Tipperary and Clare are gearing up for their Munster semi-final clash this afternoon.
The sides meet in the Gaelic Grounds at 3.45pm today, with a Munster final meeting with Limerick for grabs whilst defeat today will see the loser heading to the qualifiers alongside the likes of Waterford, Galway, Wexford and Cork.
Hurling analyst Ken Hogan is confident Tipperary can get over the line:
“Yeah I’d be confident, I think it’s a strong team, I think it’s a strong team on paper and I think Clare will respect that team.
“I would expect that it will be a battle for a long time but I think Tipp’s experience and know-how and their ability to get goals out of strange situations in they way that they can really engineer those opportunities, so from that point of view, I think that Tipp team is well adept and also showing good form.
“I feel things have picked up in the last few weeks and I think that Tipp will prevail by a few points.”
Nine time All-Ireland winner Tommy Walsh has given his prediction for the game:
“Clare had a fantastic win last weekend.
“They’ve Aron Shanagher back to his best to give Tony Kelly plenty of help up there.
“Ryan Taylor, he was kind of around midfield and the backs the last day, played a lot of ball out from around the middle of the field, he was brilliant.
“So they have players now helping Tony Kelly this year.
“I still think they are missing a few many of their marquee players, John Conlon had to go back centre back, he was one of their main forwards.
“Padraic Maher possibly will be full-back to put the shackles on Tony Kelly so yeah, I’d go for Tipperary.”
Meanwhile, former Clare manager Tony Considine believes Clare will need a quick start today and
“Yeah I’d be very worried about that, the fact is Noel McGrath, give him any look at the post from 70 or 80 yards and it’s a score.
“Noel McGrath, you have Bubbles there, you’ve Seamus Callanan, you’ve Jason Forde, their forwards, if they get any of the chances that Waterford got, they won’t be missing them.
“I think it’s crucial for Clare on Sunday to start well.
“I think they just have to start well and get Tony Kelly moving again as early as possible.
“Clare have to completely stop the Tipperary flow, if Tipperary get into a flow on Sunday then you’d have a concern for Clare but if Clare can stop that, anything can happen after that.”
We’ll have live commentary of that game here on Tipp FM, with thanks to Mulcahy Car Sales, Ardcroney, Nenagh and Sullivan Family Butchers, Brooklands, Nenagh.
