Senior hurlers meet Rebels in last chance saloon

Fri, 6th November 2020

The pairings for the GAA hurling provincial finals are settled and now the focus switches to the All-Ireland qualifiers with two games to be played on Saturday as follows:

Clare v Laois, UPMC Nowlan Park, 1.15

Cork v Dublin, Semple Stadium, 3.45

The winners will play Wexford and Tipperary respectively in the next round on the following weekend. The winners of those games will play the losers of the Leinster and Munster finals in the All-Ireland quarter-finals.

CORK v DUBLIN

Dublin are seeking their first championship win over Cork since the 1927 All-Ireland final when they won by 4-8 to 1-3. The counties have met nine times in the championship since then, with Cork winning them all.

LAST FIVE CHAMPIONSHIP CLASHES

2016: Cork 1-26 Dublin 1-23 (All-Ireland qualifiers)

2013: Cork 1-24 Dublin 1-19 (All-Ireland semi-final)

2008: Cork 1-17 Dublin 0-15 (All-Ireland qualifier)

2007: Cork 3-20 Dublin 0-15 (All-Ireland qualifier)

1952: Cork 2-14 Dublin 0-7 (All-Ireland final)

*Dublin lost to Kilkenny (3-20 to 2-22) in the Leinster semi-final last weekend while Cork went down to Wa-terford by 1-28 to 1-24 in the Munster semi-final.

*Donal Burke scored a total of 1-28 (0-20 frees, 0-2 ‘65’) in Dublin’s games against Laois and Kilkenny. Eamonn Dillon (1-5) and Chris Crummey (1-4) are Dublin’s next highest scorers.

*Patrick Horgan was Cork’s top scorer against Waterford last Saturday, hitting 1-8 (1-3 frees).

CLARE v LAOIS

They meet for the sixth time in the championship with Clare having won the previous five as follows:

2016: Clare 5-32 Laois 0-12 (All-Ireland qualifiers)

2013: Clare 1-32 Laois 0-15 (All-Ireland qualifier)

2007: Clare 2-14 Laois 0-11 (All-Ireland qualifier)

2004: Clare 7-19 Laois 2-15 (All-Ireland qualifier)

1914: Clare 5-1 Laois 1-0 (All-Ireland final)

*Clare have beaten Laois by an average of 21 points in four qualifier ties since 2004.

*Clare lost to Limerick by 0-36 to 1-23 in the Munster quarter-final while Laois lost to Dublin by 2-31 to in the Leinster quarter-final.

*Tony Kelly scored 0-17 (0-9 frees) in Clare’s defeat by Limerick in the Munster quarter-final.

*Ross King was top scorer for Laois (0-10, 0-9 frees, 0-1 ‘65’) in the defeat by Dublin in the Leinster quar-ter-final

HURLING CHAMPIONSHIP SHORTS

*Limerick and Waterford will meet in the Munster final for the first time since 2007 when the Deise won by 3-17 to 1-14.

*Limerick will be bidding to retain the Munster title for the first time since 1980-81.

*Waterford last won the Munster title in 2010.

*Galway and Kilkenny last met in the Leinster final in 2018.

*Kilkenny last won the Leinster title in 2016; Galway last won in 2018.

ALL-IRELAND SH CHAMPIONSHIPS 2020

LEINSTER

Quarter-final

October 24: Dublin 2-31 Laois 0-23, Croke Park.

Semi-finals

October 31: Kilkenny 3-20 Dublin 2-22, Croke Park; Galway 1-27 Wexford 0-17, Croke Park

Final

November 14: Galway v Kilkenny, Croke Park

MUNSTER

Next Sunday: Quarter-final: Limerick 0-36 Clare 1-23, Semple Stadium

October 31: Semi-final: Waterford 1-28 Cork 1-24, Semple Stadium

November 1: Semi-final: Limerick 3-23 Tipperary 2-17, Pairc Ui Chaoimh

November 15: Final: Limerick v Waterford.

ALL-IRELAND QUALIFIERS

November 7: Round 1: Clare v Laois, UPMC Nowlan Park, 1.15: Cork v Dublin, Semple Stadium, 3.45

November 14 (TBC): Round 2: Round 1 winners v Tipperary and Wexford (draw to be made).

November 21: All-Ireland quarter-finals: Round 2 winners v beaten provincial finalists.

November 28/29: All-Ireland semi-finals

December 13: All-Ireland final

Joe McDonagh Cup

Carlow play Meath on Saturday in the Joe McDonagh Cup and both teams in dire need of points. Kerry are out in front with two wins from two and Antrim are second after they needed a dramatic levelling goal with the last puck of the game last week to share the spoils with Carlow, Carlow 2-25, Antrim 5-16.

That was Carlow’s first match of the competition and defensive frailties aside it will surely stand to them as they prepare to face a Meath team who were convincingly beaten 1-20 to 0-13 by Kerry in their only game to date.

Carlow’s top scorers were the Kavanagh brothers Marty and Jack with 0-11 between them and Chris Nolan who bagged 0-5 from play. Pádraic O’Hanrahan top scored for Meath last time out with 0-8, 0-6 from frees and a ‘65’.

Christy Ring Cup

All eyes are on Offaly, Liam MacCarthy Cup champions in 1998 and finalists in 2000, who now find them-selves in hurling’s third tier and who had to hand a walk over to Kildare in the opening phase of the compe-tition due to Covid complications. Managed by Kilkenny great Michael Fennelly they need Eoghan Cahill to continue his razor sharp shooting form of the league and meet a hard-working Derry team who looked well capable of beating Down last week but had to play the final 20 minutes with 14 men after a red card and lost out 1-13 to 0-13.

On Sunday, Roscommon meet a Sligo team who have had two years of solid and steady progress up through hurling’s ranks. The Covid outbreak which has kept the county footballers out of the Championship also forced Sligo hurlers to forfeit their opening game against Derry. Roscommon lost their first game to Wicklow 2-19 to 3-14 but were unlucky not to record a stunning comeback victory having trailed 2-11 to 0-4 at one point.

Nickey Rackard Cup

It’s D Day for teams in the Nickey Rackard Cup. Leitrim were 1-21 to 0-12 adrift of Armagh in their last game and facing a Longford side who gave a fancied Donegal a huge scare before losing 2-13 to 1-14.

Monaghan and Tyrone meet with both sides having suffered heavy defeats at the hands of Mayo in the last two weeks – 25 points and 18 points respectively. Tyrone earlier in the season when the sides met in the Allianz League.

Lory Meagher Cup

A place in the final against Fermanagh is the prize as Cavan and Louth meet on Sunday. Cavan failed to halt a late flurry of Fermanagh points and had a 1-13 to 0-16 draw with the Erne men last weekend. A week ear-lier two dramatic late goals had given Fermanagh a 3-10 to 1-15 win over Louth.

Fixtures

Joe McDonagh Cup

Sat: Carlow v Meath, Netwatch Cullen Pk (2.0)

Christy Ring Cup Round 2B

Derry v Offaly, Newry, 1.30pm

Nicky Rackard Cup Round 2B

Longford v Leitrim, Glennon Brothers Pearse Park, 1.30pm,

Monaghan v Tyrone, Clontibret, 1.30pm

Sunday, November 8

Christy Ring Cup Round 2B

Roscommon v Sligo, Athleague, 12pm

Lory Meagher Cup Round 3