SATURDAY 24 JUNE
All-Ireland SHC quarter-finals
Clare v Dublin, TUS Gaelic Grounds, 4pm
Galway v Tipperary, TUS Gaelic Grounds, 6.15pm
ONLINE
Live blogs and highlights on RTÉ.ie and the RTÉ News app.
TV
Both games live on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player from 3.30pm.
Highlights on The Saturday Game and The Sunday Game, 9.30pm, RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player.
RADIO
Live commentaries on RTÉ Radio 1's Saturday Sport. Also live updates on RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta's Spórt an Lae.
WEATHER
A warm and humid day. Most places will be dry with sunny spells breaking through in the morning and afternoon. However, there will be occasional patches of rain and drizzle. Highest temperatures of 20 to 26 degrees, warmest in the east and northeast, in moderate to fresh southerly winds.
Six becomes four today as the hurling championship reaches the business end.
It's a double-header at what should be a packed Gaelic Grounds as Clare, Dublin, Galway and Tipperary battle for a place in the semi-finals against last year’s finalists Limerick and Kilkenny.
First up, it’s Munster runners-up Clare against Dublin.
The Dubs have been hot and cold in their first year under Micheál Donoghue as he seeks to revamp the team.
They beat Wexford in what was widely billed as the Leinster third-placed play-off and out-hurled Galway in the first half of the final group game.
However, they also drew with Antrim, let the Tribesmen fight back for a draw from 12 points down, and laboured against Carlow last week before putting the Joe McDonagh Cup winners away late on.
Both teams are playing a similar ball-running style but Clare’s form has been far more impressive: they were beaten by a Tipperary goal-rush first day out and edged out by a point in the Munster final but they also became the only team to beat Limerick in four seasons and topped the table with further wins over Waterford and Cork.
The big question is whether their provincial final loss proves as draining as last year, when the Banner needed a late charge to beat Wexford at this stage and then had nothing left in the tank by the time they met Kilkenny.
It shouldn’t, mentally at least. This time around, Clare could have beaten Limerick but for some awful wides. The physical contest didn't seem quite as intense and they have had two weeks to recover while Dublin were probably more strained than they would have expected last weekend.
Manager Brian Lohan was downbeat after the defeat, saying "You could be gone the next day. You just don’t know" but the Banner are still All-Ireland contenders.
It would be a shock if Clare don’t beat Dublin in the counties’ first championship meeting in 11 years but the performance will also tell us just how serious those credentials still are.
Free-taker Aidan McCarthy is out of the squad with an injured finger and is replaced by Ian Galvin in the starting XV. Full-back and captain Conor Cleary has not recovered from the shoulder problem that kept him out against Limerick and Seadna Morey starts ahead of Cian Nolan, who he came on for the last day.
Youngsters Mike Gough, Ian McNamara, Oisin O'Donnell, Gearoid O’Grady were reportedly all let go from the panel this week, with Sean Rynne being added.
Donoghue keeps faith with the same team that eventually saw off Carlow: Cian O’Sullivan has landed 2-04 in the last two games while 2013 All-Star Danny Sutcliffe racked up 1-05 as Dublin appear to have eased the scoring burden on Dónal Burke.
Clare: Eibhear Quilligan; Adam Hogan, Rory Hayes, Seadna Morey; Diarmuid Ryan, John Conlon, David McInerney; Cathal Malone, David Fitzgerald; Peter Duggan, Tony Kelly, Ryan Taylor; Ian Galvin, Shane O'Donnell, Mark Rodgers.
Subs: Eamonn Foudy, David Reidy, Darragh Lohan, Shane Meehan, Aron Shanagher, Patrick Crotty, Paul Flanagan, Cian Nolan, Cian Galvin, David Conroy, Paddy Donnellan.
Dublin: Seán Brennan; John Bellew, Eoghan O'Donnell, Paddy Smyth; Paddy Doyle, Conor Burke, Daire Gray; Mark Grogan, Chris O'Leary; Danny Sutcliffe, Donal Burke, Cian Boland; Seán Currie, Cian O'Sullivan, Darragh Power.
Subs: Eddie Gibbons, Conor Donohoe, James Madden, Andy Dunphy, Joe Flanagan, Aidan Mellett, Paul Crummey, Fergal Whitely, Alex Considine, Dara Purcell, Diarmuid Ó Dúlaing.
Unless the Dubs spring a surprise and reach their first semi-final since 2013, Galway and Tipperary will be playing for the chance to tackle the champions.
It’s the first meeting of the sides since 2020, when Cathal Barrett was sent off and Tribes defender Aidan Harte burst forward to score a late, decisive goal.
