We now know it’s Galway in one semi and Clare v Dublin in one 1/4.
It looks very predictable from here. Galway conceding too many goals to be considered contenders. They will be happy with their years work, their re-build well under way. Can Clare turnover Cork or Limerick, unlikely. So in all likelihood, a Cork v Limerick final, in which Cork should finally prevail.
Way to ruin the surprise
Waterford and Limerick were supposed to meet three times there a few years back.
Then Clare and Limerick were supposed to meet three times.
Now it’s cork and Limerick the last few years.
It hasn’t happened yet.
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If there is an upside to all of this, at least cork and tipp can’t have their love-in, talk bollocks about the glory of it, hay saved and all that shite. Don’t see the limerick lads engage in a mutual masterbation session with cork like tipp would…
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I think this is the year for it.
Might be a year too soon for a coming Galway team and a year or two too late for an ageing Clare team.
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Cork would be better off losing today in a close match
Limerick are going to bate the bollox out of cork today
You’d have to imagine that today is just a dress rehearsal for the All Ireland final.
Maybe Clare could upset one of them in a semi final. But still not feeling it. Forget about the rest.
I like your confidence bro
An awful bang of ‘Darwin will do untold today’ and we know how that worked out
Now we wait
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Yep. We have them right where we want em now
Unseasonable weather and wind and pissing rain would get Limerick over the line against anyone in a final but it’s Galway or Corks to lose now
Powers have the Clare Dublin game down for Saturday at 2pm. Cork Offaly Sunday at 3pm.
RTE have FIFA World cup games from 6pm Saturday and 5pm Sunday so the above scheduling is probably accurate.
They’ll fit in a Round 3 Sam Maguire game at 4pm Saturday on RTE, the other three games are on GAA+.
Tailteann is being shown by RTE as well, I’m guessing a double header Sunday on RTE 1/News.
When are announcing details of the quarters?
Dates of 20/21st if june are confirmed. No venue yet. A double header in thurles is the obvious one but in reality having Cork involved would suggest two stand alone fixtures
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Colm Keys: Limerick draw on muscle memory to plant flag in the ‘Páirc’ and reclaim crown after absorbing encounter
John Kiely’s celebrated men prove they are a team for all seasons after a successful battle but war is still to be won
8 Jun 2026 5:30 AM
Limerick’s Gearóid Hegarty celebrates after the Munster SHC final t SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh © David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile
Some 52 minutes into this Munster hurling final, the cameras panned to John Kiely along the sideline where he was moving his hands furiously and making urgent demands of his players.
‘More energy, more energy,’ he appeared to be shouting.
He spoke for all of us in that moment.
A game that had the billing of the two best teams, at one of the most atmospheric theatres and on the second most storied stage, had lacked sufficient joule count up to that point.
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Peter Casey the match-winner in dramatic finish as Limerick secure a famous Munster final win over Cork
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Both teams were in deficit. And consequently, the crowd were too. Everyone needed a power surge.
Of course the weather played a factor. Teeming rain coming in over the City End added a little bit more lottery to it.
But even allowing for those conditions, it was more fractured, error-ridden and free-ridden than it should have been.
Limerick got their energy though. On these occasions, they invariably find a way.
On some of the most inclement summer days they’ve found a rhyme and rhythm when it has mattered most, as far back as the 2018 All-Ireland quarter-final against Kilkenny to the 2023 All-Ireland final against the same opponents. In between, an epic Munster final against Clare in Thurles in 2022.
They are a team for all seasons. The last time they won a Munster title in SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh, 2021, the heat was so intense the tar was melting on the roads outside.
Limerick’s Peter Casey of Limerick celebrates © Brendan Moran/Sportsfile
Here, they had only led twice, in the opening four minutes, until Peter Casey nudged them back in front with a sideline-hugging point right out of his 2021 All-Ireland first-half playbook and just as the clock ticked into five minutes of added time.
To get to that point they had to draw on all the craft they have banked over the last decade. And to preserve it over the next seven-and-a-half minutes – what referee James Owens ultimately played – it took every sinew of muscle memory from those great occasions they have experienced.
‘I thought normally a referee would just say, “this is it lads, you should go direct,” but they said he [referee James Owens] didn’t’
Cork manager Ben O’Connor
Those seven-and-a-half added minutes became a game within a game. So many big moments from big Limerick players. Great catches from Diarmaid Byrnes and William O’Donoghue to guttural roars from those in green, Gearóid Hegarty continuing the trend of finishing games at full-forward and making an impact, setting up Casey for the winner.
And then Cork’s muddled effort for parity in the very last passage when they went short with a free some 100 metres out after Hegarty hacked down Tim O’Mahony, a challenge that could well have yielded a second yellow card.
O’Mahony is their best option from that range but he was still shaking himself after the Hegarty hit. For Mark Coleman, it was too far and even for goalkeeper Patrick Collins the wind dictated that it just wasn’t on.
