ROAD TO CROKER:KILKENNY REMAIN on course for a sweep of all three All-Ireland hurling honours in the next two weeks, starting with the minor and senior finals this Sunday, and the Under-21 final on Sunday week.
Boylesports are offering quite attractive odds of 5/2 that they'll pull off all three. They are also in the intermediate final.
They are the overwhelming 3/10 favourites in Sunday's senior final while the minors, who face Galway, are also 8/15 favourites.
ALL-IRELAND ODDS: Senior final: 3/10 Kilkenny; 3/1 Waterford; 12/1 Draw. Minor final- 8/13 Kilkenny; 6/4 Galway; 9/1 Draw. Outright betting: 1/4 Kilkenny 11/4 Waterford. Minor: 8/15 Kilkenny; 11/8 Galway. Under-21: 5/6 Kilkenny; 5/6 Tipperary.
Waterford IT's a hurling institution
THE WATERFORD INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY boasts an unrivalled connection with the two All-Ireland hurling finalists on Sunday, with 17 former or present students now part of the respective panels at Croke Park.
Former and present WIT Players on the Kilkenny panel: 1 JJ Delaney, 2 PJ Delaney, 3 John Dalton, 4 Willie O'Dwyer, 5 Michael Kavanagh, 6 Derek Lyng, 7 Henry Shefflin, 8 TJ Reid, 9 Eoin Reid.
Former WIT Players on the Waterford panel: 1 Ken McGrath, 2 Shane O'Sullivan, 3 Michael Walsh, 4 Kevin Moran (winning Fitzgibbon capt in 2008), 5 Dave Bennett, 6 Jack Kennedy, 7 John Mullane, 8 Adrian Power (current WIT player)
Final statistics
KILKENNY
Leinster semi-final: Kilkenny 2-24, Offaly 0-12
Leinster final: Kilkenny 5-21, Wexford 0-17
All-Ireland semi-final: Kilkenny 1-23, Cork 0-17.
Average For: 2-25; Average Against: 0-16
Top Six Scorers:
Henry Shefflin 1-27
Eddie Brennan 2-8
Eoin Larkin 1-9
Aidan Fogarty 2-5
James Fitzpatrick 0-6
Martin Comerford 1-2
WATERFORD
Munster quarter-final: Clare 2-26 Waterford 0-23.
Round One qualifiers: Waterford 6-18 Antrim 0-15.
Round Two qualifiers: Waterford 2-18 Offaly 0-18.
All-Ireland quarter-final: Waterford 2-19 Wexford 3-15.
All-Ireland semi-final: Waterford 1-20, Tipperary 1-18.
Average For: 2-21; Average Against: 1-19
Top Six Scorers:
Eoin Kelly 6-34
John Mullane 2-18
Eoin McGrath 0-13
Dave Bennett 0-11 (0-10 frees)
Dan Shanahan 1-5
Stephen Molumphy 1-5
The last time . . .
LAST CHAMPIONSHIP CLASH: 2004 All-Ireland semi-final - Kilkenny 3-12 Waterford 0-18
KILKENNY: James McGarry; Michael Kavanagh, Noel Hickey, James Ryall; Tommy Walsh, Peter Barry, JJ Delaney; Derek Lyng, Ken Coogan (0-1); Eddie Brennan (1-1), John Hoyne, DJ Carey (0-2); James Fitzpatrick (0-1), Martin Comerford (0-3), Henry Shefflin (2-4). Subs: None.
WATERFORD: Ian O'Regan; Eoin Murphy, Declan Prendergast, James Murray; Tony Browne, Ken McGrath, Brian Phelan; Dave Bennett, Eoin Kelly (0-1); Dan Shanahan, Michael Walsh (0-1), Paul Flynn (0-13); Shane O'Sullivan, Séamus Prendergast, Eoin McGrath. Subs: Jack Kennedy (0-3)for O'Sullivan; Paul O'Brien for Eoin McGrath.
Westmeath whistler gets the gig again
TWO YEARS ago Barry Kelly made history as the first Westmeath man to referee a senior hurling final, and as he's also the man in the middle this Sunday, he essentially becomes the first Westmeath man to get the honour twice.
Kelly, 38, comes from an esteemed refereeing background, as his father John was part of top football referee Paddy Collins' regular team of officials and officiated with him at many historic games, including the 1976 and 1981 All-Ireland finals.
Kelly played club football with Mullingar Shamrocks and hurling with Oliver Plunketts, and did his initial refereeing course 13 years ago. His first big assignment was the 2000 All-Ireland minor final.
The Kilkenny-Galway All-Ireland minor final will be refereed by Cathal McAllister of Cork.
