Senior hurlers hoping to reach league final

It’s unusual not to have Kilkenny involved in the knock-out stages of the big hurling competitions, but while they miss out this year, their home ground, Nowlan Park hosts the Allianz hurling League semi-finals on Sunday.

Tipperary, runners-up to Kilkenny for the past two years, play Waterford at 4.0, while Cork and Dublin meet at 2.0.

CORK v DUBLIN

Ger Cunningham manages Dublin against his home county in what will be the second clash between the counties in six weeks. Neither Cork nor Dublin reached the semi-final last year. Cork are bidding to reach the final for the first time since 2012 when they lost to Kilkenny. Dublin were last in the final in 2011 when they beat Kilkenny.

Paths to the semi-final

CORK

Kilkenny 1-22 Cork 2-17

Cork 1-24 Clare 0-17

Cork 0-34 Dublin 1-20

Cork 2-17 Galway 0-20

Tipperary 2-28 Cork 4-21

Cork 0-18 Wexford 0-14 (quarter-final)

Average For: 2-20; Average Against: 1-19

Cork scorers

Patrick Horgan.......2-63 (0-41 frees, 0-5 ‘65s’)

Conor Lehane...2-14

Seamus Harnedy....0-15

Paudie O’Sullivan...3-3

Luke O Farrell.....2-5

Rob O’ Shea..........0-7

Daniel Kearney......0-7

Alan Cadogan........0-5

Cormac Murphy.....0-4

Brian Lawton......0-2

Aidan Walsh......0-2

Lorcan McLoughlin..0-1

Mark Ellis...........0-1

Anthony Nash.......0-1 (free)

Bill Cooper ..........0-1

DUBLIN

Dublin 2-20 Tipperary 0-14

Dublin 0-25 Kilkenny 3-11

Cork 0-34 Dublin 1-20

Clare 2-22 Dublin 2-20

Dublin 0-26 Galway 2-14

Dublin 1-25 Limerick 0-16 (quarter-final)

Average For: 2-20; Average Against: 1-19

Dublin scorers

David Treacy.......0-33 (0-19 frees, 0-3 ‘65’s)

Paul Ryan............0-23 (0-16 frees 0-1’65’)

Mark Schutte......1-18

Danny Sutcliffe....0-15

Liam Rushe..........2-7

‘Dotsy’ O’Callaghan...1-9

Eamonn Dillon.....1-5

Cian Boland........1-2

Colm Cronin.....0-2

Shane Durkin.......0-4

Niall McMorrow....0-4

Chris Crummy......0-3

John McCaffrey......0-3

Ryan O’Dwyer.....0-2

Peter Kelly..........0-2

Simon Lambert......0-1

S Barrett................0-1

Ben Quinn.............0-1

Paul Schutte...........0-1

Last clash...

Cork...0-34 Dublin....1-20 (7 March, Croke Park)

Patrick Horgan scored 0-14 (0-9 frees, 0-1 ‘65’) as Cork went on a point-spree which sunk Dublin. Cork led by 0-21 to 0-8 at half-time and while Dublin improved in the second half, they had left themselves with far too much to do.

TIPPERARY v WATERFORD

They didn’t meet in this year’s League as they were in different Divisions. Tipperary lost their first outing in 1A to Dublin but have won five times since then. Waterford are the only 1B side to reach the semi-final (they beat Galway in the quarter-final). Previously, they won five and drew one of their six games on their way to promotion.

Paths to the semi-final

TIPPERARY

Dublin 2-20 Tipperary 0-14

Tipperary 2-18 Galway 0-20

Tipperary 2-19 Clare 0-20

Tipperary 2-22 Kilkenny 1-13

Tipperary 2-28 Cork 4-21

Tipperary 1-16 Offaly 0-13 (Quarter-final)

Average For: 2-18 Average Against: 1-19

Tipperary scorers

Seamus Callanan....3-37 (0-22, 0-1 ’65’)

John O’Dwyer.....1-16 (0-3 frees)

Jason Forde..........1-11

Noel McGrath.....1-11 (0-1 free)

Kieran Bergin.....1-6

Niall O’Meara.....1-6

John McGrath....0-7

James Woodlock......1-2

Brendan Maher....0-4

Michael Breen.....0-4

Ronan Maher......0-3

Conor Kenny........0-2

Darren Gleeson...0-1 (free)

Denis Maher........0-1

Padraic Maher.....0-1

Shane Bourke....0-1

Thomas Stapleton.. 0-1

Shane McGrath.......0-1

Conor O’Brien.....0-1

Gearoid Ryan.....0-1

WATERFORD

Limerick 2-16 Waterford 0-22

Waterford 3-21 Laois 0-12

Waterford 2-18 Offaly 1-14

Waterford 4-30 Antrim 0-10

Waterford 0-22 Wexford 0-16

Waterford 0-20 Galway 0-12 (Quarter-final)

Average For: 2-21; Average Against: 0-15

Waterford scorers

Pauric Mahony......1-66 (0-50 frees)

Shane Bennett.......3-8

Maurice Shanahan...2-6

Michael Walsh......1-7

Austin Gleeson.....0-8 (0-1 sideline)

Jake Dillon..............0-9

Brian O’Halloran...0-6

Tom Devine............1-2

Colin Dunford...............0-5

Paudie Prendergast..0-4

Kevin Moran.........0-4

J Barron.................0-3

Thomas Connors.....1-0

Shane O’Sullivan.....0-2

Donie Breathnach...........0-1

M O’Neill...............0-1

S Fives.............0-1

ALLIANZ HURLING LEAGUE 2015 RESULTS & FIXURES

DIVISION 1A

Round 1: Kilkenny 1-22 Cork 2-17; Dublin 2-20 Tipperary 0-14; Galway 2-15 Clare 1-17

Round 2: Cork 1-24 Clare 0-17; Dublin 0-25 Kilkenny 3-11; Tipperary 2-18 Galway 0-20.

