Here are our previews for this Sunday's All-Ireland senior hurling championship quarter-final double header in Thurles.

Sunday, July 24th

All-Ireland SHC quarter-finals

Wexford v Waterford, Semple Stadium, 2pm

Wexford pulled off the shock of the championship by toppling Cork in Thurles earlier this month, but it's tough to envisage them upsetting Waterford here.

Liam Dunne's side are ranked as 9/2 outsiders against the Deise men for Sunday afternoon's showdown at Semple Stadium, where the latter will be out to put things right following their Munster final mauling at the hands of Tipperary. That 5-19 to 0-13 loss was one that stung badly for Derek McGrath and his players but this weekend presents an ideal opportunity for them to bounce back and straight into the last four of the All-Ireland series.

How the Slayneysiders go about trying to curb the threat of Austin Gleeson and Maurice Shanahan is anyone's guess, but they'll surely require another big game for talisman Conor McDonald - scorer of 0-13 against the Rebels last time out - if they are to keep in contention.

The last championship clash between these two sides came in the 2014 qualifiers when Wexford sent Waterford crashing out of the championship on a 3-15 to 2-15 score-line and should the Model men manage to repeat the trick on Sunday they'll be competing in their first All-Ireland semi-final since 2007.

Verdict: Waterford
 

Clare v Galway, Semple Stadium, 4pm

The hope is that Clare manager Davy Fitzgerald will be able to patrol the sidelines for this one after being admitted to hospital in mid-week to undergo test. The Banner men come in as slight favourites against Micheál Donoghue's Galway side, which conceded 1-16 in the second-half of their Leinster SHC final defeat to Kilkenny three weeks ago.

Last year's beaten All-Ireland finalists will be keen to make up for their latest loss to the Cats when their supporters journey to the home of hurling this weekend and a lot will again rest on the shoulders of star man Joe Canning, who was held scoreless from play the last day. The Tribesmen were far from at their best against Brian Cody's team but, then again, neither were Clare when they sent Limerick crashing out of the championship last Sunday week.

The aim for Fitzgerald's charges will be to improve on that 0-19 to 0-15 win over the Shannonsiders when they line-out at Semple Stadium for the third time this summer and you can expect Tony Kelly and Podge Collins to be at the heart of things if Clare are to advance into the last four.

This will be the 15th meeting between these two counties in the race for Liam McCarthy (Clare lead 9-4 with one encounter ending in a draw) and their fifth at the quarter-final stage.

Verdict: Clare

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