All-Ireland champions Tipperary take on Galway in Sunday's senior hurling championship semi-final and here we preview the big clash at Croke Park.

 

Sunday, August 6th

All-Ireland SHC semi-final

Galway v Tipperary, Croke Park, 4pm - RTE/Sky

All roads lead to Croke Park on Sunday as the two favourites for the Liam McCarthy Cup collide for a berth in next month's All-Ireland decider.

Galway and Tipperary have collided twice over the past two summers on the semi-final stage, with the Tribesmen winning out by 0-26 to 3-16 two years ago and Tipp avenging that defeat last August with a 2-19 to 2-18 triumph before going on to defeat Kilkenny in the final.

You get the feeling that Michael Ryan's charges will require a similar sort of performance to the rousing one they had against the Cats 11 months ago if they are to conquer the west siders for a second consecutive summer.

Galway thrashed the Premier men in April's National League final and since then the All-Ireland champions' form has been almost impossible to read into; slumping to Cork, struggling past Westmeath (at home) and dismantling Dublin before getting pushed all the way by Clare.

Sunday presents a different level for a team that looks to have dipped down one from 12 months previous but undoubtedly still has the talent in their ranks to end their opponents' dreams of a first All-Ireland for their county in 29 years.

Galway defeated Tipperary in that 1988 decider and are the slightest of favourites (at 10/11) on Sunday to dethrone the Premier County. Their form has been red-hot since the spring and this championship has saw them produce a demolishment of both Dublin and Offaly and a comfortable nine-point victory over Davy Fitzgerald's Wexford in the Leinster final.

Micheál Donoghue will expect danger men like Joe Canning, Joe Cooney and Conor Whelan to be just as sharp five weeks on from their county's second success out east, with plenty of time since the semi-final draw to work out the match-ups in his defence to shackle the likes of Seamus Callanan, John McGrath and John O'Dwyer.

Needless to say, Callanan will be the Leinster champions' primary cause for concern and they'll look to Daithi Burke as their solution to try and handle the deadly Drom-Inch man.

Should things stay as close as the odds would suggest, it could all end up hinging on that crucial battle in front of the Galway posts.

Verdict: Galway

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