Athenry and Sixmilebridge are slight favourites going into Sunday's AIB club hurling semi-finals. Brendan Cummins sticks with the favourites in his predictions. ATHENRY v DUNLOY Reigning champions Athenry will be warm favourites to qualify for another All-Ireland club final when they face Dunloy in Sunday's semi-final. Indeed there are many observers who feel that, in retaining their Galway title, the Athenrymen have the most difficult task behind them. The players themselves are most unlikely to believe such assertions but there is no doubt that the Galway title can be particularly difficult to retain. The holders are bidding for a third success in five years and their supporters will have noted that each of their triumphs to date have been gained at the expense of Clare opposition...Wolfe Tones in 1997 and St Josephs last year. There will be inevitable speculation that a hat-trick of victories over Banner opposition is on the cards...but first there are considerable challenges to come from both Dunloy and Graigue-Ballycallan. Athenry won last year's final by beating the defending champions St Josephs by a comfortable four points. It was a difficult game on which to put a handle...neither side appeared to be at their best. But Athenry exerted control at the most vital stages, a factor which was also influential in their semi-final win over Birr. They scored four points on either side of half-time and were in authoritative mood when it mattered most in the closing stages. Brendan Keogh and Brian Hanley gave the eventual winners a vital edge at centre-field, Joe Rabbitte played a captain's role in attack and the defence never looked likely to concede a goal. At times, the champions looked a multi-talented outfit. They didn't exactly waltz through the county championship...not that they ever expected to and they had a particularly close call in the quarter-final against Abbey-Duniry. It took an injury-time point from Eugene Cloonan to avoid a replay and the overwhelming emotion afterwards was one of relief. Athenry were trailing by seven points approaching the end of the first quarter and although they eventually settled, they were still trailing by a point into the last minute of the game. David Donohoe grabbed an equaliser before Cloonan settled the issue. The final score was 2-14 to 3-10. Cloonan was at his brilliant best in the semi-final win over Carnmore at Kenny Park in early October. The county star fired over a whopping 14 points in total... nine from frees, one from a '65 and 4 from play. It was a comfortable win for the champions, 0-18 to 1-7, and the issue was settled at half-time when the winners led by six points having played against the strong breeze. Brendan Keogh and Brian Hanley were superb at centre-field. If Eugene excelled against Carnmore, he went a step further against Sarsfields in the final when he scored an amazing 2-10 of Athenry's 2-14 total. This was a truely majestic display...one which will always be remembered as the 'Eugene Cloonan' final. And Athenry, who were winning their sixth title and their third in-a-row, needed the full-forward to be at his best to see off a gallant Sarsfields challenge, The final score was 2-14 to 3-7. The Connacht title was retained without too much fuss against Four Roads in Athleague in early December. The final score was 2-16 to 1-7 but it was only in the last quarter that the red-hot favourites opened up a commanding lead over the brave challengers. Cushendun provided the opposition for Dunloy in the Antrim final...it was a clear-cut Goliath v David affair as Cushendun were appearing in the final for the first time in 64 years. And they offered stubborn resistance until the closing stages when the only goal of the game arrived, from Dunloy's corner-forward Alastair Elliott. The favourites then added three quick points as the Cushendun effort finally evaporated. The final score was 1-21 to 0-13. The forwards were in outstanding form in the Ulster semi-final win over Down's Portaferry, but it wasn't until the second half that Dunloy took firm control of the game. Paddy Richmond, Alastair Elliott, Dominic McMullan and Gregory O'Kane scored the goals in a 1-11 to 1-10 victory at Casement Park. The Ulster final against Slaughtneil of Derry turned out to be a one-sided affair with Dunloy romping to the easiest of victories, 4-14 to 0-9. The goals came from Seamus McMullan, Liam Richmond, Chris McGrath and Paddy Richmond. Dunloy's first Antrim title came as recently as 1990 but they have been the dominant force at both county and provincial level ever since. And they have a memorable victory over Athenry to their credit...in 1995 they qualified for the All-Ireland final with a 2-10 to 1-11 victory over the Galwaymen at Clones. They then held Birr to a draw in the final before losing out in the replay. They were back again in the following year to surprise Glenmore of Kilkenny in the semi-final but then lost to Sixmilebridge in the decider. It is probably asking too much of them to gain a third final appearance. Their status has waned just a little since those heady days and Athenry's has been greatly enhanced in the same period. Eugene Cloonan and Joe Rabbitte in attack, Brendan Keogh and Brian Hanley at centre-field and Brian Feeney and Paul Hardiman in defence appear to offer more in terms of a solution. Dunloy are not the type of team to roll over but it is difficult to see them preventing the Galway champions from remaining on course for back-to-back titles. ATHENRY GRAIGUE-BALLYCALLAN v SIXMILEBRIDGE Meetings between Clare and Kilkenny champions are extremely rare if not unique, a situation that adds greatly to the attraction of Sunday's semi-final. The Claremen will be