The Leinster SHC final shares the bill with five All-Ireland SHC qualifier round 1 games this weekend.

Saturday, July 2nd

All-Ireland SHC Qualifier Round 1

Wexford v Offaly, Innovate Wexford Park, 3.30pm - RTE

The Leinster rivals meet in the championship for the first time since 2012 but they did clash in the Allianz League (1B) on March 13 last when Offaly won by 2-21 to 3-11 in Innovate Wexford Park. Wexford scored two early goals in the first-half but Offaly responded well and were well on top by half-time when they led 2-12 to 2-4.

Shane Dooley scored 0-15 (0-11 frees, 0-1 '65') for Offaly while Conor McDonald hit 2-8 (2-0 pens, 0-7 frees) for Wexford.

Liam Dunne's Model County charges lost to Dublin by 2-19 to 0-12 in the quarter-final while the Eamonn Kelly managed Offaly have had five games to date, winning three (Carlow, Kerry and Laois) and losing two (Westmeath and Galway).

Verdict: Wexford

All-Ireland SHC Qualifier Round 1

Westmeath v Limerick, TEG Cusack Park, 5pm

These two counties had never met in the championship prior to last season and now they are heading for a second clash in a year.

Limerick beat Westmeath by 4-15 to 1-12 in the Round 1 qualifier in Mullingar 12 months ago.

Shane Dowling (1-3), Kevin Downes (1-2) and Paul Browne (1-1) were top scorers for Limerick while Brendan Murtagh (0-6) and Cormac Boyle (1-2) were Westmeath's main marksmen.

This will be the Treaty County's second championship outing of the year following their 1-16 to 3-12 Munster SHC semi-final defeat to Tipperary.

In comparison, the Lake County have won three (Offaly, Kerry and Carlow) and lost one (Galway) championship fixtures in 2016.

Verdict: Limerick


All-Ireland SHC Qualifier Round 1

Clare v Laois, Cusack Park, Ennis, 7pm

Clare will look to get their Liam MacCarthy bid back on track when they play host to Laois.

The league champions exited the Munster SHC when losing out to Waterford by 0-17 to 1-21 at the penultimate stage.

It was a bitter pill to swallow for Davy Fitzgerald and his backroom team but it would be foolish to write them off on the basis of that one defeat.

Expect a motivated Clare side to take to the Cusack Park field on Saturday evening and it could turn out to be a long evening for Seamus 'Cheddar' Plunkett and his O'Moore County charges.

They were on the receiving end of a 2-14 to 3-22 defeat at the hands of Offaly in the last eight of the Leinster SHC and it will be a major shock if Clare's name isn't in the round 2 qualifier draw.

Verdict: Clare


All-Ireland SHC Qualifier Round 1

Cork v Dublin, Pairc Ui Rinn, Cork, 7pm - SKY Sports

Dublin are seeking their first championship win over Cork since the 1927 All- Ireland final.

The counties have met eight times in the championship since then, with the Rebels winning them all.

The most recent meeting was in the 2013 All-Ireland semi-final when Cork won by 1-24 to 1-19 after Dublin had won the Leinster title for the first time since 1961.

Dublin manager Ger Cunningham put one over his native county when the sides met in the league at Croke Park in March.

The team in sky blue prevailed on a scoreline of 4-21 to 2-17 with David Treacy (1-7) and Eamonn Dillon (2-3) leading the way.

They will fancy their chances of bringing the curtain down on a year to forget for Cork hurling.

Verdict: Dublin

 

Sunday, July 3rd

Leinster SHC final

Kilkenny v Galway, Croke Park, 4pm - RTE

The Cats versus the Tribesmen has been a very busy rivalry in recent times, with next Sunday's game the 10th between them since Galway joined the Leinster championship in 2009.

Galway's only win from those six games was in the 2012 Leinster final.

The 2012 All-Ireland final and the 2014 Leinster semi-final were drawn, while Kilkenny won in the 2015 and 2012 (replay) All-Ireland finals and the 2014 Leinster semi-final replay.

Micheal Donoghue will be the seventh Galway manager that Brian Cody has come up against since taking over as Kilkenny boss in late 1998. The others were: Mattie Murphy, Noel Lane, Conor Hayes, Ger Loughnane, John McIntyre, Anthony Cunningham.

The Cats are bidding to claim the Bob O'Keeffe silverware for the 16th time in 19 seasons.

With the notable exception of 2012, Kilkenny haven't lost a Leinster final since 1997 when they went down to Wexford.

The two teams met at Nowlan Park in the league last March and the home side ran out 0-21 to 1-14 winners.

The Leinster men led by 0-16 to 0-8 after 40 minutes before a spirited Galway fightback cut the deficit to a point.

However, Kilkenny re-asserted themselves and ran out four-point winners.

The winners qualify for the All-Ireland semi-final on August 7; the losers play in the All-Ireland quarter-final on July 24.

Verdict: Kilkenny

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