Cork’s All-Ireland SHC semi-final set for early Saturday evening throw-in

The second semi-final involving Kilkenny the following afternoon is expected to begin at 4pm.

SATURDAY NIGHT LIGHTS: Patrick Horgan takes a free for Cork at Croke Park. Pic: Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile.

Cork’s All-Ireland SHC semi-final in Croke Park is expected to have a 5pm throw-in on Saturday, July 5.

Broadcasters RTÉ have the Munster winners’s game slotted in for an early evening start at the beginning of next month with the second semi-final involving Kilkenny the following afternoon expected to begin at 4pm.

Matching their provincial final day, Cork will return to action 28 days after they lifted the Mick Mackey Cup in TUS Gaelic Grounds on Saturday after beating Limerick on a penalty shoot-out.

It will be preceded by an All-Ireland senior camogie quarter-final at GAA HQ. Another camogie quarter-final clash will be the curtain-raiser to the Cats’s semi-final fixture.

As per championship regulations, Cork can’t meet Limerick in a semi-final so their potential opponents are Dublin, Galway, Kildare, Laois or Tipperary just as Kilkenny can’t duel with Galway at that stage, so they will face one of Dublin, Kildare, Limerick or Tipperary.

After provincial finals, repeat pairings in early provincial fixtures are avoided where feasible in the last four.