In Pictures: A preview of the weekend’s GAA
By Stephen Barry
It’s a major weekend in the hurling championship as the League and Munster champions meet, while three Leinster quarter-finals are up for decision.
Meanwhile Sky Sports return to cover the Leinster Football Championship and the Down-Derry rivalry is reignited in Ulster.
Here are the storylines of the weekend’s GAA action…
On Sunday afternoon the Cork attack renew acquaintances with a Waterford defence that was miserly throughout the League. The Cork attack registered their lowest total (0-17) against the packed Déise defence in the League final.
Waterford relied heavily on the scoring of Maurice Shanahan (2-11) and Pauric Mahony (1-90) this spring but Mahony is out with a broken tibia, while Shanahan will be asked to step up to the free-taking mark despite a bruised knee.
Brian Murphy comes straight into a Cork defence which has conceded 25 scores or more in three of their last four league games. Murphy’s last game for Cork was the 2013 All-Ireland final, after which he had announced his inter-county retirement.
Waterford are on the up but Cork had their number last year on the way to a Munster title, beating them by double-scores in a quarter-final replay. They are marginal favourites to repeat that dose this weekend.
Dublin and Galway meet in Tullamore today, seeking to resolve the stalemate of six days previous. Dublin outscored Galway 0-14 to 0-5 in the 33 minutes after the Galway goal but the Galway defence kept a clean sheet to stay in contention.
With Dublin full-back Peter Kelly likely to miss out with a hamstring injury, all eyes will be on Joe Canning to take full advantage. The Portumna man played last week with a hand injury but may be placed on the edge of the square against a weakened Dublin rearguard.
Michael Ryan has had plenty to smile about since taking over the job as Westmeath manager. The scores of Niall O’Brien, Alan Devine and Derek McNicholas (above) have been key to them seeing off Carlow and Antrim.
Wexford defeated the Lake County by 3-22 to 2-9 when they last met in 2012 and the hurling stronghold will be looking beyond Sunday to a likely semi-final clash with All-Ireland champions Kilkenny.
Seamus ‘Cheddar’ Plunkett returned to his role as Laois manager on Tuesday, five days after quitting the position due to a row over club games. Plunkett has transformed the fortunes of Laois hurling but his side will be outsiders against Offaly on Sunday.
The sides last met in 2008, with the country in the grip of a Lisbon Treaty referendum and a new Taoiseach, Brian Cowen, two weeks into his tenure. The result was a ‘No’ vote and a landslide Offaly victory, 4-22 to 2-12.
Meanwhile the Sky Sports cameras will return to Tullamore on Saturday evening for the clash of Laois and Kildare.
It will be far from glitz and glamour though as the Lilywhites have been dragged through the mud during a poor Division 2 League campaign. A victory over Laois provided some rare joy on the road to relegation.
Derry were the cause of much comment during the League for a dour 0-8 to 0-4 loss to Dublin. Brian McIvor’s side lined out with a true blanket of defenders inside their 45 but are unlikely to be quite as defensive against Down on Sunday.
Down replaced the relegated Derry in Division 1, scoring a hugely impressive 11 goals to secure promotion. Donal O’Hare scored 4-29 in the League and has registered a major in each of his two championship outings against Derry.
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