Aidan Harte blasts home a dramatic goal to put Galway in front for the first time in the second half with four minutes left - watch highlights on The Sunday Game at 9.30pm on Sunday #rtegaa pic.twitter.com/wIzg3MvvRS
— The Sunday Game (@TheSundayGame) November 21, 2020
Tipp-Galway clashes rarely fail to deliver. The margin was just two points three years ago and a single score across three classic semi-final encounters from 2015 to ’17.
In ’15, Seamus Callanan scored 3-09 (he reached 40 goals against Offaly last week) but still finished on the losing side as Shane Moloney came off the bench in the 68th minute to bag the winner.
The following year, Tipp came back with late goals from sub John 'Bubbles’ O’Dwyer and John McGrath and went on to win the All-Ireland title.
In ’17, Joe Canning’s wonder point from the sideline settled the contest and Galway beat Waterford in the final to end a 29-year wait for Liam MacCarthy.
Canning, Harte and O’Dwyer have since retired but Callanan and McGrath both hit the net as Tipp ran up a championship record 7-38 against the Faithful last Saturday and Barrett is back after his head injury against Waterford in the final group game.
That loss at home to already eliminated opponents raised questions about the extent of Tipperary’s renaissance in Liam Cahill’s first year, despite impressive displays against Clare and Limerick.
Hammering Offaly won’t have answered all of them: they also conceded three goals, a total of 11 in five games suggests space at the back that Conor Whelan will relish. But the Premier have scored 14 (seven in Munster) at the other end, with Jake Morris, Mark Kehoe and Jason Forde, whose return from injury last week was a huge boost, also raising green flags for fun.
Despite again naming Dáithi Burke at 6, Henry Shefflin might be tempted to shift the Turloughmore man to his common full-back role to shore things up.
Galway were plundered for four green flags by Kilkenny, including Cillian Buckley’s devastating Leinster final matchwinner, and are scoring an average of 2.5 per game themselves, which suggests that this could be another shootout.
They have made two changes to the team that were pipped by the Cats, Seán Linnane and Cianan Fahy come in for Fintan Burke and Conor Cooney.
Barrett for Craig Morgan, who went off injured against Offaly, is the only switch for Tipp. Gearóid O’Connor, who deputised on the frees in Forde’s absence but was carrying an ankle injury, is again on the bench after getting 20 minutes last week.
Whether Shefflin’s men have recovered psychologically from letting what would have been a first Leinster title in five years slip from their grasp will be key.
The manager will have been highlighting that they were good enough to fight back from eight down and should have held on to beat the Cats. They have also had an extra week of rest but then Tipp didn’t have to dig too deep seven days ago.
Expectation weighs heavier on Galway. Having pushed Limerick close in 2022, a quarter-final exit would feel like a step backwards.
Tipperary have already improved on last year’s pointless campaign, while managing to blood new players, but 10 of their starting team have All-Ireland medals and they won’t lack belief that they can make a swift return to Croke Park.
Galway: Eanna Murphy; Jack Grealish, Gearoid McInerney, Darren Morrissey; Pádraic Mannion, Daithí Burke, Joseph Cooney; Seán Linnane, Cathal Mannion; Brian Concannon, Cianan Fahy, Tom Monaghan; Conor Whelan, Kevin Cooney, Evan Niland.
Subs: Darach Fahy, TJ Brennan, Fintan Burke, Shane Cooney, Ronan Glennon, Adrian Tuohey, Tiernan Killeen, Conor Cooney, Jason Flynn, Liam Collins, Declan McLoughlin.
Tipperary: Rhys Shelly; Cathal Barrett, Michael Breen, Eoghan Connolly; Bryan O'Mara, Ronan Maher, Dan McCormack; Conor Stakelum, Noel McGrath; Alan Tynan, Jason Forde, Seamus Kennedy; Jake Morris, Seamus Callanan, Mark Kehoe.
Subs: Barry Hogan, Conor Bowe, John Campion, Pauric Campion, Enda Heffernan, John McGrath, Gearoid O'Connor, Niall O'Meara, Jack Ryan, Johnny Ryan, Seán Ryan.
Watch the All-Ireland Hurling Championship quarter-finals, Dublin v Clare and Galway v Tipperary, on Saturday from 3.30pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player, follow a live blog on RTÉ.ie/Sport and the RTÉ News app or listen to live updates on Saturday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1
The hunt is on... All-Ireland SHC quarter-final double header from the TUS Gaelic Grounds - Watch live coverage of Clare v Dublin (4pm) and Tipperary v Galway (6.15pm) on @RTÉ2 and @RTÉPlayer from 3.30pm #rtegaa pic.twitter.com/09WOXnj9IX
— RTÉ GAA (@RTEgaa) June 23, 2023
