous sessions before Christmas." He continued: "We had a few days off over Christmas before we came back for a fitness test on December 29. I found that very tough because I was just back from a skiing holiday." Between his football commitments Niall is currently training five nights a week. "I'm with the footballers three times a week, including matches. On top of that I'm two nights a week in the gym doing weights. A typical week would be Monday night in the gym, Tuesday night training, Wednesday in the gym, a night off on Thursday, training Friday night and a match or training on Sunday," he remarked. Aside from Niall's football and hurling commitments, he holds down a fulltime job as a civil engineer, with Clonmel based Mulcahy Construction. Niall joined the company in May 2004 having previously worked for PJ Hegarty's in Cork. "I joined Mulcahy Construction so that I could return to Clonmel and concentrate on my football and hurling. Joe, who is a big Moyle Rovers fan has been very good to me in that respect and I am very grateful to him," Niall noted. "Joe is very understanding and his support makes it that much easier to juggle everything. Similarly, my mother Rita is a great support. She makes sure that I am eating all the right food and looks after my kit. I wouldn't be able to keep it going without her support," he added. Niall isn't the only top-class sportsman in the Curran household. His younger brother Paul is a regular on the Tipperary hurling team, who will be hoping to launch a serious assault on the Munster SHC this summer, a title they last held in 2001 en route to winning the All-Ireland. If Tipperary prevail against Kerry on Sunday, May 29 it would be one of the biggest upsets in the GAA calendar for many a long year. Niall knows the odds are firmly stacked in favour of the Kingdom. "We will prepare as best we can to beat Kerry and we will do everything in our power to realise our full potential on the day. If we believe enough in ourselves and raise commitment and determination you would never know what might happen," he remarked. The advent of the qualifier system has breathed new life into the All-Ireland series, with counties such as Westmeath, Sligo and Fermanagh taking advantage of the so-called "scenic route" to further their cause. In that light Niall and his team-mates can seek comfort from the fact they will have a second chance to prolong their participation in the All-Ireland series should they go under to the Kingdom. "If the worst comes to the worst, we will then set our goals on winning as many games as we possibly can in the qualifiers," Niall admitted. Last year's beaten semi-finalists Fermanagh are the most recent team to benefit from the qualifiers. Niall continued: "I went to watch the Fermanagh / Armagh quarter-final last year. I couldn't get over the hunger of the Fermanagh lads. For a small county to have that level of drive and determination, it was an inspiration to counties like Tipperary." With the likes of Declan Browne, Paul Cahill, Glen Burke, Damien Byrne and Aidan Fitzgerald in their ranks, Tipperary are in with more than a sporting chance of gaining much sought after promotion and participating in the All-Ireland series well into the heart of the summer. Niall Curran is a civil engineer with Mulcahy Construction based in Clonmel, Co. Tipperary. The company, owned by Joe Mulcahy ( a self-confessed Moyle Rovers fan) is a fast developing construction company within south Tipperary. In the recent past the company has completed a state-of-the-art garage for Renault main dealer Brian Mordant & Sons in Clonmel, a new premises for Abbey Farm Machinery and is currently building a news bowling alley in Clonmel. The company employs a fulltime staff of 12 and utilises the services of numerous specialist sub-contractors. "We'll build anything once the money is right," he laughed. Tweet

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