Aidan

Aidan McHugh: 'It would be great to see Andy Murray start training again'

An 18-year-old Glasgow native Aidan McHugh is one of the most promising youngsters from Great Britain, winning two Futures titles in Kuwait at the end of the last season to crack the top-500 and set the perfect ground for more significant progress in 2019.

After the changes that ATP and ITF implements, Aidan has lost all of his points and he is currently unranked on the ATP list, standing outside the ITF Rankings as well and opening the season with three mediocre results in M15 Tunisia events.

Andy Murray's 77 Sports Management Agency is taking care of McHugh's career and the youngster had the opportunity to work with the three-time Grand Slam champion in Miami in December while Andy was trying to make a comeback from a hip injury.

As we all know, Murray lost that epic Australian Open encounter to Roberto Bautista Agut in four hours and nine minutes, battling with both the rival and huge pain that encouraged him to undergo the second hip surgery in order to prolong his career or end it permanently.

Aidan said he had worked with Andy for four or five days at Crandon Park where a former world no. 1 trained on a very high level, determined to make a comeback but being let down by his body again. The youngster is hoping the best British player of the Open era will be able to recover completely and play again, with the entire tennis world expecting to see him injury-free and competitive again after everything he has achieved in the last 12 or 13 years.

“I’m quite lucky because I have a high transition tour ranking so I can get into a lot of the tournaments just on that,” said McHugh. “The rankings change is not going to help me, but it is not terrible either.

Some of the guys at the Challenger Level have had to drop down so ‘futures’ events like this are a bit stronger. But you are going to have to play them anyway, so it is not like it is a disaster. I went out early with Andy and started in Miami at Crandon Park, I was there with him for four or five days then I went to IMG for the British camp.

Andy was working away as normal back then, he was looking good, moving well, a high level in the practices and I enjoyed it. But I think he was just in too much pain. I don’t know how long it takes to recover, before he can start training again.

But hopefully he does – it would be great”.

Aidan Nolan’s injury-time winner seals victory for Wexford

Wexford 1-15 Tipperary 1-14 

It’s getting no easier to work out quite what language the 2019 hurling league is speaking. Every time you think you have it on your ear, it throws up a dialect you weren’t expecting.

For two-thirds of this encounter at Wexford Park, it looked for all the world like a Tuesday night challenge game, the sort of no-harm-no-foul affair you get in a league with no relegation. And then, improbably, a ding-dong riot of a game broke out between two teams who looked like they were hurling for their lives.

Pick a lane, hurling league.

Wexford came away with the points thanks to Aidan Nolan’s injury-time winner, stroked on the run from the 65 after Lee Chin picked him out with a smart diagonal clearance. It sent the 6,700 crowd doolally, capping off a Wexford comeback in which they made up an eight-point deficit in the closing half hour. The minute and a bit from there to the full-time whistle was the only part of the afternoon in which they led.

Though an icy gale was whipping across the pitch, you could have mistaken the scenes at the end for high summer. To say that looked unlikely when Tipp went eight points up early in the second half would set a brave new mark for understatement. A couple of rat-a-tat points from Niall O’Meara and one each from Robert Byrne and Seamus Callanan had Wexford 1-11 to 0-6 behind on 43 minutes, doubling Tipp’s half-time lead and looking for all the world like the game’s decisive statement.

But then, who can tell when it comes to this league? The tectonic endgame left you in no doubt that everyone was in it to win it. But trying to square that with the wan and shapeless opening half would give anyone a headache. Liam Sheedy conceded afterwards that there’s a strong element of phoney war about everything that happens in these games. With the best will in the world, that has to be the governing principle.

“To be honest we don’t really think about it,” Sheedy said. “We play it match by match and I think against Limerick and Wexford we went out with the intent to win the game. If you don’t it’s not the end of the world but if you asked me what is most pleasing it’s the way we are approaching them and applying ourselves. We are far from the finished article but we are 10 or 11 weeks out from where the real fun and games begin.”

The structured belligerence of the Wexford comeback when the game was a game meant they were good enough value for the win in the end. That said, Tipp probably deserved a free at the end that would have levelled it and they definitely got the pointy end of the stick from referee Colm Lyons on the balance of the afternoon. At one stage in the first half, the free count was 10-1 in Wexford’s favour – the roar that met the eventual second Tipp free was festooned with irony from the visiting crowd.

Wexford’s shooting, albeit into a strong breeze, was all over the map in that first half and with Callanan fairly assured at the other end, Tipp went in 1-7 to 0-6 ahead. Once they went four up soon after the restart, it looked like the game would have little more to say for itself.

But Wexford knuckled down. Diarmuid O’Keeffe was busily effective all day in midfield and he stopped the bleeding with a smart strike. And when too many Tipp players got sucked towards a throw-ball on their 65 soon after, Wexford broke onto the squirting ball and suddenly had a two-on-one in front of goal.

