The fixtures
Dublin v Kilkenny Sunday 2pm (Live on TV3)
Galway v Offaly Sunday 4pm
Cork v Limerick Sunday 4pm (Live on TV3)
The previews
Cork v Limerick
Surely nobody could ever have envisaged the day when Cork would go into a Munster semi-final with Limerick as 1/100 favourites. Such is the sorry state that Limerick hurling currently finds itself in at the moment, however, as one of the most turbulent periods in its history has yet to be resolved.
Some of the county’s finest hurlers will be sitting idle on Sunday, while a shadow XV takes to the field against a Cork side with their reputations fully enhanced following a fantastic victory against Tipperary in the Munster opener three weeks ago.
The Rebels and some of their older players in particular, were written off after the league final defeat to Galway, but a ten point winning margin against last year’s All-Ireland finalists has left some critics eating their words.
Justin McCarthy faces an impossible task against Cork on Sunday
Unsurprisingly, Denis Walsh hasn’t changed his line-up for the Limerick clash so we are likely to see Aisake Ó hAilpÃn targeted with plenty of high deliveries in a repeat of the tactics that worked so well against Tipp.
Limerick boss Justin McCarthy has named nine championship debutants in his starting line-up. Dave Breen, Paul Browne and Paudie McNamara are the only ones to survive from the championship defeat to Tipperary last year while Tadgh Flynn is the only man to have played against Cork in the Munster championship and that was for Kerry six years ago.
Read what JOE columnist Sean Óg ó hAilpÃn had to say ahead of the game here.
Teams:
Cork: D Og Cusack; S O’Neill, E Cadogan, B Murphy; J Gardiner, R Curran, S Og O hAilpin; T Kenny, C Naughton; B O’Connor, J O’Connor, N McCarthy; K Murphy, A O hAilpin, P Horgan.
Limerick: T Flynn; S O’Neill, D Breen, K O’Rourke; S O’Riordan, B O’Sullivan, P Browne; T O’Brien, A Brennan; J O’Brien, P McNamara, S Herlihy; G Mulcahy, A Owens, R McGeough.
Odds:
Cork 1/100, Limerick 16/1, Draw 20/1
JOE Prediction: No contest. Cork could win this one by a cricket score.
Dublin v Kilkenny
Given that Kilkenny didn’t feature in the League Final and there have been a few notable championship games already this summer, Brian Cody’s side will begin their quest for the fabled five in a row having enjoyed relatively uninterrupted preparation. They haven’t played competitively for almost two months, but the intensity of training games in Kilkenny is legendary and they will be well primed for action come Sunday afternoon.
Their opponents if anything have regressed since their Leinster Final defeat to the same opposition last year. In the league, they needed a win over Division One whipping boys Limerick in their last game to guarantee survival and one can’t read much into their defeat of Laois in the championship given that the O’Moore men were terrible in front of the posts in Kilkenny two weeks ago.
A Kilkenny-Galway Leinster final looks inevitable and Dublin will need something close to a miracle to overcome the Cats on this occasion. Both managers have delayed naming their sides ahead of the encounter. Kilkenny will be without John Tennyson and James ‘Cha’ Fitzpatrick while Dublin boss Anthony Daly will be hoping that Tomas Brady and David O’Callaghan will be fit after both sustained injuries in the victory over Laois a fortnight ago.
JOE caught up with Kilkenny captain TJ Reid ahead of the encounter and you can read what he had to say here.
Teams:
Dublin: (to be announced)
Kilkenny: (to be announced)
Odds:
Kilkenny 1/16, Dublin 9/1, Draw 16/1
JOE Prediction:
The Cats may be a bit rusty, but they’ll have more than enough in the tank to handle the Dubs. Kilkenny at a canter.
Galway v Offaly
Galway didn’t set the world alight against Wexford last time out, but John McIntyre will almost have been relieved that his charges didn’t go to town on the Model County as expectations would probably have reached unrealistic levels as a result.
McIntyre will take a similarly workmanlike performance against his former charges from the Faithful County, who were pushed to the pin of their collar by Antrim in Parnell Park on the last weekend of May.
Ger Farragher’s free taking was magnificent against Wexford
As well as narrowly avoiding defeat in that game, Offaly were unimpressive during the league and look a fair bit away yet from being able to challenge the likes of Kilkenny and Galway in Leinster. On Sunday, they will have their hands full trying to stop the likes of Joe Canning and Damien Hayes while they should be wary of conceding cheap frees after Ger Farragher’s ruthless efficiency from placed balls against Wexford.
Galway have made two changes to the side that defeated Wexford; Aengus Callanan replaces his suspended Portumna colleague Andy Smyth at wing-forward while Iarla Tannian replaces Joe Gantley at top of the left. Joe Dooley has delayed naming his Offaly side but is hoping that James Rigney and Derek Molloy will be fit to face the Tribesmen.
Teams:
Galway: C Callanan; D Joyce, S Kavanagh, O Canning; D Barry, T Og Regan, D Collins; G Farragher, D Burke; D Hayes, C Donnellan, Aonghus Callanan; A Harte, J Canning, I Tannian
Offaly: (to be announced)
Odds:
Galway 1/12, Offaly 15/2, Draw 16/1
JOE Prediction:
Galway to ease through this one to set up a mouth-watering Leinster final against Kilkenny.
