ALL-IRELAND SHC SEMI-FINALS
Limerick v Waterford, Croke Park, 6pm (Saturday)
Kilkenny v Cork, Croke Park, 3.30pm (Sunday)
It's the second last hurling weekend of the season and given that the game received last rites again back in May we shouldn't be surprised that the summer has ripened. Hurling has again delivered.
There have been great games, hot controversies, surprise wins, and sad farewells. This semi-final weekend promises more of the same.
Limerick and Waterford get us going in a repeat of last year's final. Waterford must feel that fate is dealing them cards from the bottom of the deck. No Tadhg de Búrca, got over Galway and Tipperary, but now to be faced with the mountain range that is Limerick.
The Treaty men have named Dan Morrissey at full-back in place of Richie English, who went off injured the last day. Unsurprisingly Aaron Gillane comes back into the starting XV. This is Limerick's to lose but they face a team operating off the same hurling map and threatening to improve on it in some respects. They come to Croke Park with huge momentum.
However, it's hard to see the gap closed enough since last December for a Déise victory. Limerick to advance.
Cork and Kilkenny is this weekend's match-up between the unknowable and the imponderable.
Kilkenny have already beaten Wexford and Dublin this summer. An undemanding trek but they have shown that there is some life in the extremities beyond the heartbeat that is TJ Reid.
Cork have gone the scenic route. At times they have looked more learned than when they began and at other times they have looked more exhausted.
Have Kilkenny more freshness in their legs? Have Cork more in their running game than Kilkenny can deal with?
The Kilkenny famine is ten years shorter than Cork but whose hunger is sharpest?
My heart says Cork but my head says Kilkenny who are league and Leinster champions and they must be slight favourites.
Dónal Óg Cusack was speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland.
Follow the All-Ireland senior hurling championship semi-finals this weekend with our live blogs on RTÉ.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app.
Watch Limerick v Waterford live on RTÉ2 or RTÉ Player from 4pm Saturday, and Kilkenny v Cork live on RTÉ2 or RTÉ Player from 2.30pm Sunday.
Watch highlights of all the weekend's action on The Sunday Game at 9.30pm on RTÉ2.
Listen to live and exclusive national radio commentaries on RTÉ Radio 1's Saturday and Sunday Sport.
