SATURDAY
Clare v Kilkenny, Semple Stadium, 7.15pm.
ONLINE
Live blogs on RTÉ Sport Online and the RTÉ News app.
RADIO
Live commentary RTÉ Radio 1's Saturday Sport.
TV
TG4 will have live coverage of the final, while you can watch highlights and analysis on Allianz League Sunday at 9.30pm on RTÉ2 on Sunday night.
WEATHER
Saturday night will bring clear spells and scattered blustery showers. Lowest temperatures of 6 to 8 degrees with fresh, gusty southwest winds. Storm Kathleen's arrival means that a yellow weather warning is due to be in place for the first half anyway.
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The curtain will be drawn on Saturday evening on the Allianz Hurling League and small ball enthusiasts will be hoping the finale matches the drama of the top-tier football encounter last Sunday.
A penalty shootout in hurling always feels a little more unlikely - we're still awaiting a Liam MacCarthy championship game to be decided by such means even if it's happened in the lower tiers - while the recent history of this fixture might not lend itself to people putting money down on a first league trophy to be decided by placed balls.
While both counties have been well placed in the Limerick chasing pack, Kilkenny have had the hoodoo over the Banner by dint of successive All-Ireland semi-final victories.
The 2022 encounter was a huge letdown for Brian Lohan’s men, less than a month after taking Limerick to extra-time in the Munster final they went down by a dozen points to a ravenous Kilkenny side.
Twelve months later and the gap may have been reduced to three, but once again the Cats looked the better side for large portions. While many observers feel Clare are the side best equipped to halt the Limerick juggernaut, it’s as if the first barrier is getting the Kilkenny monkey off their backs.
In a fortnight Clare throw-in their Munster campaign by welcoming Limerick to Ennis before travelling to Cork a week later.
That will be the primary focus for Lohan, but adding silverware – Clare have only won the league on four occasions (Kilkenny have appeared in more finals in the last 20 years than their opponents have in the 100-year history of the competition) – against a team that has caused so much heartache would be a fillip heading into the serious business of the year.
That lack of league titles is something that has been noted by forward David Reidy this week.
Writing in his column this week, Shane McGrath argues that motivation may be the difference between the sides at Semple Stadium; the Cats undoubtedly want to win, but the Banner need to win, he argues.
Kilkenny supporters could point to their Leinster schedule and argue that a strong performance is imperative given they begin at home to Antrim on 21 April.
For all the progress made by the Saffrons, it is likely to be a test below Munster standards.
Lyng has presided over a most typical Kilkenny league campaign; solid if not spectacular - prior to the dismantling of Limerick last time out - and in the final shakeup.
TJ Reid has slipped seamlessly back into the team and it’s been business as usual for the talisman, with the Ballyhale contingent seeing more league action than in previous seasons.
At times they have completely taken over in matches - the first 20 minutes against Cork, plundering 2-03 without reply against Limerick - but the caveat of where teams are at in their training schedules and personnel jostling is an obvious one.
Their only defeat came in Ennis, but trying to read anything into such a lacklustre encounter would be a fool’s errand.
Free-takers Aidan McCarthy and TJ Reid failed to score from open play, with David Fitzgerald the leading light with 0-05 to his name.
At the very least we can expect the accuracy and intensity to be ratcheted up considerably on Saturday night.
The most pleasing aspect for Lohan with Clare’s early season form is that a run to the final has been achieved without Tony Kelly, Shane O’Donnell or Ryan Taylor with the likes of Keith Smyth and Conor Leen looking at home in the starting line-up.
Lyng seems to have real competition for the number 6 jersey – Paddy Deegan got the nod over Richie Reid in the semi-final – while Billy Drennan is surely itching for a jersey with a number no higher than 15.
After landing 2-03 off the bench in the opening round victory over Wexford, the 20-year-old added a further four points from three more substitute appearances. His only start against Offaly resulted in 0-11, where the Galmoy man's accuracy from placed balls was complemented by a couple of points from play.
Shane O'Donnell spoke recently of the importance he places in his 2016 league winner's medal - the county's one and only success since 1978 - and the need to add something to a bare enough trophy cabinet, as well as laying down a marker to a side they could well face at the business end of the championship. That may be enough to tip the scales in Clare's favour.
Follow a live blog on Kilkenny v Clare in the Allianz Hurling League final on Saturday from 7.15pm on rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app and listen to live updates on Saturday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1
