Five things we learned from the hurling semi-finals

1. THE VENUE:

The attractions of the Gaelic Grounds remain constant — inside the ground rather than outside. On paper having the four counties involved come to Limerick is a good idea, with respect to the journey undertaken by those in black and amber, but in reality... the good news is that the Ennis Road car park simulator doesn’t materialise any more because most people can’t get that close to the stadium.

2. KILKENNY:

There are any number of Kilkenny immortals still to come back — off the top of the head, try Eoin Larkin, Tommy Walsh, Jackie Tyrrell and Eoin Larkin, for starters. But their newer cohort of players were impressive yesterday, and none more so than Padraig Walsh, who collected TG4’s man of the match award. Looks like Tommy Walsh will be fighting it out with a member of his family for the number five jersey this year.

3. GALWAY:

Just being in Leinster alone hasn’t solved Galway’s consistency issues, and another game would have been very welcome for Anthony Cunningham, who has several players on or around the same level and only a limited number of places to offer them. Their loss of control around the middle after half-time, as the manager described it, was fatal, and will be duly noted by their upcoming opponents.

4. TIPPERARY:

Eamon O’Shea was cautioning all and sundry yesterday about being realistic, but Seamus Callanan was the significant development for Tipp during the league and he was the same yesterday. He ended with a dozen points and two clear cut goal chances, and the followers of Knocknagow will be very happy indeed that the big Drom and Inch man is realising his potential.

5. CLARE:

Clare didn’t have to win yesterday, and if the rumours of their training regime are to be believed, the players may be somewhat unhappy. Manager Davy Fitzgerald has a couple of game-free weeks to work on conditioning with his players now and given the way they finished last season, that may be no bad thing for the Banner this year.