The senior hurlers of Clare and Cork thrilled capacity attendances of over 80,000 at Croke Park on each of two occasions last September, so it’s no surprise there is huge demand for tickets for their Munster championship meeting on Sunday.
All-Ireland champions, Clare won in impressive fashion in the replay last September, having snatched an injury-time score to draw in the first encounter. Cork go into Sunday’s game with the benefit of two championship games under their belts, a draw and replay with Waterford.
Clare manager, Davy Fitzgerald won’t name his starting team until the weekend but All-Ireland replay hero, Shane O’Donnell is ruled out with a hamstring injury. Otherwise, Clare are injury-free and Sunday’s team will feature the majority of those who played when the sides last met.
The teams met at the corresponding stage of the provincial campaign last year, when Cork were victorious, before losing out in the final to Limerick, who are already through to defend the Munster crown.
The opening game at Thurles on Sunday will be the provincial intermediate semi-final between the same counties. This is also a repeat of last year’s semi-final, when Cork had a six-point win. The intermediate game will be at 2pm, with the senior game, which will be live on The Sunday Game, at 4pm.
Meanwhile, a busy weekend for Clare GAA gets underway on Saturday evening, when the senior footballers travel to Dungarvan for their replay with Waterford. This game will be at 7pm and the prize for the winners is a Munster semi-final date with Kerry on Sunday week.
By Seamus Hayes
A native of Ennis, Colin McGann has been editor of The Clare Champion since August 2020. Former editor of The Clare People, he is a journalism and communications graduate of Dublin Institute of Technology.