Galway star Conor Whelan is tipping Limerick to “shade it” against Kilkenny on Sunday for their fourth successive Liam MacCarthy Cup.

The Treaty men came up with the goods in the second-half against Galway to seal their passage into this weekend’s All-Ireland decider and Whelan envisages another tight battle between them and the Cats on hurling’s biggest stage.

Speaking to GAA.ie, the Kinvara clubman says it’s a game that will come down to fine margins.

“It's hard not to edge towards Limerick considering they have three-in-a-row done and came through Munster,” said Whelan, who was announced as the PwC GAA/GPA Hurler of the Month for June on Thursday.

“But you would be very foolish to be writing the Cats off too. I think it'll be a very tight game and maybe Limerick will shade it, but it's fine, fine margins really.

“Both teams bring different challenges. Kilkenny are massively physical. They have TJ, Eoin Cody, and Martin Keoghan up front. TJ is an absolutely amazing hurler who nails all his frees and then you have Eoin Cody who is in the form of his life as well.

“You have other forwards around them then working really hard. Defensively you're not getting much off them and they're very strong and physical.

“Whereas Limerick would have different players stepping up every day and they're very measured in everything. I actually think it'll be a fascinating battle to see how that plays out. I was up at the final last year and it was one of those games where it was tit for tat and that's how I see it playing out again on Sunday.”

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