ALLIANZ HL DIVISION 1A:

In a unique position to assess the relative strengths and weaknesses of the two finalists in the All-Ireland club senior hurling final in Croke Park this Sunday are PJ O’Mullan and Seamus Quinn.

LIT Tipperary 1-25 IT Tralee 2-09

New Tipperary senior hurling manager Eamon O’Shea has predicted Lar Corbett will rediscover his best form in the blue and gold shirt in 2013.

I left home at 11am yesterday morning, in heavy rain, heading for Cork and the thought hit me — what were the Munster Council thinking when they fixed this game for a place that is neither here nor there for either Thurles Sars or for De La Salle?

What a game to end the provincial senior hurling season in Munster.

The similarities between the two Sarsfields battling for supremacy in tomorrow’s Munster Club SHC semi-final doesn’t end with a shared name.

It’s hard writing about this game. Having watched Thurles Sarsfields up close from my role with Kilmallock, we’ve tried to move on from the defeat.

Munster SHC: Kilmallock (Limerick) 0-15 Thurles Sarsfields (Tipperary) 2-12

Every hurling county has its renowned clubs. Tullaroan, Mooncoin, Mount Sion, Toomevara, Thurles Sars, Cork’s big trio of Glen Rovers, Blackrock and St. Finbarr’s, all roll off the tongue.

The glory days of Newmarket on Fergus may be in the distant past but their achievements of yesteryear still demand huge respect from those who know their Clare hurling.

You know that warm feeling hurlers talk about when the clock changes at the end of March, when they get the extra hour in the evening, and the smell of freshly mown grass is everywhere?

Thurles Sarsfields 1-21 Drom & Inch 2-15

All wax and no wick, all hat no cattle, all sizzle no steak — for years it looked like that was forever going to be the story of Drom-and-Inch GAA club in mid Tipperary.

Give club players a break, have an open draw and play off the entire All-Ireland Club championship before Christmas — so says Kilmallock manager Tony Considine as he prepares his side for their first round Munster championship game against Tipperary champions Thurles Sars or Drom-and-Inch on October 28.

When people think of Doyle nowadays they speak of Hell’s Kitchen and imagine this big, strong, murderous corner-back who brutalised skilful corner-forwards into submission.

Lar Corbett looks set to be included in Tipperary’s squad for the Munster SHC semi-final in Pairc Ui Chaoimh on June 24.

THREE months on, Pádraic Maher is still looking for an explanation for Tipp’s defeat on All-Ireland final day. The blue and gold went down fighting to Kilkenny, and Maher pays tribute to their conquerors.

THE easy cliche about Sunday’s county final win by Carrigtwohill — so easy we’ve thrown it out a few times already — is that it offers a template to other clubs in Cork looking to achieve the same level of success.

IT WAS off-hand comment and revelation, both at the same time.

TIPPERARY hurler Padraic Maher believes referees should “let it off” when it comes to the All-Ireland final, believing both his side and Kilkenny benefit from being allowed to express themselves.

THERE have been so many occasions at crucial times in crucial games when Padraic Maher has stepped forward to take charge of affairs in the Tipperary defence, that you tend to forget he is still just 22.

He achieved instant immortality with an All-Ireland final hat-trick last September — but Lar Corbett knows it will count for nothing in Thurles on Sunday week

THERE was a poignant moment before Sunday’s Munster club SHC final in Páirc Uí Chaoimh, as referee John Sexton blew his whistle to end an impeccably observed minute’s silence to respect the memory of another John Sexton, his father, who had been buried the previous day.

DE LA Salle’s heavy defeat to Portumna in the All-Ireland club hurling final of 2009 is the motivating force behind the Waterford club this year, according to captain Ian Flynn.

WHAT a difference two weeks makes. A couple of Sundays ago, in the semi-final, the Tipperary champions put their bodies on the line, gave everything possible to get the win over Kilmallock, in Kilmallock.

DE LA Salle star John Mullane revealed they were “aggrieved” that a Cork radio station had described his club side as a one-man team and used that to inspire them to their one-point Munster club championship win over Sarsfields last Sunday.

OUTRAGED or pleased – how do you react to being installed as underdogs in a big game, despite the fact that you are a title winning team, and you have home advantage?

FAVOURITES St. Flannan’s College proved too strong for Thurles in this Harty Cup second round clash at sunny Nenagh yesterday.

TIPPERARY has been engulfed in a giddy and happy atmosphere all week but by Tuesday night it was time for Padraic Maher and seven of his senior colleagues to take a step back from the celebrations.

CHRIS MORRISSEY was there back in the days when Newtownshandrum were fighting for respectability at junior level in North Cork.

WE’RE in the dying embers of another long season but there’s still plenty to whet the appetite of hurling followers nationwide.

BIRR’S All-Ireland club hurling winning manager Pat Joe Whelahan has criticised the GAA’s disciplinary system after being forced to watch his side defeat Castletown in the Leinster championship from the stands.