Round 3: Cork 0-34

Dublin 1-20; Tipperary 2-19 Clare 0-20; Galway 0-20 Kilkenny 0-18.

Round 4: Clare 2-22 Dublin 2-20; Tipperary 2-22 Kilkenny 1-13; Cork 2-17 Galway -20.

Round 5: Tipperary 2-28 Cork 4-21; Dublin 0-26 Galway 2-14; Kilkenny 2-20 Clare 2-19

ALLIANZ HURLING LEAGUE DIVISION 1B

Round 1: Limerick 2-16 Waterford 0-22; Wexford 1-24 Antrim 2-20; Offaly 1-24 Laois 0-23.

Round 2: Waterford 3-21 Laois 0-12; Wexford 2-15 Offaly 0-12; Limerick 0-23 Antrim 1-12

Round 3: Limerick 4-16 Wexford 3-18; Laois 1-18 Antrim 1-14; Waterford 2-18 Offaly 1-14.

Round 4: Offaly 1-21 Limerick 0-21; Waterford 4-30 Antrim 0-10; Wexford 5-22 Laois 0-25.

Round 5: Offaly 2-17 Antrim 0-19; Limerick 1-25 Laois 1-19; Waterford 0-22 Wexford 0-16.

ALLIANZ HURLING LEAGUE PLAY-OFFS

Quarter-finals: Tipperary 1-16 Offaly 0-13; Cork 0-18 Wexford 0-14; Dublin 1-25 Limerick 0-16; Waterford 0-20 Galway 0-12.

Relegation: 1A: Kilkenny 1-18 Clare 1-17

Relegation 1B: Laois 2-18 Antrim 1-13

April 11: Relegation/promotion: 1A/2B: Kerry 2-16 Antrim 1-18

April 19: Semi-finals: Cork v Dublin, Nowlan Park, 2.0; Tipperary v Waterford, Nowlan Park, 4.0

May 3: Final

ALLIANZ HURLING LEAGUE DIVISION 2A

Round 1: Kerry 0-14 Derry 0-14; Westmeath 2-20 London 1-8; Carlow 3-17 Wicklow 1-6.

Round 2: Kerry 2-20 Wicklow 1-6; Derry 2-15 Westmeath 3-10; Carlow 3-12 London 0-7

Round 3: Carlow 1-15 Derry 1-13; London 3-12 Wicklow 2-12; Westmeath 3-18 Kerry 0-12

Round 4: Derry 1-10 London 1-9; Westmeath 1-22 Wicklow 2-10; Kerry 1-24 Carlow 3-17

Round 5: Kerry 3-17 London 2-10; Wicklow 0-12 Derry 1-8; Westmeath 1-14 Carlow 1-13.

Final: Kerry 5-17 Westmeath 3-17

ALLIANZ HURLING LEAGUE DIVISION 2B

Round 1: Kildare 0-24 Meath 0-14; Down 1-13 Armagh 0-9; Mayo 3-14 Donegal 1-12.

Round 2: Kildare 2-15 Down 1-12; Meath 3-8 Mayo 0-9; Armagh 1-18 Donegal 2-10

Round 3: Kildare 3-23 Armagh 3-14; Meath 2-15 Donegal 1-4; Down 2-20 Mayo 0-15.

Round 4: Kildare 3-20 Mayo 1-14; Down 4-17 Donegal 2-9; Armagh 1-17 Meath 1-15.

Round 5: Kildare 1-19 Donegal 3-11; Armagh 0-23 Mayo 0-10; Meath 2-21 Down 0-16

Final: Kildare 0-22 Meath 0-17

Relegation play-off: Mayo 2-13 Donegal 1-11

2B/3A Promotion/Relegation play-off: Donegal 4-13 Tyrone 4-13

ALLIANZ HURLING LEAGUE DIVISION 3A

Round 1: Fingal 3-13 Fermanagh 1-16; Roscommon 1-21 Louth 1-9; Tyrone 1-13 Monaghan 2-10

Round 2: Louth 4-17 Fermanagh 3-7; Monaghan 0-17 Roscommon 1-10; Tyrone 1-16 Fingal 1-15

Round 3: Tyrone 4-13 Fermanagh 2-8; Roscommon 3-24 Fingal 1-11; Monaghan 2-18 Louth 2-13.

Round 4: Tyrone 1-20 Louth 2-7; Monaghan 0-18 Fingal 2-12; Roscommon 0-16 Fermanagh 0-6.

Round 5: Monaghan 3-13 Fermanagh 0-12; Fingal 2-17 Louth 3-14; Tyrone 1-14 Roscommon 1-13.

Final: Tyrone 0-18 Monaghan 1-11

ALLIANZ HURLING LEAGUE DIVISION 3B

Round 1: Longford 1-17 Leitrim 0-10; Warwickshire 5-14 Sligo 0-14

Round 2: Longford 2-16 Warwickshire 2-11; March 15: Leitrim 1-15 Sligo 2-10.

Round 3: Longford 4-20 Sligo 0-9; Warwickshire 3-18 Leitrim 4-14

Final: Warwickshire 1-15 Longford 2-10