Hurling & Camogie

Championship pedigree of Kilkenny and Waterford camogs expected to prevail

Glen Dimplex Senior championship quarter-finals: Limerick v Waterford, 3.15pm & Dublin v Kilkenny 5.30pm (Saturday, Semple Stadium)

A COUPLE of weeks ago there were high hopes of Ulster involvement in these Glen Dimplex Senior Championship quarter-finals in Thurles only for Limerick to come up on the inside track to beat both Down and Antrim on successive Saturdays and claim third place in Group Two.

Not bad for a team that lost all their league games and were relegated to Division Two after losing to Offaly in April.

They now face another Division Two side, Waterford, in the first game of the quarter-final double-header in FBD Semple Stadium. The Décies lost to Wexford in the group stages of the league but hammered their neighbours 3-18 to 0-9 in the championship.

That result, coupled with a 1-16 to 0-13 win over Tipperary in Thurles, did much to rehabilitate them in the senior championship where they have fared quite well in recent years.

I think they have slipped a little from a few years ago, but should be able to handle Limerick and reach the semi-finals.

The second quarter-final is also a provincial derby with Kilkenny playing Dublin.

Kilkenny were expected to finish behind Galway in Group Two. That is indeed where they finished – but only on score difference after a late Galway point two weeks ago rescued a draw for the All-Ireland and league champions.

Earlier in the group Kilkenny hadn’t been playing well, but they were still able to continue winning. After their last outing, they are back again as a team capable of winning back the title.

Adrian O’Sullivan’s Dublin are difficult to break down. But once a team gets ahead of them, they find it difficult to overhaul that lead.

They are much improved defensively on last year, his first in charge. But it is difficult seeing them taking on a team like Kilkenny and staying ahead for the duration of the game.

Cork and Galway are already in the semi-finals. Kilkenny and Waterford should join them.

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Glen Dimplex All-Ireland Senior Championship Relegation play-off: Clare v Offaly (Saturday, Moneygall, 3pm)

HOW did Clare get into relegation trouble after the performances they put together during the month of May?

It began with Munster championship wins over Limerick and Tipperary and continued as they took Cork to two periods of extra time in the provincial final before being edged out.

A week later they showed no ill effects by drawing 0-10 each with Tipperary in the first round of the All-Ireland championship. They also drew 1-9 each with Dublin, but a heavy defeat by Cork and narrow losses to Waterford and Wexford have plunged them into this relegation arm wrestle with Offaly.

It hasn’t been a good season for Offaly at all. Their only victory was a Division One league relegation play-off with Limerick and their best performance in defeat came in the league and championship games against Down.

Down of course beat them by a point two weeks ago in Liatroim in a game that saw Christine Cleary pick up a straight red card that automatically rules her out of this key game.

A very difficult game for Offaly has now become much more difficult. I can’t see anything other than a win for Clare.

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Glen Dimplex All-Ireland Intermediate championship Relegation play-off: Kildare v Laois (Saturday, Moneygall, 1pm)

LAOIS have not been producing the goods this season at all. They lost all their group games in the league and ended up in a three-way relegation play-off.

They survived that by beating Tipperary who in turn beat Kildare and sent the Lily Whites down to Division Three.

The championship looked to be ending the same way for Laois when they posted four losses from four starts. Then a fortnight ago they produced the shock of the season by drawing with last year’s beaten finalists Kilkenny, a result that removed the Black and Amber from this year’s title race.

That draw however didn’t save them from finishing bottom of the group and facing Kildare to stay up for another season in the Intermediate grade.

The Kilkenny game is bound to stand to them and they have more forwards who can do a bit of damage than Kildare who depend too much on Lea Sutton getting scores for them. Laois should stay up.