Former Tipperary defender Paddy Stapleton is expecting another close battle in the county’s senior hurling championship replay between Kilruane MacDonaghs and Kiladangan later today.

The teams couldn’t be separated in last weekend’s decider, with Willie Cleary’s free in the fifth minute of injury-time ensuring a 2-18 to 1-21 draw in Thurles.

The side clash again this afternoon at Semple Stadium (3pm) and, speaking to TippFM sport, Stapleton says it’ll be intriguing to see if 2020 champions Kiladangan make any changes from the last day.

“It’ll be interesting to see if they are going to stick or twist this weekend," he said. “Fergal Hayes has played a lot of years, I know he came on midfield in one of the games but that’s not his place, are they going to put another marker in there and release maybe (David) Sweeney or Alan Flynn, that’s what’s really interesting.

“Then up front, Dan O’Meara came on, we all know Dan O’Meara’s ability, he hasn’t got the start lately but will he be a guy that’s thrown in and say ‘look here’s your chance’?

“I’m looking forward to it, it’s very hard to pick a winner. The only thing you’d say is maybe the fact that Kiladangan aren’t carrying as many injuries, will they be able to keep it going in the last 15 minutes and open it up, I don’t know.

“They didn’t really the last day, it was tit for tat so it’s just something that we couldn’t predict I’d say.”

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