Provincial hurling finals - All You Need to Know

RTÉ News​

15 hours ago

SATURDAY
Munster SHC final
Limerick v Cork, TUS Gaelic Grounds, 6pm
SUNDAY
Joe McDonagh Cup final
Kildare v Laois, Croke Park, 1.45pm
Leinster SHC final
Kilkenny v Galway, Croke Park, 4pm
ONLINE
Live blog on rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app.
TV
Live coverage of the Munster hurling final on Saturday on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player from 5.15pm.
Live coverage of the Joe McDonagh final and the Leinster hurling final on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player on Sunday, starting at 1.30pm.
Highlights on The Saturday Game (9.40pm) and The Sunday Game (9.30pm) on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player.
RADIO
Live commentaries and updates on Saturday Sport and Sunday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1 and Spórt an tSathairn and Spórt an Lae, RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta.
WEATHER
Saturday: In Munster, the showers earlier in the day will largely die out later in the afternoon to leave a fine evening. Highest temperatures of 12 to 15 degrees, with moderate northwesterly winds.
Sunday: Sunday will bring a mix of sunshine and showers. Highest temperatures of 13 to 17 degrees in moderate westerly winds.
Overview - an era of domination
Limerick have already broken new ground in the Munster hurling championship with the first-ever six-in-a-row last year. Now, it's just a question of what record they're going to set for future dynasties.
It's a particularly stunning feat given that Limerick, traditionally, are outside the 'big two' in Munster. Or, at best, they were the half in the 'big two-and-a-half', akin to Roscommon in the Connacht football championship.
Who knows, the long-term legacy of the Kiely-Kinnerk era may be that future generations will refer to a 'big four' rather than a 'big three'?
They've beaten every other Munster county in a provincial final in the current run, aside from Cork. They're coming off three successive Munster final wins over Clare, the last of which was the most clear-cut. Tipperary were dispatched in 2019 and 2021, the latter after that remarkable second half turnaround. In 2020, they saw off Waterford before beating them again in the All-Ireland final.
Cork are both the last Munster team to win the province before the Limerick supremacy arrived - and they're also the last side to beat Limerick in a Munster final, winning the last championship game played at the old Páirc Uí Chaoimh back in 2014 during Jimmy Barry Murphy's second stint in charge.
Kilkenny's present domination of the Leinster hurling championship has attracted far less notice. Indeed, their achievement of the provincial five-in-a-row last year crept up on people.
Partly, this is because Kilkenny dominance of Leinster has typically been the historical norm and partly because the province is much less glamorous.
Even more so, it's down to their failure to back it up with a Liam MacCarthy, which, as Richie Hogan noted this week, is the only currency worth considering in Kilkenny.
The run started in 2020, when they ended a four-year stretch without a Leinster title in an empty Croke Park, after pick-pocketing a generally superior Galway side down the home straight. The westerners looked comfortably the better team for an hour, maintaining a four-to-five point lead for most of the second half. Then Hogan, introduced as a late substitute, rustled up a truly ingenious goal, with Reid whipping in a second within a matter of seconds to turn the game on its head.
They've beaten Galway in two more Leinster finals since then. Cody's last provincial victory in 2022 came after an unimaginably dull, free-ridden game. 2023 was another dramatic smash-and-grab. Henry Shefflin's Galway side appeared to have done enough with a stirring final quarter to lead by two in injury-time - until Padraic Mannion's panicked clearance with his boot found Cillian Buckley's paw and we know the rest.
Even by the poor standards of your average Kilkenny-Dublin Leinster final, last year's provincial decider was a non-event.
Cork aim to recover from "set-up"
The blithe and gleeful confidence that settled over Cork in the wake of the league final is a distant memory.
The 16-point mauling in the Gaelic Grounds was a shock to the system and a sobering reminder that the great Limerick side of the 2020s aren't close to being done.
The Rebels were even threatened with elimination on the final day and produced a somewhat jittery performance at home to Waterford, in which their far greater attacking quality would eventually tell in the end.
