OULART-THE BALLAGH now look likely to be without defender Laurence Prendergast for Sunday’s big Leinster Club senior hurling championship semi-final showdown with Kilkenny powerhouse Ballyhale Shamrocks at Wexford Park (2p.m.).

Prendergast has been sidelined since the county final owing to knee ligament damage, and while he returned to training last Tuesday and again on Sunday, the duel with Ballyhale appears to come a week too early for the top-rated wing-back to make his return.

Eoin Moore deputised to good effect for Prendergast in the Leinster quarter-final againstDublin’s Kilmacud Crokes, while Oulart manager Pat Herbert has other options in Michael Jacob, Andrew Kavanagh and Shaun Murphy.

Coincidentally, Prendergast’s direct opponent, TJ Reid also looks set to miss out for Ballyhale, as he continues to nurse the fractured knee-cap which he sustained while on duty with Kilkenny in the All-Ireland semi-final dismissal of Tipperary during August.

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