Saturday
Leinster SHC: Dublin v Wexford, Parnell Park, 4.30pm – Live GAA+
This has traditionally been the arbiter of who gets out of Leinster after Kilkenny and Galway, but last year Dublin and Wexford beat the westerners. More specifically, this fixture has been notable for Dublin’s improbably dominant record, with their most recent defeat going back seven years and covering five Leinster matches.
It should also be added for context that the most recent three matches have all been coloured by a certain good fortune attaching to Dublin. A year ago, they secured a draw in Wexford with a couple of injury-time goals, whereas 12 months earlier a two-point win in Croke Park came against a Wexford team who shot 19 wides, some defying the precepts of geometry, as against six.
Dublin rode their luck a bit against Offaly but deserved last week’s win, which came however at a price as neither Dónal Burke nor Danny Sutcliffe have shaken injuries picked up in the match.
Wexford had to overcome their own difficulty, as Jack O’Connor’s red card reduced them to 14 for most of the Antrim match. They hurled through it all and won comfortably. Liam Ryan was back on the panel but not called into action and is likely to reappear on the field at some stage this weekend.
Inside Gaelic Games: The weekly GAA newsletter from The Irish Times
After 5,418 days Dublin have finally lost in Leinster and Jim Gavin’s new rules made it possible
Five things we learned from the GAA weekend: New lease of life for football, Cork’s problem and the calendar isn’t working
Red card for Tipperary’s Darragh McCarthy was justified but it broke an unwritten rule
Verdict: Wexford
Offaly v Galway, Glenisk O’Connor Park, 6.30pm
Galway’s wretched display in Kilkenny may draw a reaction this Saturday but it must have dismayed manager Micheál Donoghue, even though he is under no illusions about the scale of the rebuild. It also places a question mark over their prospects of further progress unless a big improvement is produced.
Daithí Burke makes his return and the former perennial All-Star full back will be a welcome addition for this encounter against Offaly, who got a decent amount out of challenging Dublin in the air with Brian Duignan and Oisín Kelly.
Underage prodigy Adam Screeney returns to the Offaly panel for this critical fixture. Home advantage should fire Johnny Kelly’s men up for the task at hand against wounded opponents.
The visitors were more than competitive for the first quarter or so last week but lost critical mass under the pressure of Kilkenny’s ability to hit points on the break. John Fleming looked a prospect on his first senior championship start. They will probably find a response against the youthful challengers.
Verdict: Galway
Sunday
Leinster SHC: Antrim v Kilkenny, Corrigan Park, 2pm
Kilkenny have generally proved resistant to having to travel for round-robin matches and two years ago pulverised Antrim in Corrigan Park. Last season, though, they coughed up a sensational concession by being held to a draw in Carlow.
This weekend they have their problems with worrying injuries to four front liners, TJ Reid, the especially unfortunate Adrian Mullen, David Blanchfield and Conor Murphy. Last week’s win over Galway was close to bloodless, but Kilkenny did what they had to do.
Antrim weren’t brilliant in Wexford despite the man advantage, although James McNaughton and Keelan Molloy showed some defiance. They are a different proposition at home but that’s unlikely to disrupt Kilkenny.
Verdict: Kilkenny
Munster SHC: Waterford v Clare, Walsh Park, 2pm – Live RTÉ2
Clare’s great escape a week ago was largely built on a much-improved second half. Did it primarily draw energy from a fading Cork challenge, exacerbated by Shane Barrett’s red card? Or was it the natural re-engagement of a team, dogged by injury in a doleful league campaign and slowly finding a bit of confidence in their first championship match?
Cork were slick and potent for sure in the early stages but Brian Lohan couldn’t have been happy with some of his side’s defending. Of the returning All-Ireland players, neither Conor Cleary nor Diarmuid Ryan lasted the afternoon – or in the former’s case, even started it.
There followed good displays, though, from Peter Duggan in particular, whose power in the air thoroughly discomfited Cork, as well as Tony Kelly, with some flawless shooting when the match was on the line and a defence that eventually got on top.
Waterford were playing in Division 1B earlier this year but managed to get out of it and beat the teams they had to beat. They are in good shape. Tadhg de Búrca has looked almost restored to his pomp and Mark Fitzgerald is a lively and versatile defender. Former All Star Conor Prunty returns at full back and will be primed for the Duggan challenge.
Last year, the match came down to the award of a random 65 even if Clare had looked better for longer spells. The All-Ireland champions will presumably have learned from that, although injuries have affected their available defenders.
The jump-start administered to their campaign a week ago does give Clare an advantage – a high-intensity match that they survived – but if Waterford stay with them, it could be tight.
Verdict: Clare
Cork v Tipperary, SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh, 4pm – Live RTÉ2
Asked about the league final paddling at the start of the month, Liam Cahill acknowledged that Tipperary couldn’t return for a championship fixture, hoping to re-run Plan A: “We’ll have to come here with something different in three weeks’ time.”
Tipp’s vastly improved showing against Limerick – a team that had eviscerated them last year – and the admirable draw they took from it, indicated what Cahill may have in mind.
For a start, he relocated Jake Morris to his best position, at centre forward. The team tightened up in the middle third, a sector where they had been cleaned out by Cork and Tim O’Mahony in particular, and contested everything they could.
The match didn’t pass Darragh McCarthy the way the league final had to an extent, and he was a scoring menace. Maybe the full-back line still looked a little open, but all around the hum of work rate was deafening compared to the league final.
John McGrath, almost forgotten in recent years, exploded back into view with two well-taken goals.
Can Tipperary sustain these improvements back in the Leeside cauldron? But it hasn’t been simply one-way traffic. As Tipp comparatively soared, Cork dipped and encountered problems. Shane Barrett is suspended after an unwelcome re-emergence of the team’s disciplinary issues from last year.
Defensively, they could have done better for the Clare goals, which sounded another unwanted echo from last year.
Nonetheless, there was still encouragement for Pat Ryan’s team in how the team’s recognisable virtues from the closing stages of the league were still intact during the first half, in the speed with which they moved the ball and the accuracy of the finishing, 2-15 and four wides.
Brian Hayes was again very good and his interaction with Pat Horgan and Alan Connolly posed a consistent menace. Darragh Fitzgibbon’s pace and precision were another threat, albeit one that subsided and eventually got sidetracked by his redeployment after the red card.
This should be much more competitive than the league final. Tipperary will do anything to complicate Cork’s direct running and to hit back with their own patterns of movement.
Ultimately, though, the match will probably come down to who can build better and faster and who can finish more of what they create. There are maybe reservations about where exactly both of last week’s opponents are at the moment but those prescriptions better fit Cork.
Verdict: Cork