The Cork management have been angrily rounding on the hype-mongers since the loss in Limerick.
Pat Ryan accused those who were writing off Limerick of being "off their game" and "setting us up for a fall."
Selector Wayne Sherlock branded the media hype as "cringey outside noise" and had a pop at the Paddy Power stunt of paying out on Cork winning the All-Ireland after the league final.
"I think we were being set-up, to be honest," Sherlock told reporters this week. "It's kind of insulting. I think people want us to fail."
Ryan even took aim at the concept of 'Corkness', branding it "the most stupid word I ever heard."
We can fairly take it that they've concluded the pre-championship hype was not helpful and that a more workmanlike Cork team - and a more humble Cork crowd - will arrive in Shannonside this Saturday.
Galway old stagers still plugging away
Of Galway's 11 competitive matches in 2025, they've won seven and lost the other four by 12 points.
It was assumed this was a transitional period. The returning All-Ireland winning manager Micheál Donoghue was given a four-year term, which was taken to imply this was partly a re-build job. The manager acknowledged they were "looking to the future" after 2017 veterans Joseph Cooney, Gearóid McInerney and Adrian Touhy departed before the season began.
But there's a surprising degree of continuity around Galway, all the same. David Burke is still relied upon to bring a stability and game-management expertise to midfield. The Mannions remain prominent at both ends of the field. Daithí Burke and Fintan Burke form the bedrock of the defence. Conor Whelan, notwithstanding his patchy form early in the season, provides much of the gold-dust in attack.
In some respects, the 'transition' hasn't even started yet.
There has been some change. John Fleming has been a workhorse at wing-forward, while Gavin Lee has nailed down the problematic position of centre-back - though doubts about his defensive suitability were raised after the second half against Wexford. Loughrea's Anthony Burns has shown impressive flashes in the inside forward line, though Kevin Cooney is preferred to start this weekend.
Team News
There is still some uncertainty about who will be manning the goal for Galway. Their official submitted team is at odds with their 'X' account, with the supposedly suspended Darach Fahy named on the former, while Eanna Murphy is down to start on the latter.
Fahy was suspended by the CHC for slapping out at AJ Murphy, though the Tribesmen are still intent on appealing. Otherwise, as noted above, Kevin Cooney - so impressive in the last Leinster decider against Kilkenny in 2023 - replaces Anthony Burns.
Derek Lyng is still without the injured Eoin Cody, though Adrian Mullen returns to his centre-forward berth after his runout at centre-back for the Wexford dead rubber.
Cork, meanwhile, have handed Diarmuid Healy his first start in place of Brian Roche, while Shane Barrett captains the team in the absence of the injured Rob Downey. For Limerick, Aidan O'Connor makes a first championship start, replacing Shane O'Brien at full-forward.
Kildare seek to break new ground in Joe Mc
The Kildare hurlers go in search of a landmark victory this weekend, which would take them into the Leinster SHC for the first time since 2004.
They've flirted with the big-time in decades past. In 1976, Kildare beat Dublin and took the eventual champions Wexford to the brink in the semi-final. They won the old All-Ireland 'B' championship on four occasions, including in 1989 and 2004.
Their rise in modern times has been charted here, with the strength of Naas being a core reason. A Croke Park appearance looked unlikely after an opening day loss to Kerry - who were subsequently relegated - but they've won four from four since, including a shock 11-point win over Laois in the penultimate round.
The north of the county is now the hurling stronghold - a turnaround from previous eras - with Maynooth's David Qualter and Naas' Jack Sheridan to the fore on the scoring front.
Last year's losing finalists Laois enter as slight favourites despite the loss in Portlaoise. They squeezed into the final after James Duggan's last-gasp goal snatched a draw in Carlow.
Tommy Fitzgerald's side is without Cha Dwyer, who took umbrage at being substituted against Carlow, while goalkeeper Enda Rowland has opted out. Mossie Keyes, who hit 0-14 in Netwatch Cullen Park, has been to the fore in attack in this campaign.