ALL eyes will be on FBD Semple Stadium this evening as four teams vie for a place in next month’s All-Ireland senior final.
The meeting of Kerry and Mayo, the first of today’s double-header is a repeat of a meeting at the same stage 12 months ago, a game that the Kingdom won comfortably.
Siofra O’Shea scored two goals in that game, but last year’s All-Ireland runners-up were dealt a massive blow last weekend when their captain suffered another ACL injury during training, her second in as many years.
It is a huge blow, not just for the Southern Gaels player, but for Kerry who are many people’s favourites to win the Brendan Martin Cup, which has been won by eight different counties since the Kingdom last won it 30 years ago.
They have claimed the league title already this year and saw off reigning champions Meath in the quarter-finals last day out.
Mayo overcame Galway by the narrowest of margins in their quarter-final and will be out to gain revenge for last year and get back to the final for the first time since losing to Dublin in 2017.
Shauna Howley came off the bench in their victory over Galway to hit three points so she may be straight into the starting line-up this time.
In the other semi-final, Dublin and Cork will come face-to-face, two sides that dominated the game between 2005 and 2020, Cork winning 11 All-Ireland titles and Dublin five in that period.
The sides met in the final in 2020, which was won by the Dubs.
They have welcomed back Sinead Aherne to their squad and were highly impressive in the win over Donegal in the quarter-final game, in which Aherne found the net and Kate Sullivan struck the other two majors.
They will start the fancied side but Cork are beginning to show glimpses of what was witnessed during their dominant period.
They overcame a tough test in Armagh the last day thanks to late frees from Katie Quirke, while they have already beaten Kerry this year, in the Munster championship final.
Much of how Cork will do, will come down to how sisters Ciara and Doireann O’Sullivan perform, with nine of their 14-point tally against Armagh coming from that duo.
Looking at how the four sides have performed so far in this championshp, it could be a first-ever Kerry v Dublin decider.
