Kilkenny and Wexford to get the GAAGO treatment

For the second successive season, the final day Leinster championship meeting of Kilkenny and Wexford in UPMC Nowlan Park on Sunday afternoon will not be shown on terrestrial television.

The round robin game between the two neighbours will be live on GAAGO, which is definitely an improvement on the game not being shown at all which was the case last year, with RTÉ opting to show the equally important Galway and Dublin game in Pearse Stadium, Salthill at the same time (both games throw-in at 2pm).

This will be the third time that GAAGO will cover Kilkenny this season after showing the last two games with Dublin and Carlow. RTE’s only previous Leinster hurling game was the draw between Kilkenny and Galway last month.

While the Cats are practically assured of a place in the top three and a place in the knockout stages of the All-Ireland championship, Derek Lyng’s team will still need at least a draw to ensure their place in the Leinster final.

Wexford may need a victory to not only have a chance of making the Croke Park provincial decider but to confirm their qualification for the All-Ireland series, but they will travel to Noreside in buoyant mood after beating Kilkenny in their last two championship meetings.

A similar result on Sunday means Kilkenny would need a draw in the Galway and Dublin game to keep hopes alive of qualifying for a seventh Leinster final on the trot.

Permutations are bound to play a role in both Leinster and Munster on Sunday but the simple reality is that if Kilkenny win or draw then they will finish in the top two.

There will be huge disappointment for one of the four counties missing out at this early stage in the season while there is also a lot on the line in the Carlow and Antrim game with the winners there maintaining their Liam MacCarthy status for another year.

Kilkenny come into Sunday’s game on the back of a two-point win over Dublin last weekend and manager Derek Lyng was pleased at how his side performed.

“Yeah, look, I’m delighted, I really am,” he said. “I was expecting that performance - I’ve been up here many years and you never get anything easy up here.

“I knew that was going to be the way. I knew there was only going to be a puck of the ball in it. So the way we closed it out, I knew it was going to come to that.”

Adrian Mullen’s participation was confirmed on Friday even though Lyng was non-commital after the Dublin win.

“He’s not too far off,” Lyng said. “We’ll see how the week goes but he's after making good progress in the last couple of weeks so he’s not too far away hopefully.”

Minor Final

It’s a big weekend on all fronts for Kilkenny GAA with the minor hurlers chasing a first Leinster title since 2021 when facing a Dublin side that only beat them a few weeks ago in Saturday’s final in MW Hire O’Moore Park, Portlaoise.

The game is live on TG4 with a 1.30pm throw-in.