It will be a historic occasion in Croke Park on Sunday when Galway compete in
the Leinster GAA Hurling Championship final for the first time. Awaiting them
are championship specialists and defending champions, Kilkenny who are
seeking their 67th provincial crown and their 12th in 13 seasons. The only year
they didn't win Leinster since beginning their remarkable run in 1998 was in
2004 when they lost the semi-final to Wexford. Next Sunday's throw-in will be
at 4.00pm.

There are two All-Ireland qualifier ties on Saturday while Croke Park will house
a treble bill on Saturday, featuring the Lory Meagher, Nicky Rackard and
Christy Ring Cup finals.

The full list is as follows:
Saturday
• Lory Meagher Cup final: Donegal v Longford, 12.00pm;
• Nicky Rackard Cup final: London v Armagh, 2.00pm;
• Christy Ring Cup final: Kerry v Westmeath, 4.00pm. All in Croke Park.

GAA Hurling All-Ireland Senior Championship Qualifiers
• Tipperary v Wexford, Thurles, 3.30pm;
• Antrim v Carlow, Casement Park, 3.30pm.

Sunday
• Leinster GAA Hurling Championship Final: Galway v Kilkenny, Croke Park 4.00pm.

GALWAY v KILKENNY
This will be the 34th championship meeting between the teams with Kilkenny
having won 25 to Galway's 8 of the previous 33. Galway last beat Kilkenny in
2005 when they won an amazing All-Ireland semi-final clash by a goal. Galway
are the only county to have beaten Kilkenny twice in the championship in the
last decade, having won All-Ireland semi-finals in 2001 and 2005. However,
Kilkenny beat Galway in 2000-2004-2006-2007-2009.
Galway are in their second season in Leinster, having lost at the semi-final
stage to Kilkenny last year.

Paths to the final
Kilkenny 4-19 Dublin 0-12
**
Galway 2-22 Wexford 1-14
Galway 2-19 Offaly 3-16 (draw)
Galway 3-17 Offaly 2-18 (replay)

Top Scorers....
Ger Farragher has scored 1-25 (0-18 from frees, 0-2 from '65's and 0-1 from a
sideline) for Galway in their three games, followed by Joe Canning on 3-10 (1-
1 from frees, 0-2 from sidelines) and Damien Hayes on 2-7.
Kilkenny have had only one outing so far with Henry Shefflin topping the
scoring charts on 0-12 (0-8 from frees, 0-2 from '65's) while Aidan Fogarty
scored 2-0.
Last Five Championship Clashes
2009: Kilkenny 2-20 Galway 3-13 (Leinster semi-final)
2007: Kilkenny 3-22 Galway 1-18 (All-Ireland quarter-final)
2006: Kilkenny 2-22 Galway 3-14 (All-Ireland quarter-final)
2005: Galway 5-18 Kilkenny 4-18 (All-Ireland semi-final)
2004: Kilkenny 4-20 Galway 1-10 (All-Ireland qualifiers)

Kilkenny: Average For: 3-20; Average Against: 2-17
Galway: Average For: 2-17; Average Against: 3-20
Leinster Title Roll of Honour
Kilkenny are seeking their 67the title. They are currently 43 ahead of Dublin who
won 23 titles, followed by Wexford on 20, Offaly on 9 and Laois on three.
Kilkenny (66): 1888-93-95-97-98-1900-03-04-05-07-09-11-12-13-16-22-23-25-
26-31-32-33-35-36-37-39-40-43-45-46-47-50-53-57-58-59-63-64-66-67-69-71-
72-73-74-75-78-79-82-83-86-87-91-92-93-98-99-2000-2001-2002-2003-2005-
2006-2007-2008-2009.

GAA HURLING ALL-IRELAND QUALIFIERS
Tipperary v Wexford, Thurles, Saturday 3.30pm
They meet for the first time since 2007 when Wexford staged a great finish to
beat Tipperary by two points in the All-Ireland quarter-final.
This year, Wexford lost the Leinster quarter-final to Galway by 2-22 to 1-14
while Tipperary's bid for a Munster three-in-a-row fell at the first hurdle when
they lost by 3-15 to 0-14 to Cork.

Last Five Championship Clashes
2007: Wexford 3-10 Wexford 1-14 (All-Ireland quarter-final)
2001: Tipperary 3-12 Wexford 0-10 (All-Ireland semi-final replay)
2001: Tipperary 1-16 Tipperary 3-10 (All-Ireland semi-final)
1997: Tipperary 2-16 Wexford 0-15 (All-Ireland semi-final)
1968: Wexford 5-8 Tipperary 3-12 (All-Ireland final)
Antrim v Carlow, Casement Park, Saturday 5.00pm
Fresh from their 4-22 to 1-12 win over Down in last Sunday's Ulster final,
Antrim return to the Liam MacCarthy Cup tier to begin their qualifier bid at
home to Carlow, who pulled off a fine win over Laois in the preliminary round
(1-19 to 3-12) last Saturday.

