A look ahead to a very busy weekend of sport
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What’s the episode introduction and who are the guests for the weekend preview?
And now it's time for this. And we're going to look ahead to all of the weekend sporting action.
I'm joined in the studio by Off The Ball's Colm Buhig. And because it's All-Ireland Hurling final weekend, we're also joined by All-Ireland winner and former GAA president, Nicky Brennan. And Nicky, we'll come to you in a minute. How are you today, Colm? Are you ready now for the weekend?
I am, yeah. This is the biggest weekend in sport ever, Clare.
So much. I was reading Joe Canning this morning because I thought that was a good thing to do in advance of all of this. And he said that for Galway to win, they'll have to get everything right and Limerick will need to be a little bit off. And he thinks that that's a big ask. Not impossible, but a big ask.
Yeah, probably. I think Galway caught people by surprise for people outside the county and maybe Leinster. Because all the talk this year was about how strong Munster is at the start of the year. Then the Munster Championship after the first round wasn't as great as people expected. But then the dismantling of Cork in the semi-final was a sight to behold because the hurling that they played was pretty extraordinary. When you give Galway a bit of time and space, they pocket around like few others, with the possible exception of Limerick, an up-step Limerick. This is Galway's first All-Ireland final in eight years, which was against Limerick. For Limerick, they haven't been to a decider since 2023. So it's set up very nicely.
Like my instinct, if you're asking me how it's going to go, is Limerick from muscle memory alone and the fact they've come back after two years of disappointment. But Galway were so impressive and kind of largely have been in the second spell of Michal Dunne, who's reigning senior manager, that this game could be actually extremely tight.
Okay, Nicky, what's your instinct off the bat?
Well, look, the teams have just been announced, actually, Clare. The Liverpool team has just come out in the last couple of minutes and Mike Casey has been at full-back instead of Dan Morrissey. That's possibly to curtail Jason Rabbit on the Galway team. And Cade Lynch, who was injured the last day, now he did come on.
How do Colm Buhig and Claire set the scene for the All-Ireland hurling final clash?
He's back in at midfield as the team captain. Galway run Shane. So people can read, I suppose, a certain amount into that. Look, let me come into the game as favourites. No question about that. Their track record is superb. But I give Galway a very good chance here. I think Galway could even win this match here. I think they're in a great chance. My only concern is they have conceded 14 goals in this year's championship. And that's a bit much. Galway have conceded eight. So they will need to make sure they close up shop at the goal area. And that's not going to be easy against a Limerick team that has a number of players in there that maybe haven't been involved before for a while. They have done a huge amount of experiences.
There's Aidan O'Connor. And there's other lads on the team, Aidan O'Connor and Shane O'Brien, for example, newish enough to the team. Adam English, you know, has had some experience in Cahill O'Neill. They're experienced, but not at the same level. So John Cawley has managed to get a good mix of youth and experience there. And Gotti has a lot of experience in his team.
Yeah, it's an interesting limerick team, Nicky, there that you just read out. If Galway are to do this, how do you think they achieve it?
Well, the big thing here is that if you look at that half-back line, and you'll be well familiar with it, Dermot Burns, William O'Donoghue and Kyle Hayes, huge big men. Clearly, Galway cannot poke that ball down on top of that half-back line continually. They'll have to engineer either getting the ball in behind that line somewhere or another or driving it short and coming and working from out the field, which they've done very well against Cork. They built defence from the back very well, but they worked their attacks from the back very well with short attacks. Off the shoulder passing where players were not too far away from one another, but they went at pace, broke their tackles and they hit a lot of points from 70, 80 yards out the field, which is something big.
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Chapters
4 chapters
1
What’s the episode introduction and who are the guests for the weekend preview?
0:01–1:58
2
How do Colm Buhig and Claire set the scene for the All-Ireland hurling final clash?
1:58–5:50
3
What team news and tactical changes did Nicky Brennan highlight for Limerick and Galway?
5:50–12:07
4
How might Galway overcome Limerick’s half-back line on All-Ireland final day?
12:07–14:44