Crunch time for Kilkenny sides in Croker
A big day of action awaits with the senior hurling and camogie teams in action
Croke Park is the place to be this Saturday afternoon as the Kilkenny senior hurling and camogie sides head into knockout action.
It’s an early start for Cats followers with the camogie team facing Dublin in the senior championship quarter-final at 12.30pm before the hurlers then collide with Clare in the All-Ireland semi-final for the third year in a row at 3pm.
TV schedules potentially clashing with Euro 2024 have resulted in the earlier throw-in times and while it may impact a little on the crowd, they should still be two decent games.
The hurlers are in the same position and against the same opposition that they have been for the previous two seasons and they will look to maintain their winning championship run against Clare.
The Banner County have only beaten the Cats once in championship action ever and if Kilkenny can replicate the form of the Leinster final success over Dublin and their previous two semi-final meetings with Clare, then Derek Lyng and his management team will be hopeful of booking a place in the All-Ireland final for a third year in a row.
The winners of Saturday’s encounter will face either Cork or Limerick who do battle just over 24 hours later and early figures suggest, that could be close to a sell-out at GAA HQ.
While hurlers have been inactive since their Leinster title win almost a month ago, the Kilkenny senior camogie team will be in action for a third weekend in a row when meeting Dublin in a repeat of the Leinster final.
The Cats took home provincial honours on that occasion when claiming a 0-14 to 1-6 victory in Tullamore and Chap Cleere’s side will be favourites to prevail once again at the weekend.
Like the hurlers, Kilkenny are in the same place as last year but unlike their male counterparts, it was on this weekend in 2023 that their hopes of All-Ireland glory fell away when losing out to subsequent champions Cork. Kilkenny may have missed out on top spot in their group when losing to Tipperary last week but Cleere saw some positives.
“It was a difficult game that was played in very tough conditions and in fairness to Tipperary they are a top class team,” he said. “They started quickly and really strong and went 0-10 to 0-3 ahead and were full value for their lead but to be fair to our girls they regrouped at half-time and came out really strong in the second half and ran Tipp close near the end.
“It was a fantastic second half display but we still need to look at ourselves after they way we played in the opening period.
“Obviously we went down to win but it didn’t work out and we’ve parked it as we’ve an All-Ireland quarter-final to look ahead to on Saturday and we are really looking forward to it as it’s all to play for still.”
There is a big prize on offer if Kilkenny can beat Dublin as it will mean that they will have a home semi-final in a few weeks time and Chap is happy they get the chance to be part of a big double-bill.
“Playing before the hurlers is great and it’s great for the promotion of camogie and it’s a fantastic opportunity for our girls,” he said.
“There will be a big Kilkenny crowd up supporting the lads and hopefully they can come in a little earlier and support our female counterparts as well.
“It’s a massive game for us as there’s only six teams remaining in the championship and we are one of them.
“All eyes are on Dublin and please god we can get a performance and a result and then we are back to square one and into an All-Ireland semi-final.”
Both games will be screened live on RTE 1 television on Saturday afternoon.