favourites but Kilkenny hurling is currently on the crest of a wave and the men from Graigue-Ballycallan will be determined to keep it there. Niall Gilligan and John Reddan were in inspirational form when the 'Bridge qualified for the semi-final with a comfortable win over Scariff, 3-12 to 3-3. The issue had been more or less settled by half-time when the winners led by eleven points. Brian Culbert (2) and Gilligan were the goalscorers. It was considerably more difficult against Kilmaley in the semi-final when the 'Bridge's winning margin was just two points. They faded somewhat in the second half after goals from Robert Conlon and John Chaplin helped them to a commanding nine point interval lead. They found it difficult to curtail Kilmaley's Alan Markham and were mightily relieved to hear the final whistle. The final score was 2-15 to 1-16. Eire Og of Ennis caused a major surprise in the other semi-final by defeating the defending champions St. Josephs thus qualifying for their first final since 1992. Sixmilebridge took the title for the ninth time and their first since 1995, the latter victory paving the way for an historic All-Ireland success. Limerick's Patrickswell provided the opposition in the Munster semi-final and, at the end of an absorbing hour's hurling, the Bridge had a point to spare. 0-13 to 0-12. The Limerick champions had an opportunity of a late equaliser from a '65 but with Gary Kirby hampered by a shoulder injury, the task was assigned to Eoin Foley whose effort went narrowly wide. A couple of minutes earlier, veteran Martin Conlon had given Sixmilebridge the narrowest of leads and there was general agreement that if either team deserved to come out on top it was the 'Bridge. John Reddan starred for the winners at centre-half-forward, scoring five points from play off Ciaran Carey. And the winners' defence showed great discipline in restricting Patrickswells' opportunities from placed balls. Niall Gilligan was the star turn in the Munster final victory over Mount Sion of Waterford...he scored a total of 1-8 as his team became provincial champions on a 2-17 to 3-8 scoreline. Brian Culbert also made a huge contribution. Sixmilebridge were enhancing a remarkable record for Clare teams in the competition...it was the sixth successive year for the Banner representatives to travel home with the trophy. The foundations for victory were laid in the early stages as the Claremen established a five point lead. Mount Sion were always playing catch-up subsequently and the 'Bridge's six point win was an accurate reflection of their superiority. Brian Culbert and John Reddan scored the goals that helped to beat Fr Murphys in the quarter-final at Ruislip...but despite winning by 2-11 to 0-6, this was anything but a vintage Sixmilebridge performance. The winners registered 16 wides in total and were lack-lustre throughout. Graigue-Ballycallan were installed as favourites to win to Kilkenny title once the championship reached the knock-out stages and they qualified for their third successive final with a 2-15 to 1-12 win over Shamrocks at Nowlan Park. The boys on light blue led by 0-10 to 0-4 at half-time and although the Ballyhale-Knocktopher combination got to within two points in the second half, an Eddie Brennan goal killed off their challenge. The other semi-final was an all-city affair between O Loughlin Gaels and Dicksboro, who had eliminated the defending champions Glenmore at the quarter-final stage. It was Andy Comerford and his O Loughlin Gaels colleagues who came through to provide the opposition for Graigue in the final. Graigue justified their favouritism for the Walsh Cup for the second time...their first success was in 1998. The victory completed a notable double for John Hoyne, Denis Byrne and Eddie Brennan who had contributed immensely to Kilkenny's All-Ireland success in September. The path to the Leinster Club title began with a comfortable win over Trim of Meath. Castletown of Laois were next in line...the Kilkenny champions were extremely wary having lost to Portlaoise in their first year in the provincial competition. And their caution paid dividends as they swept to an emphatic 2-12 to 0-7 victory. The win was a real morale-booster as Castletown had beaten Birr in the previous round. Denis Byrne score Graigue's first goal with Tommy Dermody getting the second. Dublin champions UCD were the surprise packets of the Leinster competition and they proved that there was nothing flukey about their appearance in the final by taking the Kilkenny champions all the way to the wire. It was five unanswered points in the closing stages that swung the verdict in favour of Graigue-Ballycallan. The students had edged into a two point lead early in the second half and, for a while, a major surprise was on the cards. But they were held scoreless by the resilient Kilkennymen in the closing stages and, in the end three points separated the teams, 0-14 to 1-8. Corner-back Johnny Butler was outstanding throughout and it was Eddie Brennan and Thomas Comerford who fired over the late match-winning points. Sixmilebridge have probably come through the more testing path and victories over Patrickswell and Mount Sion look better on the CV than Graigues' wins over Castletown and UCD. Much will depend on how the Clare champions cope with the influential Denis Byrne, speedy Eddie Brennan, John Hoyne and Adrian Ronan. The Kilkenny champions will have similar worries about coping with Niall Gilligan, John Reddan and Brian Culbert. It promises to be a fascinating encounter and it could well be that the 'Bridge have the wherewithal to set up yet another Clare-Galway decider. SIXMILEBRIDGE. Tweet

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