2023 ALL-IRELAND CLUB FINALS
SUNDAY
Hurling: Ballyhale Shamrocks v Dunloy, Croke Park, 1.30pm
Football: Glen v Kilmacud Crokes, Croke Park, 3.30pm
TV
Live coverage on TG4 from 1pm.
RADIO
Live commentary on RTÉ Radio 1's Sunday Sport.
ONLINE
Live tracker on RTÉ.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app.
WEATHER
Damp or locally wet to begin as overnight rain clears into the Irish Sea. Generally dry into the afternoon with more in the way of sunny spells. Highest temperatures of 9-12 degrees.
DAVID DUNLOY VERSUS GOLIATH
This year’s hurling finalists could scarcely be more contrasting.
Not many were tipping Dunloy to see off St Thomas’ in the semi-final but the Antrim club were fully deserving of their victory, and now they bid to finally get over the line on the biggest day of the club calendar.
Should they taste defeat on Sunday, Dunloy would join Rathnure of Wexford as the club with the most final defeats (five) having never lifted the Tommy Moore Cup.
Standing in their way of a breakthrough victory is the most decorated team in the competition’s history, Ballyhale Shamrocks topping the roll of honour with eight titles to their name.
Indeed were it not for Harry Ruddle’s late intervention for Ballygunner 12 months ago in the dying embers of the final, the Kilkenny club would be going in search of an incredible four-in-a-row.
Dunloy will be quietly hopeful that they can cause a major upset.
Manager Gregory O’Kane has been involved in all four previous final appearances as a player- indeed he has been involved in every single county title the club has won, as player or manager, since the club’s first in 1990 - and with four successive Antrim championships to their name, previous heartache against Slaughtneil in Ulster has stood the team well on its journey.
Goalkeeper Ryan Elliott, whose father Shane was between the sticks in the '95 and '96 final defeats, is one of a group of players who have helped Antrim to two Joe McDonagh titles in three years, so there is a certain Croke Park-winning pedigree in the team.
The challenge though is a significant one: Shamrocks, who exacted some degree of revenge on Ballygunner in the semi-final.
Any side stocked with Richie and TJ Reid, Joey Holden, Adrian Mullen and Colin Fennelly will fancy their chances of victory, but there is also the sense of tragedy shaping their journey.
Patrick Holden and Bobby Aylward, both former club chairpersons, passed away last year, as did former player Paul Shefflin at the age of just 41.
Two more former players, Eoin Doyle and Eugene Aylward, died in motor vehicle accidents in 2018 and 2019 respectively and all five were pictured a specially made poster.
"After the match I thought of all those people because there are so many connections on the team between all the different families," Joey Holden said earlier this week.
"When you are representing people like that, you do your best to make their families happy and represent them as best you can."
GLEN REVOLUTION v KILMACUD EVOLUTION
A similar theme runs through the football final weekend. Just like the hurling, it pits an Ulster team looking for a maiden All-Ireland (Glen) against seasoned campaigners looking to atone for last year's heart-breaking defeat (Kilmacud Crokes).
However that is perhaps where the similarities end.
While Glen only won their first county title in 2021 - making it back-to-back titles in October - they come to GAA HQ in more than simply hope.
Conleith McGuckian and Danny Tallon will pose plenty of questions in attack, with former AFL player Conor Glass the fulcrum of the side in the engine room. Defenders Cathal Mulholland and Michael Warnock demonstrated in the semi-final win over Moycullen an ability to assist the forwards in the scoring stakes.
All of this is knitted together by the wily Malachy O'Rourke.
"I've no doubt we're good enough to win it," he said earlier this week, and rest assured every player of the panel subscribes to the same view.
A win for the Derry men would be far from shock territory, yet they will enter as underdogs, with Kilmacud bristling for a third Andy Merrigan Cup (1995 and 2009).
The shock defeat to Mullinalaghta (2018) has faded from memory somewhat, but the smash-and-grab nature to Kilcoo's win in the final last year still lingers. It will offer further hope to their opponents on Sunday.
Hugh Kenny and captain Shane Cunningham mean the forward division is is far removed from one-man attack with Galway star Shane Walsh, who was subdued by his standards last time out against Kerins O’Rahillys.
Craig Dias has been one of the outstanding club players in recent years and a match-up with Glass could have a significant impact on the outcome while a mean defence - it is five successive clean sheets since conceding to Thomas Davis in the county semi-final - is marshalled by Rory O’Carroll.
How Glen cope with final nerves is an unknown, but everything so far points to a side clearly in tune with managerial instructions.
Whether it will be enough to down the Stillorgan-based side remains to be seen.