So Collins went short to Coleman who played it back inside to O’Mahony, but by then referee James Owens had the whistle in his mouth to call time and O’Mahony’s effort ran out of steam.
The Cork players remonstrated with Owens as he made his way off the field. Their manager Ben O’Connor explained afterwards they were complaining he hadn’t flagged it was the last puck of the ball.
“I thought normally a referee would just say, ‘this is it lads, you should go direct,’ but they said he didn’t,” said O’Connor, mindful that his players had not “surrounded” the official as the question suggested.
“They never even raised their voice and just said, ‘Why didn’t you tell us?’ That was the only issue the boys had.”
Cork’s Brian Hayes shoots to score his side’s second goal despite the efforts of Limerick’s Kyle Hayes © Brendan Moran/Sportsfile
In truth, Cork were only hanging on by then. No score from play after Brian Hayes’ remarkable 38th-minute goal, their only scores after that came from six converted frees from Alan Connolly. They were running on empty.
That Hayes goal deserved mention for its entry into the growing catalogue of unusual Cork scores. From Brian Corcoran’s point in the 2004 All-Ireland final to Patrick Horgan’s goal at the same Canal End in an All-Ireland quarter-final 15 years later, both from on their knees, Hayes went one better, batting between Barry Nash and Kyle Hayes while sitting on his backside! As instinctive as you get.
Cork’s poor second-half return should be framed in the context of the wind effect. And the fact that with it in the first half, they just hadn’t set a big enough target to come after.
But the suspicion remains that they are a team designed with drier days in mind. A lot went right for them. Rob Downey was a colossus at centre-back, whipping over one first-half point directly after a magnificent catch from a Limerick puck-out before brilliantly stealing from Cathal O’Neill minutes later, an exchange that ended O’Neill’s day as his hamstring gave way.
Seán O’Donoghue held his side of the bargain against Aaron Gillane until a first-half yellow card became too much of a load when he fouled Gillane for a 40th-minute free that Aidan O’Connor converted. Within two minutes he was yanked and six minutes later Gillane was gone too.
It had been one of Gillane’s least effective performances – held scoreless – in a long history of personal triumph against the Rebels. But manager John Kiely wasn’t going back up the road wondering.
Limerick manager John Kiely with Cork manager Ben O’Connor after the Munster final © David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile
“Do I back off it and have the regret later on?” mused Kiely afterwards. “The group is the group, the team is the team. It’s not about individuals. He had his opportunity. I don’t want to go home regretting that I didn’t use more of the lads that are behind me that are playing well in training.
Limerick’s Aaron Gillane shakes hands with his manager John Kiely after being substituted © Brendan Moran/Sportsfile
“It’s a collective effort and they all understand that. Is Aaron inside there disappointed he was taken off? Of course he is, deep down, disappointed he was taken off.
“He would like to have contributed more and would have probably thought that he would contribute more. But he understands that the fellas in the room with him are also there.”
As he spoke, Kiely looked visibly shattered. These days take it out of him. It takes it out of all of them.
It was, he suggested, a game they had to be six points better in to win by one.
‘What other profession is there where you get five days off in eight months? There isn’t one. Not with a full-time job on top of it’
Limerick manager John Kiely
“For us, we just want to get every last juice out of ourselves and if we did go out the wrong side of it, we can get onto our bus and go out the gate saying we gave it absolutely everything. It was a very stressful game. There was so much happening.”
A lot of that was on the sideline too where both managers staked out their territory to plead their cases with the officials. Another game within the game.
“Listen, everybody fights their corner outside there,” said Kiely. “That’s just the way it is. To be fair to the lads, refereeing or officiating on a day like that outside there is a tough, tough job.”
His awe for the players who produced that tumultuous final quarter and added time has spiked again.
“I don’t know where the last eight months have gone. Because it’s just relentless. They got five days off over Christmas. Think about it. What other profession is there where you get five days off in eight months? There isn’t one. Not with a full-time job on top of it.”
For Limerick, a first-ever Páirc Uí Chaoimh Munster final win over Cork was another significant string to a bow that has produced so many melodic tunes. Darragh O’Donovan’s playful planting of a Limerick flag on the pitch was a physical manifestation of that at the end.
Something for Cork to bank? They won’t accrue much interest. The All-Ireland final is six weeks away. Their route is through Offaly and Galway. Limerick have Clare or Dublin.
This time 12 months ago Cork were league and provincial champions. Now they’ve neither. But they have the knowledge that Limerick will have to be a good bit better to beat them again. And captain Darragh Fitzgibbon should be there to help bridge the gap.
Another battle lost. But a war still to win.
Conor McKeon: Why Munster’s big guns should beware of a monkey-less Galway
7 Jun 2026 9:00 PM
Galway players celebrate with the Bob O’Keeffe Cup after beating Dublin at Croke Park © Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile
So, Galway are back. Or as back as winning a Leinster title and putting on a show of deft attacking fluency in doing so suggests. An egress survey of the 46,463 in the big house on Saturday night would have been emphatic on this matter. Yes, Galway are very much back.
