The hope is gone in Galway and Banner fans voting with their pockets are all in today’s Hospital Pass.

Are you looking forward to the Leinster hurling final?

We’ve been having a look back at past Leinster finals in JOE Towers today and it makes for grim reading, especially for a Wexford fan. I had to seek solace in the 1950s and 1970s as the 2000s have been a cavalcade of Kilkenny dominance, bar the glorious year of 2004.

Anyway, with Galway still fresh to the province, with a new manager this term and with two wins under their belt, we thought the mood out west would be better ahead of the 2012 version.

So we turned to the Tuam Herald to see how Galway hurling folk were feeling. We were a little shocked and disappointed to see that optimism wasn’t only low, it was, like Robin van Persie’s sense of loyalty, non-existent.

Under the headline ‘One of the biggest games of the year — but is anybody really looking forward to it?’ Jim Carney’s preview is peppered with words like ‘weak’, ‘comfort zone’ and ‘soft’ in regard to Anthony Cunningham’s side and it sounds like he expects Galway to be steamrolled by the Kilkenny machine on Sunday.

With another few paragraphs about tickets being expensive – which they are – don’t expect a big Galway crowd to be in Croke Park.

By the way, a quick look at the Kilkenny People reveals the headline ‘Kilkenny’s fierce reputation for hammering teams could be inflicting mental hurt on all’. Yep, certainly sounds like it.

It is worth contrasting that with the mood in Clare ahead of their Munster football final with Cork on the same day. Nobody is giving Clare a hope, and the bookies have Cork at 1/100 to win, but Clare boss Michael McDermott is looking on the bright side.

“Rosol played the game of his life against Nadal last week and look where it took him. That’s what I’m hoping for the Clare players on Sunday. I want them to go out and play the game of their lives and see what happens,” he said in today’s Irish Independent.

That’s the spirit Michael. Maybe give a few Galway supporters a call if you find a few minutes.

Money too tight to mention

You might have thought Cork’s Eoin Cadogan was the only one to have to choose between football and hurling this weekend but spare a thought for Clare fans.

With their footballers in the Munster final on Sunday, and their hurlers facing Dublin in Ennis the previous evening, it’s a busy, and very expensive, weekend for Clare fans. Too expensive for some.

“Obviously, in the current economic climate and with the costs involved, a lot of people will find it hard to take in both games,” Clare Champion editor Seamus Hayes told Morning Ireland.

“I’ve been speaking to a lot of people who have expressed their concern that they would love to be at both games and simply can’t afford to get to both. And I suppose the fact that both are televised would help make up their minds.

“It seems that people who will choose will probably choose the hurling game on Saturday evening because it is a home venue and it is a home game and a huge atmosphere is expected.

“But there is a fear that Saturday evening’s game will affect attendance at Sunday’s Munster football final and that would be disappointing for the footballers.”

Of course, the hurlers have a great chance to beat Dublin while the footballers face an uphill battle against Cork so if you are after glory, then the hurling is your best bet. Still, it would have been nice for the GAA to organise a special ticket that would cover both games to encourage attendance on Sunday.

Another opportunity missed.

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