GAA previews: Stakes are high as Waterford have everything to lose against Clare

Saturday

Munster SHC round 3

Waterford v Clare, FBD Semple Stadium, 6.0 (Live, GAAGO)

A big match for the championship and both teams, as Waterford are done if they lose this and Clare would have one foot in the All-Ireland series. It’s a high-stakes encounter for the latest manifestation of the shape-shifting Lohan-Fitzgerald feud.

The positive interpretation of Clare’s season to date is that once they recovered from the goal haemorrhage against Tipperary their fortunes picked up and, restored to full strength, they did what they had threatened to do last year and beat champions Limerick.

The worrying undercurrent is the concession of eight goals, particularly when the manager is a decorated full back, but then Waterford have scored no goals in two matches so unless there is a change of circumstances, that threat mightn’t be as pervasive.

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Waterford’s two negatives to date have been failing to grab a close match against Limerick, who were down to 14, and the loss of Tadhg de Búrca to another serious injury.

The latter blow affected them in their less-impressive display in Cork, as Jack Fagan’s redeployment as sweeper wasn’t a success, and it was surprising given that Darragh Lyons has played the role that he wasn’t used.

On the plus side, they welcome back Austin Gleeson, although the former Hurler of the Year is rumoured not to have taken a full part in training this week. But, given the restraint to date in using him off the bench, the presumption has to be that he’s ready to go, probably at centre forward.

It is also rumoured that Ballygunner prodigy Patrick Fitzgerald will start.

That middle third will be the crucial theatre in this match. Normally Limerick’s pitch of choice, Clare turned it into a contested hell in Limerick and it was there that they effectively turned over the champions and laid the ground for David Fitzgerald, a revitalised Tony Kelly and Aidan McCarthy to shoot on sight.

Waterford may well come with a performance given the consequences of defeat but Clare have too much.

Verdict: Clare

All-Ireland Under-20 FC final

Sligo v Kildare, Kingspan Breffni, 1.30 (Live, TG4)

A genuinely historic event brings together a new pairing and a new finalist. When they met in last year’s semi-final, Kildare were comfortable winners, and they have nearly half the team available again. Their scoring against a defensively set Down in the semi-final was impressive, pulling the winner out at the very end.

Sligo made their own history by defeating Kerry but captain Canice Mulligan – Player of the Connacht Championship – has been ruled out with a shoulder injury, as has Dillon Walsh, who scored the winner in the Connacht final. Sligo have been very resilient on a run that took in Roscommon, Mayo and Galway but Kildare have also shown their steel in wins over Dublin and Down.

Verdict: Sligo

Tailteann Cup, Round 1

Group 1

Cavan v Laois, Breffni Park, 4.00 (Live on GAAGO)

There is a belief that if Cavan genuinely go after the Tailteann Cup this year then they are best placed to become the competition’s second champions. Mickey Graham’s side lost the final to Westmeath last July, but whether another summer playing in football’s second tier championship carries the same appeal for the Cavan players remains to be seen.

Verdict: Cavan

Group 2

Down v Waterford, Páirc Esler, 6.0

It has been a difficult few years for Waterford football and it is unlikely to get much better for them in Newry. Conor Laverty has got Down humming again and there is a sense of a county heading in the right direction once more. Armagh proved a hurdle too high for Down in Ulster, but for a team clearly on a developmental pathway, the Tailteann Cup must seem a very attractive and attainable target for the Mourne county.

Verdict: Down

Meath v Tipperary, Páirc Tailteann, 6.30

Colm O’Rourke had hoped to be preparing for a Leinster final this weekend, but instead he finds himself considering Meath’s best route through the backwaters of championship football. If Meath are to salvage anything from this season, they must at the very least get to the latter stages of the Tailteann Cup. Tipp’s form has been poor for several years and the Royals should have enough to win, but confidence isn’t sky-high in the Meath dressingroom, so if Tipperary can get a bright start it could plant seeds of doubt within the home side.

Verdict: Meath

Group 3

Limerick v Longford, Gaelic Grounds, 6.0

Nobody has been picketing Croke Park this week demanding Limerick and Longford be shown on free-to-air TV. The low-key nature of this game has as much to do with current form as it does tradition, because both sides have had difficult seasons. Longford actually started the year brightly by winning the O’Byrne Cup, but Paddy Christie’s side were relegated from Division Three in the league. Ray Dempsey quit as Limerick boss during the league and they have managed only one victory all year: a McGrath Cup win over Waterford on January 4th. However, they delivered one of their strongest displays of the year against Clare in the Munster semi-final last time out.

