Preview- A bumper weekend of hurling action with county final places on offer

After James Stephens secured their place in the St Canice’s Credit Union senior hurling championship Final last Sunday, the final spots in the senior decider as well as the intermediate and junior hurling county finals will all be confirmed by the close of play this weekend.

After coming through a tough semi-final battle with Dicksboro, the Village can watch on as Shamrocks and Tullaroan meet in the other senior last four meeting on Saturday afternoon at 3.30pm.

While Shamrocks will go into the game as favourites after looking so composed when dispatching of the challenge of Clara, Tullaroan have had an excellent year thus far and with the calibre of Mossy Keoghan, Tommy Walsh, Padraig Walsh, Shane Walsh and Gearoid Dunne all capable of causing problems to the defending champions, Shamrocks will have to be on their guard as they aim to continue their quest to win a fifth successive Kilkenny senior hurling title.

The senior game forms part of a triple header in UPMC Nowlan Park on Saturday with the two JJ Kavanagh and Sons Junior Hurling Championship semi-finals taking place beforehand.

Dicksboro and Windgap get proceedings underway at high noon and after disposing of championship favourites Tullogher-Rosbercon last weekend, Windgap will fancy their chances of making a first final since 2001.

Dicksboro’s second string come into the game after beating James Stephens in the Section B final and a close contest is expected.

The other junior semi-final sees Blacks and Whites meet Piltown at 1.45pm.

Like the opening semi-final, the Blacks & Whites will also be looking to bridge a long gap to their last appearance in a junior final which came in 2009 while Piltown will be looking to make up for defeat to Dunnamaggin in the 2018 decider.

Attention will then switch to Sunday and the two Michael Lyng Motors intermediate hurling championship semi-finals with this so-called ‘big four’ still standing.

Thomastown, Carrickshock, Rower-Inistioge and Danesfort all reached the league and shield finals in September and they will face off against each other for a place in the October 23 decider.

Rower-Inistioge and Danesfort kick things off in Kilkenny HQ at 2pm and it’s a meeting of the two most recently relegated sides from the senior grade.

It’s a very tough game to call and it’s something similar in the second clash between league champions Thomastown and Carrickshock (3.45).

All in all it’s set to be a bumper weekend of hurling action and once the weather stays fair, there should be a couple of great games in store.