Antrim and Carlow clashed in Division 2 of this year's Allianz GAA Hurling
National League with Antrim winning by 1-11 to 2-7 in Casement Park on
February 21.

CHRISTY RING CUP FINAL: KERRY v WESTMEATH
They meet for the second time in this competition with Kerry having won by six
points (3-14 to 2-11) in Tralee on May 15. Darragh O'Connell scored 1-9 for
Kerry who led by eight points at one stage in the second half before two goals
from Dan Carty hauled Westmeath back into contention. However, Kerry
added three points in the closing minutes.

Paths to the final
Kerry 2-17 Wicklow 2-14
Kerry 3-14 Westmeath 2-11
Kerry 0-27 Down 1-19
**
Westmeath 3-19 Kildare 0-18
Westmeath 2-21 Down 1-18
Kerry 3-14 Westmeath 2-11
Westmeath 5-15 Derry 3-16

NICKY RACKARD CUP FINAL: ARMAGH v LONDON
It promises to be a cracking encounter, coming just three weeks after the
teams fought out a thrilling draw in normal time before Armagh powered to
victory (4-26 to 2-23) in extra-time.
Paths to the final
Armagh 5-18 Sligo 1-19
Armagh 4-26 London 2-23 (After extra-time)
Armagh 3-15 Fingal 1-12
***
London 1-15 Roscommon 1-14
Armagh 4-26 London 2-23 (After extra-time)
London 2-16 Sligo 3-5
London 5-17 Fingal 1-11

LORY MEAGHER CUP FINAL: DONEGAL v LONGFORD
Donegal and Longford have already met once in the competition with Donegal
winning by 3-13 to 1-15 in Letterkenny on June 5.
Paths to the final
Donegal 3-13 Longford 1-15
Donegal 0-21 Warwickshire 2-9
Donegal 2-22 Fermanagh 1-11
**
Donegal 3-13 Longford 1-15
Longford 5-13 South Down 1-13
Longford 2-22 Warwickshire 2-12
Longford 2-21 Leitrim 0-10

GAA HURLING ALL-IRELAND SENIOR CHAMPIONSHIP 2010
Leinster
May 22: First Round: Laois 1-13 Carlow 0-10, Portlaoise.
May 29: Quarter-final: Galway 2-22 Wexford 1-14, Nowlan Park.
May 30: Quarter-final: Offaly 2-26 Antrim 3-16 (After extra-time), Parnell Park.
June 6: Quarter-final: Dublin 0-25 Laois 0-16, Nowlan Park.
June 20: Semi-finals: Kilkenny 4-19 Dublin 0-12; Galway 2-19 Offaly 3-16, Croke Park.
June 26: Semi-final replay: Galway 3-17 Offaly 2-18 Portlaoise.
Next Sunday: Final: Kilkenny v Galway, Croke Park.

Munster
May 30: First round: Cork 3-15 Tipperary 0-14, Páirc Uí Chaoimh.
June 7: Semi-final: Waterford 0-22 Clare 1-15, Thurles.
June 20: Semi-final: Cork 2-19 Limerick 0-12, Páirc Uí Chaoimh.
July 11: Final: Cork v Waterford, Thurles.

Ulster
May 8: Monaghan 1-15 Fermanagh 2-10, Enniskillen; Armagh 3-23 Donegal 1- 12, Letterkenny; Tyrone 6-24 Cavan 1-14, Omagh.
May 15: London 3-16 Monaghan 1-15, Casement Park; Armagh 3-20 Tyrone 2-9, Casement Park.
May 29: Quarter-finals: Down 4-24 Armagh 0-9, Casement Park; London 2-12
Derry 0-15, Casem.nt Park.
June 13: Semi-final. Down v London - Not played
June 27: Final: Antrim 4-22 Down 1-12, Casement Park.

All-Ireland Championship
June 26: All-Ireland qualifier - preliminary round: Carlow 1-19 Laois 3-12, Dr. Cullen Park.
Next Saturday: Qualifiers - Phase 1: Antrim v Carlow, Casement Park; Tipperary v Wexford, Thurles
July 10: Qualifiers - Phase 2: Offaly v Limerick; Dublin v Clare.
July 17: Qualifiers - Phase 3; Winners of Phase 1 v Winners of Phase 2.
July 25: All-Ireland quarter-finals
August 8: Semi-final, Croke Park.
August 15: Semi-final, Croke Park.
September 5: Final, Croke Park. Tweet

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