A big thank-you again to Mark Fletcher, Ger, Francie and the Roscrea mafia who kept our appointment in Páirc Uí Chaoimh yesterday.

Never mind all the other action today and tomorrow, this is the real big game of the weekend and it has a real story behind it in Tony Browne.

A superb Munster senior hurling championship semi-final in balmy Semple Stadium yesterday, with drama right at the death as Waterford’s championship debutant Stephen O’Keeffe saved a rifled 20m free from Clare custodian Patrick Kelly in the final act of the game to deny the Banner men a victory they had been favoured to achieve.

The greatest pity about this game in Semple Stadium yesterday — and I make no apology to anyone for hitting on this point again — is that there were only 12,000 there to see it.

It’s time logic began to enter the thinking of the GAA. We have two huge hurling games tomorrow but at venues 50 miles apart.

Strange one this.

Kilkenny continued their impressive early-season form with a nine-point win in sunny Walsh Park yesterday but not before getting a stern early examination from the injury-hit home side.

THEIR defeat to De La Salle in last year’s Waterford SHC final is still a powerful motivational tool for 2011 champions Ballygunner, according to defender Wayne Hutchinson.

GREATER experience at this level, greater ability in the air, and above all, greater hunger, that’s what saw Waterford champions Ballygunner ease their way past a weary-looking Drom & Inch side in this Munster Club SHC quarter-final in Semple Stadium yesterday.

EVERYONE in hurling, no matter what county you follow, must congratulate Dublin’s hurlers on reaching their first league final since 1946.

THIS year’s Fitzgibbon Cup final will be a battle between two Limerick institutions after LIT edged out UCC in an enthralling semi-final at the Waterford IT Sports Campus in Carriganore yesterday.

THREE days after the county senior side had departed Páirc Uí Chaoimh with an emphatic championship victory, Cork’s U21 outfit replicated that effort at the same venue in last night’s Bord Gáis Energy Munster U21HC quarter-final against Waterford.

GER FITZGERALD is hoping to maintain the current momentum behind Cork hurling after Sunday’s Munster SHC success over Tipperary, when he leads his U21 charges into action in tonight’s Bord Gáis Energy Munster U21HC quarter-final against Waterford in Páirc Uí Chaoimh at 7.30pm.

CORK senior footballer Aidan Walsh was last night named at left half-forward in the Cork U21 hurling side to face Waterford in tomorrow night’s Bord Gáis Energy Munster U21HC quarter-final in Páirc Ui Chaoimh, despite his involvement with Cork in next Sunday’s Munster SFC semi-final against Kerry.

IT HAS been a year filled with shattering lows for Clare hurling, but last night in Fraher Field Dungarvan their fortunes enjoyed a soaring high.

AFTER the dejection of Saturday night’s All-Ireland qualifier loss, Clare hurling looks to get back on track at Cusack Park, Ennis tonight (7.30pm) with the Bord Gáis Energy Munster U21 HC semi-final against Limerick.

GAA chiefs yesterday announced that the country’s lesser lights are set to take centre stage in Croke Park on July 4th, with the fixing of the Christy Ring, Nicky Rackard and Lory Meagher Cup deciders.

LIMERICK boss Ger Hegarty has made two changes for tonight’s crucial Munster MHC play-off with Waterford at the Gaelic Grounds, 6.30pm.

AFTER a lifetime of service on the playing fields, Brian Lohan has turned his attention to management.