Will Kilkenny swamp the sweeper?

For natives of Mullinavat, Waterford is town, 11 miles away. For natives of Ballyhale, seven miles north, Kilkenny is town, 13 miles away. 

Hurling rivalry reflects this difference. Ballyhale, no less than Johntown or Urlingford way up north of the county, looks to Tipperary as the rival that most counts. Round Listerlin, Rosbercon and The Rower, where New Ross is town, it was Wexford, until Wexford’s decline.

Those seven miles mark a change. Mullinavat on down, Kilmacow and Mooncoin and Glenmore and Slieverue, they will have been thinking a lot about Waterford this week. Thinking about this All-Ireland semi-final and dreading a loss for the spark it would bring to exchanges over the bridge.