Verdict: Limerick

Sunday

Leinster SFC final Dublin v Louth, Croke Park, 1.45 (Live, RTÉ2)

Considering Dublin have restored Stephen Cluxton, Jack McCaffrey and Paul Mannion to their set-up, the run of form to date has been underwhelming. It has also been inconsistent. Whereas the win over Derry in the league final was gratifying, it was also unconvincing, as the four goals that won it should have been doubled. They annihilated Laois in the championship before struggling woefully against Kildare.

When the counties met in the final regulation match and effectively a promotion play-off, Dublin weathered the competitive response and pulled away in the second half without too much trouble.

Mickey Harte’s team reflect his preoccupations: they are fit and defensively structured and capable of quick transition play. In Sam Mulroy they have a terrific forward and leader and in the semi-final, Ciarán Downey also showed a high level of marksmanship.

When they hit their stride they are impressive but to date they haven’t had to face a top team in the championship. Resilience they had in abundance when overhauling Westmeath after a poor first half but this will be different.

Dublin got unexpectedly tested by Kildare in their semi-final – to the point that the match was in the melting pot right up to the end. It will worry Dessie Farrell that he had to spring Jack McCaffrey off the bench for what should have been a straightforward fixture.

The champions haven’t lost in Leinster to Louth since 1973; the year zero five decades ago marked the launching point for Kevin Heffernan’s revolution.

Dublin need to get Con O’Callaghan and Paul Mannion on the ball more often and with that in mind also need Brian Fenton and James McCarthy to establish an edge over Tommy Durnin and Conor Early at centrefield.

Louth will be ready and willing but can they really deliver a display that will knock the champions off kilter and sustain it for 70 minutes?

Verdict: Dublin

Ulster SFC final Derry v Armagh, Clones, 4.0 (Live, RTÉ2/BBC Two NI)

News of manager Rory Gallagher’s stepping back casts a shadow on Derry’s final, and the ultimate impact won’t be known until Sunday.

Their progress through the harder side of the Ulster draw had been relatively uneventful given Monaghan’s jolting victory over Tyrone in the first round followed by the former’s comparative no-show in the semi-final.

Not that Armagh were put to the pin of their collar by a succession of teams who had spent the spring in Division Three. They experimented with all forms of dull strategies in the league and still failed to fend off relegation but there has been more of an attacking emphasis in the championship to date.

That quicker, forward play won’t have been discouraged by Derry’s recent uncharacteristic leakiness, which has seen the concession of eight goals in their last three matches.

The four against Dublin can be explained or partly mitigated by the absence of Conor Glass for half the match as well as Chrissy McKaigue for the whole fixture. But Fermanagh and Monaghan got two each.

Armagh have seen high balls pay out like broken fruit machines and that temptation with players like Rian O’Neill, Rory Grugan and Andrew Murnin will be there even against as organised a defence as Derry’s.

Chaos could be Armagh’s friend in a match, which features two “adventurous” goalkeepers in Odhran Lynch and Ethan Rafferty.

The champions bring physicality and fitness to bear with carefully structured attacks and can sustain high presses on opposition restarts, as they did last year when taking down Donegal.

This is likely to be a final that less rewards caution but Derry have the vital components to play it either way, from the solid defence and quick transition of Conor McCluskey through a top-class centrefield of Glass and last year’s Ulster final hero Brendan Rogers up into an attack spearheaded by high-scoring Shane McGuigan.

Verdict: Derry

Tailteann Cup, Round 1

Group 1

Offaly v London, O’Connor Park, 2.0

Offaly showed enough spirit and character in recent weeks to suggest they have no intention of folding up the tent for the season after what has been a difficult year off the field with the passing of Liam Kearns. However, they are expected to be without Rory Egan, Jack Bryant and Bill Carroll for the Tailteann Cup, as the trio plan on going to the US for the summer. Still, London this season haven’t managed to recapture the strong form they produced during the league in 2022.

Verdict: Offaly

Group 3

Wicklow v Carlow, Aughrim, 4.0

These teams met only last month in the Leinster SFC, when Wicklow ran out 2-12 to 0-10 winners. Oisín McConville’s Wicklow side subsequently lost to Kildare in a provincial quarter-final, but there is nothing to suggest Carlow, in the space of just a month, are primed to bridge an eight-point gap.

Verdict: Wicklow

Group 4

Fermanagh v Wexford, Brewster Park, 1.0

Fermanagh had a very encouraging league campaign in which they were promoted to Division Two, while Wexford never really looked like taking one of the top two spots in Division Four. They also fell to Laois in the Leinster SFC.

Verdict: Fermanagh

Antrim v Leitrim, Corrigan Park, 1.0

Much will depend on how Leitrim have dealt with the disappointment of losing to New York in the Connacht SFC. Antrim shipped a heavy defeat to Armagh in Ulster and, while they retained their Division Three league status, they only showed sporadic bursts of form.

Verdict: Antrim