SUNDAY 23 JULY
Limerick v Kilkenny, Croke Park, 3.30pm
ONLINE
Live blog on RTÉ.ie and the RTÉ News app. Highlights also available later on the day.
TV
Live coverage on RTÉ2 and the RTÉ Player from 2.30pm. Also live on BBC2 NI, from 3pm.
RADIO
Live commentary on RTÉ Radio 1's Sunday Sport - and on Ráidió na Gaeltachta's Spórt an Lae.
WEATHER
Wet and cloudy to start on Sunday with outbreaks of rain. The rain will gradually clear from northern and western counties during the morning, but is likely to linger in the east and south for a time. Maximum temperatures of 17 to 20 degrees with a moderate to fresh northerly breeze developing. For more go to met.ie.
We have seen 33 games in this year's hurling championship and 13 teams in action, but ultimately it boils down to the same two sides standing as last year in Kilkenny and Limerick.
The Treaty men are favourites to become just the third team to win four All-Ireland titles on the trot, while facing them is a Kilkenny outfit becoming more accustomed to being the underdog on the big day.
History
For all the tradition involved with both sides, it is a fixture that has only played out on 15 occasions previously.
In 2005, current Kilkenny manager Derek Lyng picked off a point as the Cats overcame a second-half scoring purple patch from Limerick to book their place in the last four of the All-Ireland championship.
It was the first time the sides had met in the heat of championship fare in 31 years, and Brian Cody's side would win the next four encounters (2007 final, '12, '14 and '17) before Limerick’s march towards a breakthrough Liam MacCarthy was marked with the felling of the Stripey men in a gripping quarter-final in 2018.
John Kiely’s side completed three-in-a-row last year over the same opposition, though what might be ingrained more in the Treaty memory bank is their last knockout defeat, an agonising one-point loss in the 2019 semi-final.
But for Limerick being denied a 65 at the death, after Darragh O’Donovan’s sideline touched Cats defender Cillian Buckley and was incorrectly called wide, this all-conquering side could easily be chasing six in a row.
While Kilkenny hold the aces in this rivalry (nine wins, six losses), Limerick have held the upper hand in the showpiece, the Cats on the receiving end of five of their All-Ireland final victories.
The most recent meeting of course occurred in the league final, with Limerick taking the early season silverware with a victory pulling up.
Teams
The biggest talking point is undoubtedly the news that Limerick will be without captain Declan Hannon for the decider, with the centre-back omitted from John Kiely's matchday squad.
The Adare clubman suffered a knee injury in the Munster SHC final win over Clare, but has not recovered in time, leading Kiely to name the same 15 that accounted for Galway in the semi-final.
The Cats have also named an unchanged team as Derk Lyng aims to halt their rivals' drive for four straight titles, with David Blanchfield apparently winning his fitness battle.
The influential wing-back had reportedly been hospitalised after suffering a blow to his chest in the semi-final win over Clare.
Form
The purists out there might sleep sounder knowing the provincial winners have kept on a collision course for the final, but both rode their luck to varying degrees in the early parts of the championship.
The holders were within a whisker of exiting the competition altogether but held on against Cork and, coupled with Tipperary's surrender to Waterford, snuck into a Munster final where Clare were once again overcome.
Lyng's side were never in any great danger in Leinster, already assured of a place in the decider when they lost their final outing to Wexford. They were electric in patches against Galway before snatching victory from the jaws of defeat at the death with Buckley's late intervention.
In truth, victory or defeat in a Leinster final isn't going to define any Kilkenny season, but the defiant manner coming down the stretch was right out of the Brian Cody playbook.
Attacking prowess
Johnny Glynn famously bristled, live on air, when it was put to him that his Galway team, with Joe Canning to the fore, were something of a one-man band.
For Kilkenny in recent years, the reliance on TJ Reid to deliver has been evident, even more so since Colin Fennelly departed the scene.
The Ballyhale man remains the undoubted talisman and top scorer of the side as he chases a seventh All-Ireland title, but the supporting cast is growing.
A crude measurement perhaps, but in terms of scoring from play, Eoin Cody (4-21) and Mossy Keoghan (5-09) have stepped it up and increased their goal-scoring threat.
Cody in particular has been in sensational form and ahead of the final, a leading contender to be player of the year. His post-match interview from the semi-final suggests the Cats are using every motivational tool going to gear up for the decider.
Do Kilkenny get enough credit? Man of the match Eoin Cody doesn't seem to think so. pic.twitter.com/YdoxyE8Vt7
— The Sunday Game (@TheSundayGame) July 9, 2023
Throw in Adrian Mullen and Billy Ryan's prowess in front of the posts, and Walter Walsh’s ability off the bench to impact a game and it’s clear Lyng has serious weaponry against a Limerick side shorn of Sean Finn and captain Declan Hannon.
At the other end, the champions are continuing where they left off in an attacking sense. They may have looked a little ring rusty earlier in the campaign as Gearoid Hegarty – sent off against Waterford – played his way into the Munster SHC, while Cian Lynch continued to overcome injury setbacks.
Tom Morrissey has been a beacon of consistency throughout, averaging almost three points a game, and Peter Casey has torched a number of defenders this summer. Cathal O'Neill has grown into his role as a starter while Seamus Flanagan and Aaron Gillane have worked in tandem to devastating effect.
Similar to Cody for Kilkenny, Gillane is in HOTY form (3-13 from play plus 0-29 from placed balls) while Flanagan is a constant outlet up top and has pilfered a green flag on four occasions this summer.
Mikey Butler and Huw Lawlor are two of the best man-markers in the country, but if Gillane, Flanagan or Hegarty, a man well-known for his goals on the big day, continue their poaching form, Kilkenny’s hopes of a first Liam MacCarthy since 2015 will evaporate very quickly.
Man in the middle
In his final game as a referee, John Keenan will look after his first All-Ireland senior final and also become the first Wicklow man to officiate the hurling showpiece since 1970.
Keenan has been on the senior circuit since 2014 – this will be his 22nd Liam MacCarthy game – and his CV includes the 2016 All-Ireland minor final, the 2018 All-Ireland U-21 final, the 2019 Leinster hurling final and the 2022 Munster final.
He will be hoping for less controversy than last year’s Munster final when a couple of retrospective suspensions arose for Clare, later quashed.
Keenan did not get another game in the championship following that fractious encounter, but has already taken charge of four matches this year, most recently the Tipperary and Galway quarter-final.
He hasn’t refereed either finalist in the championship so far.
Watch the All-Ireland Hurling Championship final, Limerick v Kilkenny, this Sunday from 2.30pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player, follow a live blog on RTÉ.ie/Sport and the RTÉ News app or listen to live commentary on Sunday Sport on RTÉ Radio
