SUNDAY 9 APRIL
Division 1 final
Kilkenny v Limerick, Páirc Uí Chaoimh, 2pm
ONLINE
Live blog on RTÉ.ie and the RTÉ News app.
RADIO
Live commentary and updates on RTÉ Radio 1's Sunday Sport andon RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta's Spórt Spórt an Lae.
TV
TG4 will screen live coverage of the final. Highlights and reaction on The Sunday Game, RTÉ2 and the RTÉ Player, from 9.30pm.
WEATHER
Sunday is expected to be a cloudy but dry day in Cork, with light breezes.
For a detailed forecast, visit met.ie.
On the weekend that the football championship begins, the Allianz Hurling League will come to a conclusion with a tasty final between Limerick and Kilkenny.
This repeat of last year's All-Ireland decider, which the Munster men won by 1-31 to 2-26, will bring the league final to Páirc Uí Chaoimh for the first time since 1980, with weather conditions allowing for some good quality fare.
While the story went, before the competition started, that Limerick were going to maintain their recent propensity to treat the spring time with indifference, the All-Ireland champions have instead looked sharp. Victory tomorrow would give them their fifth win on the spin, with their solitary reversal coming by the banks of the Lee in week one.
The story is a bit different for Kilkenny. The game's most successful county stared their first league campaign without Brian Cody - who led them to 10 titles - at the helm since 1998. Derek Lyng has come in and will be looking to provide that bit of freshness the Cats need to usurp the Treaty men.
A victory for Kilkenny, even at this stage of the season, would be a marker for Lyng and his squad.
Kilkenny path to the final:
R1: 1-18 to 0-15 victory over Antrim
R2: 1-21 to 2-24 loss to Tipperary
R3: 0-34 to 1-18 victory over Laois
R4: 2-25 to 1-17 victory over Dublin
R5: 0-18 to 0-16 victory over Waterford
Semi-final: 2-22 to 0-22 victory over Cork
While Limerick didn't take their last two two spring campaigns all that seriously, winning just three of their 10 games, you only have to go back to 2020 for their last league title, which was their second in a row. They beat Clare that day, in a match which doubled up as the Munster quarter final, owing to the condensed nature of a pandemic hit year.
They're also going for their third league title in five years.
Kilkenny won the last of their 19 titles in 2021, sharing the honour with Galway after their duo failed to meet in championship, a game that would have doubled up as the league decider. The Cats' last outright victory came in 2018, while a triumph tomorrow would see them move clear at the top of the roll of honour ahead of neighbours Tipperary.
To get past Limerick, you have to have a goal threat - which is why Tipp fell short, says @MrJackieTee #RTEgaa pic.twitter.com/OshKJ3zTMD
— The Sunday Game (@TheSundayGame) March 26, 2023
Lyng's charges head to Cork in the unusual situation of having played four of their last five games at UPMC Nowlan Park. They would have been playing two of those games at home in a normal league year, but ongoing works at Walsh Park meant that Waterford relinquished home advantage for the meeting between the pair.
Their semi-final victory over Cork was also played at their home ground in the Marble City.
These sides have met in four league finals, most recently in 2006 when Henry Shefflin hit a brace of goals in a 3-11 to 0-14 victory for Kilkenny.
The Cats also tasted victory over the Treaty men in 1982/83 and 1932/33, with Limerick's sole league triumph in clashes between the sides coming in a replayed final of the 1946/47 campaign, which was played in March of 1948.
Limerick path to the final:
R1: 2-17 to 0-22 loss to Cork
R2: 1-27 to 2-18 victory over Clare
R3: 0-24 to 0-19 victory over Galway
R4: 1-27 to 1-15 victory over Westmeath
R5: 2-20 to 1-15 victory over Wexford
Semi-final: 1-28 to 0-25 victory over Tipperary
Tomorrow's game takes place two weeks out from the start of the provincial championship. Munster is certainly the more cut throat of the two competitions, with Limerick up against Waterford and Clare in a seven day period before the end of the month.
Kilkenny, meanwhile, will face arguably their toughest challenge in the east when they face Galway in Nowlan Park at the end of the month. Either side of that they're set to face Antrim and Westmeath, two games they're expected to win comfortably, so this meeting with Limerick should stand to them as they look to defend their provincial title.
William O'Donoghue will not be available for selection for the All-Ireland champions after receiving a one match suspension from the CCCC over an incident in their semi-final victory over Tipperary.
Carlow's Paud O'Dwyer will referee the game, having acted as one of the linesmen in last year's All-Ireland final.
Watch Mayo v Roscommon in the Connacht Football Championship on Sunday from 3.15pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player, follow a live blog on RTÉ.ie/Sport and the RTÉ News app or listen to live commentary on RTÉ Radio 1
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