Ian Byrne got poleaxed in laying off the killer pass but it was worth it to put Seamus Casey in on Paul Maher – Casey’s finish was low and true and just like that, Wexford had reeled off 1-2 in the space of three minutes.

From there to the end, the game was cracker. Cathal Dunbar scored a monster sideline cut for Wexford, Jake Morris came off the bench to snipe one for Tipp. But when it came down to it, O’Keeffe and Nolan were able to pop up with the last two points so that it was Wexford who breasted the tape.

“When you’re playing competitively, it’s in our nature,” said a delighted Davy Fitzgerald afterwards. “You can tell me all you want that there’s no relegation but you want to win. You get confidence from winning, let’s call a spade a spade. The idea that you can use it as a safety net is rubbish. You want to win every game you play in and I’ve been in the game a long time that’s definitely how I’d feel about it.”

Wexford: Eanna Martin; Damien Reck, Darren Byrne, Shane Reck; Shaun Murphy, Matthew O’Hanlon, Pádraig Foley (0-1); Diarmuid O’Keeffe (0-3), Aidan Nolan (0-1); Liam Óg McGovern, Ian Byrne (0-6 frees), Kevin Foley (0-1); Seamus Casey (1-1), Cathal Dunbar (0-1 line-ball), Conor McDonald.

Subs: Lee Chin for D Reck (ht); Rory O’Connor (0-1) I Byrne (51); Harry Kehoe for Casey (62); Simon Donohoe (Shelmaliers) for O’Keeffe (temp., 67).

Tipperary: Paul Maher; Donagh Maher, James Barry, Ronan Maher (0-1); Seamus Kennedy, Pádraic Maher, Barry Heffernan; Robert Byrne (0-1), Michael Breen; John O’Dwyer, Noel McGrath, Patrick Maher; Jason Forde (0-2, 1 free), Seamus Callanan (1-7, 0-6 frees), Niall O’Meara (0-2).

Subs: Jake Morris (0-1) for O’Dwyer (51); Willie Connors for Heffernan (54); Alan Flynn for D Maher (57); John McGrath for O’Meara (59); Tom Fox for Byrne (68).

Referee: Colm Lyons (Cork).

Aidan Sezer steps up for a revamped Raiders attack

Loading

"Seze has really stepped it up a notch this year, he knows he is the halfback of the side and he has got to lead the side around with Hodgo," Croker said.

"It’ll really free Jack up, Aidan will control a lot of it, Jack is a very strong runner and a powerful defender. It’s been really good at training, it’ll be good to see the combination there on Saturday night.

"I’m looking forward to seeing how Jacko goes, he’s had a really big pre-season, done a lot of work, and I’m sure he is in for a big year.

"Anyone who has seen Jacko tackle, he’s a pretty solid defender and he is going to defend that front line really well. I’m excited to have him in the defensive line.

"We knew we had to be at our best as a defensive side if we want to go anywhere, and defence has been our main focus for this whole pre-season. Putting him in that front-line really stiffens it up."

Croker has had all guns blazing at Raiders headquarters since returning to pre-season training after the Christmas break, adamant his knee worries are behind him.

Canberra Raiders' new "chalk and cheese" co-captains, Jarrod Croker and Josh Hodgson.Credit:Jamila Toderas

The 28-year-old has been out of action since dislocating his knee in round 18 last year when he dropped like he had been snipered from the top of the Mal Meninga Grandstand.

A return to the fold has Croker preparing to share the captaincy role with English rake Hodgson, who ascended to the role in December when coach Ricky Stuart opted to split the load.

Loading

Stuart says the move is designed to lift the focus on leadership within his playing squad, and he might not have found a better mix than a cool cat from Goulburn and a rugged Hull native.

"We’re a little bit different to be honest and that is probably a good thing," Croker said.

"Hodgo is really passionate, he wears his heart on his sleeve, and really has that aggressive win-all attitude. I guess I’m a bit more calm and laid back. On the edge I don’t have to do as much physical contact as the boys in the middle. I get a good overview from the outside looking in.

"The game is high intensity but I get to sit back and take it all in, and vice versa, we can feed off the back of each other. We’re opposite, but I reckon it’ll work for us."

Joey Leilua (hamstring), John Bateman (side strain) and Michael Oldfield (groin) will miss the Bulldogs trial but are expected to return to the fold for round one.

Shoulder injuries to Jordan Rapana and Ata Hingano will keep the pair sidelined indefinitely, however Hingano is easing his way into full squad training with a return date to be assessed over the coming weeks.

Rapana remains on the comeback trial from surgery with the club still considering taking advantage of salary cap relief with the New Zealand international not due back until about round 13.

Caden Helmers is a sports reporter for The Canberra Times