All eyes and ears in the county will be focused on Semple Stadium for Friday night’s showdown under floodlights in the Tipperary senior hurling club championship.
With Kiladangan in pole position in Group 3 of the Dan Breen Cup, last year’s finalists Loughmore Castleiney and JK Brackens will battle it out in a unique atmosphere to progress in the county championship with the encounter gaining extra spice after the same teams finished level after a tense encounter last weekend in the County Football Championship.
The neighbouring clubs are also linked by the fact that key players – such as Brian McGrath for Loughmore and Paddy Cadell for JK Brackens – won Harty and Croke Cup medals in 2017 whilst hurling alongside each other for Our Lady’s Secondary School in Templemore.
Speaking to Tipp FM Sport ahead of the winner takes all clash on Friday evening, Loughmore manager Frankie McGrath said to expect a tough and engaging encounter when the age-old rivals meet:
“We always expected that it was going to come down to this game. Over the last couple of weeks, we’ve been preparing strongly for it. We know the Brackens have been preparing strongly too. They had an excellent contest with Kiladangan the last evening out.
“We’re under no illusions, I can assure you, of the task that’s ahead of us. It’s a Loughmore-Brackens match, and on those occasions anything can happen. That’s the history of it. I’ve been going to those type of matches for the last 50 years.
“The people who tune in, or attend the game, are likely to get value for money this time around.”
Throw-in at Semple Stadium on Friday evening is 7.30pm.
We’ll have live commentary of that game here on Tipp FM thanks to Sola Energy Solutions, Templemore.
