Parnell Park hosts the Dublin hurling semi-finals this weekend and the double bill of Lucan Sarsfields-Ballyboden St Enda’s and Na Fianna-Kilmacud Crokes carries the same jeopardy that terminated the campaign of All-Ireland football champions Cuala last Sunday.
This time it’s the All-Ireland hurling champions Na Fianna who put their title on the line against Kilmacud, the opponents who but for a baffling sequence of missed frees and a goal conceded deep in injury time might last year have stopped the All-Ireland champions before they got going at all.
It’s a busy schedule with county finals beginning to proliferate. In football, the only provincial champions in action are Coolera-Strandhill, surprise winners of Connacht last year. They are after a three-in-a-row in Sligo and up against Shamrock Gaels, who beat them earlier in the championship.
All told there are 10 county finals down for deciding, eight football and two hurling.
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In Donegal, it’s a familiar pairing with Naomh Conaill meeting Gaoth Dobhair for the fourth time in the past eight finals. Naomh Conaill have won two of those three but Gaoth Dobhair’s success seven years ago led to Donegal’s only Ulster club title in 50 years, back in 2018.
In Clare, last week’s hurling winners Éire Óg attempt the double when they take on former All-Ireland hurling champions St Joseph’s Doora-Barefield in the football final.
Brand leaders in doing the county double, Naas are in pursuit of a fifth successive hurling and football triumph in Kildare. The hurlers play on Sunday when they take on Maynooth for the third final in the past four years, whereas the footballers, under former Dublin All Star Philly McMahon, are in next weekend’s final.
In Meath, Ratoath, under the management of 2009 Kerry footballer of the year Paul Galvin, hope to capture the county football title against Summerhill, for the first time in three years. The club are defending hurling champions and have also reached next weekend’s small-ball final.
Other hurling semi-finals are also of interest, with All-Ireland champions Tipperary holding theirs on separate days this weekend. Holders Loughmore-Castleiney take on Holycross Ballycahill on Saturday, whereas Drum & Inch, who put seven goals past Moycarkey Borris in the quarter-finals, take on Nenagh on Sunday.
In Kilkenny, there are ominous signs that, under the returned Henry Shefflin, Ballyhale Shamrocks are rumbling again, with injuries to key forwards Eoin Cody and Adrian Mullen clearing up at last. They face injury-hit Dicksboro in the semi-finals. In the other match on Sunday’s double bill, O’Loughlin Gaels are hoping to put indifferent form behind them against county football champions Mullinavat.
Selected club fixtures
Sunday unless stated
Football
Antrim final: Dunloy Cúchullainns v Clann na hÉireann Cargin, Corrigan Park, 1.30,
Cavan final: Gowna v Kingscourt, Kingspan Breffni, 4.0
Clare final: Éire Óg v St Joseph’s Doora-Barefield, Zimmer Biomet Cusack Park, 3.30
Donegal final: Gaoth Dobhair v Naomh Conaill, 3.30, O’Donnell Park, Letterkenny
Laois final: Courtwood v Portarlington, Laois Hire O’Moore Park, 4.0
Longford final: Killoe Young Emmets v Colmcille, Glennon Bros Pearse Park, 4.15
Meath final: Ratoath v Summerhill, Páirc Tailteann, 2.0
Sligo final: Coolera-Strandhill v Shamrock Gaels, Enniscrone, 3.30
Hurling
Kildare final: Maynooth v Naas, Cedral St Conleth’s Park, 3.30
Wicklow final: Bray Emmets v Carnew, Echelon Park, Aughrim, 3.0
Dublin semi-finals: Lucan Sarsfields v Ballyboden St Enda’s, Parnell Park, 2.0; Kilmacud Crokes v Na Fianna, Parnell Park, 4.0
Kilkenny semi-finals: Mullinavat v O’Loughlin Gaels, UPMC Nowlan Park, 1.45; Dicksboro v Ballyhale Shamrocks, UPMC Nowlan Park, 3.45
Tipperary semi-finals: Loughmore Castleiney v Holycross Ballycahill, Semple Stadium, 4.10 (Saturday); Drum & Inch v Nenagh Éire Óg, Thurles 4.0 (Sunday)
Wexford semi-finals: Rathnure v Naomh Éanna, Chadwicks Wexford Park, 2.30; St Martin’s v Ferns St Aidan’s, Chadwicks Wexford Park, 4.15.