Even the scavenging seagulls who swirled menacingly overhead just before half-time, threatening to turn the evening into a weird Kubrickian hellscape, noticed how impressive the performance beneath was.
They cleared off when Galway started launching missiles in the second half. Smart move.
“When you say it’s your number one target, it’s lovely to have accomplished it,” as Micheál Donoghue happily reflected afterwards.
There will be calls for Galway to be left alone now to enjoy this moment and all its nutritional value. Leinster titles haven’t come as frequently as expected when they moved in. Capturing this one was their stated goal for the season. Leave them off.
That’s not how this works. Galway reached a critical mass on Saturday night. The tipping point was tipped. Their immediate prospects require deeper inspection. This is Galway’s burden.
Back in 2001 and ‘05, when they beat Kilkenny in All-Ireland semi-finals, the Tribesmen represented a shadowy presence from the west who Brian Cody described in his autobiography as “virtually impossible to stop when they get their game right.”
Integration to Leinster and the increased exposure hasn’t done much to decode their mystique. On a given year, Galway could be anything. Nobody made their first million predicting Galway’s results. It’s a question of faith: is your Galway half full or half empty?
The Bob O’Keeffe Cup in the Hogan Stand as Galway supporters react during the closing stages of the Leinster SHC final win over Dublin on Saturday evening © Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile
It’s a wonder the canon of hurling tropes about Cork being Cork and Tipp being Tipp etc. hasn’t been expanded to include a similarly sharp, explanatory entry for Galway.
“In Galway,” as Donoghue observed, “when you have a few decent performances, the expectation levels go through the roof. Then when you have mediocre performances it’s the end of the world.”
Outwardly, Donoghue is an understated man. His two years as Dublin manager did nothing to shake the county’s hurlers from their torpor. But clearly, he has the alchemy required to harness all that big Galway hurling energy.
It’s a trick that eluded even Ger Loughnane. So it’s tempting to note that between Galway’s exceptional attacking promise, and Donoghue’s magical elixir, an All-Ireland at some stage soon-ish is a decent possibility.
“There’s some really good, talented young fellas there, and they have a great opportunity now over the next few years to push on,” as he said himself on Saturday night.
But Daithí Burke is 34 later this year. According to Donoghue, he came back onto the pitch on Saturday night after dislocating his knee, forming a fearsome human blockade of route one, Dublin’s only path of attack.
Pádraic Mannion is 33. Cathal Mannion will be 32 in October. Each has plenty more high-end output to give Galway but recent history demonstrates that success is best achieved at that optimal point when youth and experience blend.
‘Galway reduced Dublin to a type of screwball scramble, launching deliveries and scrapping for them on the deck’
If the inconsistencies of the league and earlier rounds of the Leinster Championship suggested this was some way off, Saturday night revealed rapid progress towards that sweet spot.
On Saturday, Galway reduced Dublin to a type of screwball scramble, launching deliveries and scrapping for them on the deck.
Late on, Hill 16 resorted to gallows humour, cheering Hawk-Eye’s reclassification of a Conor Whelan point as a wide, restoring Dublin’s deficit to just 16 points. It was another deep Leinster final disappointment.
Galway manager Micheál Donoghue, right, shakes hands with Dublin manager Niall Ó Ceallacháin after the Leinster final © Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile
Natural it felt to observe Dublin’s form and adduce from it a better Leinster final than their recent experiences, but no. They were four down at half-time and lucky to be. After Dónal Burke’s penalty, they were only six back with a player extra but tried desperately to squeeze goals out of every possession and granted unto Galway’s gallopers the freedom of Croke Park.
Last time Dublin played a championship game in Croke Park, they conceded 7-26 to Cork. In the context, 4-29 doesn’t look much better. They were pulled hither and thither by Galway’s shape-shifting and attacking fluency. It was dizzying to watch.
Tom Monaghan gracefully stroking seven points from a variety of distances and angles. Cathal Mannion and Conor Whelan roaming Croker’s vast prairies.
It is required of successful Galway teams to have at least one forward of burly gait and magnetic paw. Johnny Glynn fulfilled that role in 2017 but all the better if his surname is Rabbitte.
What could a fully fit Aaron Niland do now in All-Ireland semi-final? It was all very suggestive.
Whelan said afterwards winning a first Leinster title since 2018 was a “massive monkey off our backs,” which is undeniably a good thing because hurling is hard enough without trying to do it with a monkey on your back.
Galway have earned the lavish luxury of time now; four weeks of rest and healing and preparation.
They would do well to take note of Saturday night’s performance in Munster’s big houses. Warning has been served. Beware a monkey-less Galway.
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How many limerick players have been involved all the way through since the first all Ireland?
Involved on panel?
Quaid
Finn
Dan
Nash
M. Casey
Byrnes
Will
Kyle
DOD
Hego
Lynch
Tom
Gillane
P. Casey
Reidy
Obviously some of them have missed entire seasons with injury.
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How many of those have been starters or getting significant playing time the whole way through (when not injured)?